Migration and development

Human mobility is intimately linked to broader global transformation processes, including development and conflict. The central question is therefore, what are the effects of migration on development and what are the possible ways to boost the developmental potential of migration?

Research and activites

Photo/illustration by Joerg Boethling / Alamy Stock Photo

Livestreaming

West Africa now

DIIS Auditorium

This seminar sheds light on the myriad challenges shaping West Africa and discusses the recent political upheavals, the growing influence of Russia, and the complex web of migration patterns intersecting the region and beyond
Photo/illustration by Joycedzide via Wikimedia Commons copyright license

DIIS Comment

2024

African migration – key tendencies and political dilemmas
Journal Article

2024

"These days, things have changed”

historicising current dynamics of climate-related migration in the savannah zone of Ghana
Photo/illustration by Feisal Omar/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

DIIS Policy Brief

2024

Somaliland at the centre of rising tensions in the Horn of Africa
Journal Article

2023

Mediating mobility in West Africa

Improvisation, culture, and volatility in migration infrastructures
Photo/illustration by Baalayela Forsca

DIIS Comment

2023

What Loss and Damage has to offer

Considering climate displacement and social cohesion
Photo/illustration by Greenshoots Communications / Alamy Stock Photo

DIIS Comment

2023

Loss and damage and social cohesion

Current knowledge and next steps for programming and practice
Photo/illustration by Ida Marie Vammen

Journal Article

2023

Can European foreign aid motivate people to stay in Africa?

New article discusses the relationship between aid and the ‘root causes’ of irregular migration
Photo/illustration by MSF/Stefan Pejovic

Deadly borders: politics of aid and people on the move on the Mediterranean

DIIS Auditorium

What does it mean to rescue at sea? And how does it feel to be rescued? This seminar sheds light on the work of Doctors without Borders on the current situation on the deadliest migration route in the world, the Mediterranean Sea
Photo/illustration by Mikkel Funder

Webinar

Governing climate change adaptation: Lessons from the ground

Online via Zoom

How should climate change adaptation be governed? This webinar examines how climate change adaptation policies and projects govern mobility, land rights and finance in the African context, and what the lessons are for adaptation governance.
Journal Article

2023

Novel insights on local institutions and climate migration

Research article examines local institutions’ role in climate migration with valuable insights for policy and practice
Photo/illustration by Rasmus Fly

DIIS Policy Brief

2023

Three frontlines in Africa's resource conflicts

Green transitions, nature conservation and the drylands
Photo/illustration by Sofie Henriksen

Journal Article

2023

Finding the “sweet spot”

The politics of alignment in cross-sector partnerships for refugees
Photo/illustration by Finn Stepputat

Studying state, sovereignty and other stuff

DIIS Auditorium

A retrospective seminar with and for senior researcher Finn Stepputat
Livestreaming

Somali diaspora humanitarianism in complex crises

DIIS Auditorium

When disaster strike, diaspora groups are often first responders and remain engaged during lengthy and complex crises. Join this roundtable where we discuss practices, possibilities and pitfalls
Photo/illustration by Photo by UN Photo/Tobin Jones copyright license

Journal Article

2023

Somali vernacular humanitarianism: Translocal emergency assistance during times of crisis

New article on the history and practices of local and diaspora support during crises in Somaliland
DIIS Policy Brief

2023

Climate change, mobility and human trafficking in Ethiopia

Ethiopian women’s migration is influenced by an array of interconnected factors including environmental degradation, poverty, limited social protection, political unrest, and vulnerability to gender-based violence. These factors all potentially increase vulnerability to human trafficking. Focusing only on the risks faced during irregular travel to and work arrangements in the Arab Gulf states and Lebanon may overlook the risks involved in staying put.
Journal Article

2023

Rings in the water: Felt externalisation in the extended EU borderlands

New research unpacks how 'felt externalization' translates into human rights abuses, environmental crises, and death
Journal Article

