Profile

I am a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy. I joined Lancaster University in 2019, having completed an ESRC funded PhD and two post doctorates at the University of Sussex. My research is situated in critical policy studies, and my field of expertise is in the politics of migration, policy and governance. I sit at the intersection of politics, critical public policy, political sociology, and political economy. I’ve undertaken research on a wide range of migration policy regimes across Europe particularly on labour migration but also international students, asylum regimes, temporary migration, seasonal migration, and diaspora policy.

Prior to coming to Lancaster I was a Research Fellow at University of Sussex working on two projects: 1. FP7 funded Temporary versus Permanent migration (Temper); 2. Horizon 2020 Evaluating the Common European Asylum System (Ceaseval). I was also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies. I have a BA in Sociology, MA in Migration Studies, MSc in Social Research Methods and a PhD in Politics.

My research has been published in International Political Sociology, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, and West European Politics amongst others. My first book Labour’s Immigration Policy: The Making of the Migration State published by Palgrave Macmillan explored how and why the New Labour governments transformed Britain's immigration system from a highly restrictive regime to one of the most expansive in Europe.

I sit on the editorial board of Ethnic and Racial Studies. I write regularly for the Conversation, and I’ve written for other outlets such as New Statesman and Open Democracy. Previoulsy I featured in BBC Radio 4 Briefing Rooms and provided commentary for BBC, the Guardian, amongst others.

My recent research has explored the governmentality of hostile environments, the commodification of residency visas, the political economy of labour migration regimes, and how postcolonial imaginaries inform racialised labour markets. Building on my research on governmentality of migration regimes, my current research is centred around the questions of the nature and limits of the state in border regimes. I’m particularly interested in bureaucratic violence, administrative burdens, politics of policymaking, outsourcing, and the politics of street level bureaucracy.

I am a Fellow of Advance HE. I won the 2021 FASS Dean Award for Early Career Teacher of the Year. I enjoy convening modules on Public Policy (UGT), and the Politics of Migration (PGT). I am programme lead for the MSc in Public Policy and PPR Engagement Lead.