Profile

Michaela Benson  (PhD, FAcSS) is Professor of Public Sociology, internationally renowned for her contributions to Migration Studies and Urban Sociology, through her research leadership of the fields of Brexit and Migration, Lifestyle Migration, Class, Space and Place and Self-build Housing. Her research has international reach and significance, widely cited and has informed policy discussions in the UK and EU. Michaela has received several awards and recognitions for her research, including being conferred as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2025).

She has been awarded funding by ESRC for her projects on self-build housing; Brexit and British citizens in the EU; and Rebordering Britain and Britons after Brexit (MIGZEN). From 2020-21 she held a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship for her research into Britain and its overseas citizens from decolonisation to Brexit. She has published several academic monographs including The British in Rural France (Manchester University Press, 2011), and Lifestyle Migration and Colonial Traces in Malaysia and Panama (co-authored with Karen O’Reilly; Palgrave, 2018) and journal articles in leading sociology, geography and migration studies journals.

Beyond academia, her research has informed political understandings and policy-making; the work of civil society organisations; and underpinned her collaborations with ThinkTanks, and Cultural Industry partners. Her expertise has led to numerous speaking engagements, for local, national and EU government departments and the general public, as well as regular approaches from journalists and other media professionals.

Committed to making complex social issues accessible and relevant to a broad audience, Michaela has produced a range of non-academic outputs through her research, including websites, animations, blog posts and podcasts. Her current podcast Who Do We Think We Are? examines questions of race, identity and belonging in Britain today.

Since 2022, Michaela has been the Chief Executive of The Sociological Review, a charitable foundation focussed on sociological education and the public value of sociology. In this role she overseas strategic initiatives that further these ambitions.