2023

Multilateral climate finance coordination

Politics and depoliticization in practice
DIIS Working Paper

2023

Inclusion and exclusion in Somali drought emergency assistance

Familiarity with aid recipients strengthens impartiality. A lesson learned for humanitarian engagement
Journal Article

2022

Breaking down boundaries between planned and autonomous climate adaptation

Understanding adaptation practice as the interplay between bottom-up strategies and formal interventions in North Central Vietnam
Photo/illustration by ICRC, Taaxta Ismail

Livestreaming

No climate security without human security: Insights from Africa’s climate hotspots

DIIS Auditorium

This seminar brings together scholars and practitioners to discuss pathways for a broadened climate security agenda on fragile states centered on addressing livelihood and security needs of populations
Journal Article

2022

Indebted deportation among undocumented migrant sex workers from Thailand and Nigeria in Europe

My body is my piece of land
DIIS Policy Brief

2022

No climate security without human security

Insights from Africa’s climate hotspots
Livestreaming

Technocolonialism: Digital humanitarianism as extraction and experimentality

DIIS Auditorium

Join us for this seminar with Professor Mirca Madianou on how data practices revitalise colonial legacies in humanitarianism and technological development itself

Journal Article

2024

"These days, things have changed”

historicising current dynamics of climate-related migration in the savannah zone of Ghana

Francis Jarawura, Joseph Teye, Nauja Kleist, Lily Salloum Lindegaard & David Quaye

Climate and Development

Read publication (external link)
Journal Article

2023

Mediating mobility in West Africa

Improvisation, culture, and volatility in migration infrastructures

Jesper Bjarnesen & Nauja Kleist

International Migration Review

Read publication (external link/open access)
Photo/illustration by Ida Marie Vammen

Journal Article

2023

Can European foreign aid motivate people to stay in Africa?

The root causes policy debate and irregular migration

Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Ida Marie Savio Vammen & Hans Lucht

Development Policy Review

Read publication (external link)
Journal Article

2023

Shaping spaces

governance and climate-related mobility in Ethiopia

Neil Webster

Climate and Development

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Sofie Henriksen

Journal Article

2023

Finding the “sweet spot”

The politics of alignment in cross-sector partnerships for refugees

Sofie Henriksen

Business & Society

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Photo by UN Photo/Tobin Jones copyright license

Journal Article

2023

Somali vernacular humanitarianism: Translocal emergency assistance during times of crisis

Ahmed Musa & Nauja Kleist

Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, 22

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Journal Article

2023

Rings in the water: Felt externalisation in the extended EU borderlands

Ahlam Chemlali

Geopolitics

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Journal Article

2023

Multilateral climate finance coordination

Politics and depoliticization in practice

Jakob Skovgaard, Kevin Adams, Kendra Dupuy, Adis Dzebo, Mikkel Funder, Adam Moe Fejerskov & Zoha Shawoo

Global Environmental Politics, 23

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DIIS Working Paper

2023

Social ties and practices inclusion and exclusion

Somali responds to droughts

Ahmed Musa

Download (pdf, 518.6 KB)
Journal Article

2022

Everyday adaptation, interrupted agency and beyond

Examining the interplay between formal and everyday climate change adaptations

Lily Salloum Lindegaard & Le Thi Hoa Sen

Ecology and Society, 27

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Journal Article

2022

My body is my piece of land

Indebted deportation among undocumented migrant sex workers from Thailand and Nigeria in Europe.

Sine Plambech

Security Dialogue

Read journal article
Book Chapter

2022

Gendered Dynamics in West African Migration

Mary Boatemaa Setrana & Nauja Kleist

Migration in West Africa. Cham, Switzerland: Springer

Read publication (external link)
Book Chapter

2022

Understanding Gendered Border Violence in Transit

The Case of Libya

Ahlam Chemlali

Displacement and Emplacement. Peter Lang AG

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Web Article

2022

Themed week on border externalisation in Africa

Ida Marie Savio Vammen, Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde & Hans Lucht

Read publication (external link)
DIIS Report

2022

Women on the move

Trafficking, sex work and reproductive health among West African migrant women

Sine Plambech, Ahlam Chemlali & Maria Chiara Cerio

Download (pdf, 4.2 MB)
Report

2022

Global connections

Somali diaspora practices and their effects

Nauja Kleist & Masud Abdi

Read publication (external link)
Chapter

2022

Hope

Nauja Kleist

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan

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DIIS Working Paper

2022

The Great Green Wall

An overview and lessons learnt

Marie Ladekjær Gravesen & Mikkel Funder

Download (pdf, 2.3 MB)
Book Chapter

2022

The Productive Incoherence of “Sex Trafficking”

Elizabeth Bernstein, Sealing Cheng, Sine Plambech & Mario Pecheny

Paradoxes of Neoliberalism. Routledge

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Göran Höglund (Kartläsarn) via Flickr.com copyright license

Journal Article

2021

En Route to Europe?

The Anti-politics of Deportation from North Africa to Mali

Almamy Sylla & Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde

Geopolitics

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Journal Article

2021

Introduction to the Special Issue: Borderwork in the Expanded EU-African Borderlands

Ida Marie Savio Vammen, Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde & Hans Lucht

Geopolitics

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DIIS Working Paper

2021

Governing Climate Mobility

A scoping study of two localities in Ethiopia

Dessalegn Rahmato, Zerihun Mohammed & Neil Anthony Webster

Download (pdf, 2.2 MB)
Journal Article

2021

Denmark’s new externalisation law

motives and consequences

Martin Lemberg-Pedersen, Zachary Whyte & Ahlam Chemlali

Forced Migration Review, 2021

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Book Chapter

2021

Emotional Introspection

The Politics and Challenges of Contemporary Migration Research

Ninna Nyberg Sørensen

Research Methodologies and Ethical Challenges in Digital Migration Studies. Palgrave Macmillan

Read the open access book chapter
DIIS Working Paper

2021

Migration and foreign aid

drivers, desires and development

Ida Marie Savio Vammen, Lars Engberg-Pedersen & Hans Lucht

Download (pdf, 623.6 KB)

Photo/illustration by Joycedzide via Wikimedia Commons copyright license

DIIS Comment

2024

African migration – key tendencies and political dilemmas

Nauja Kleist
Photo/illustration by Feisal Omar/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

DIIS Policy Brief

2024

Somaliland at the centre of rising tensions in the Horn of Africa

Jethro Norman

Download (pdf, 1.4 MB)
Photo/illustration by Baalayela Forsca

DIIS Comment

2023

What Loss and Damage has to offer

Considering climate displacement and social cohesion

Lily Salloum Lindegaard & Francis Jarawura

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Greenshoots Communications / Alamy Stock Photo

DIIS Comment

2023

Loss and damage and social cohesion

Current knowledge and next steps for programming and practice

Lily Salloum Lindegaard

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Rasmus Fly

DIIS Policy Brief

2023

Three frontlines in Africa's resource conflicts

Green transitions, nature conservation and the drylands

Peter Albrecht & Marie Ladekjær Gravesen

Download (pdf, 432.6 KB)
DIIS Policy Brief

2023

Climate change, mobility and human trafficking in Ethiopia

Getting the relationship right

Ninna Nyberg Sørensen

Download (pdf, 379.4 KB)
DIIS Policy Brief

2022

No climate security without human security

Insights from Africa’s climate hotspots

Louise Wiuff Moe & Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde

Download (pdf, 565.5 KB)
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

DIIS Interview

2022

EU policies and debt keep migrant women trapped in Tunisia

Marie Barse
Photo/illustration by Maria Chiara Cerio, DIIS

DIIS Comment

2022

Migrant women are agents, not only victims

Sine Plambech, Ahlam Chemlali & Maria Chiara Cerio

Read publication (external link)
Brief

2022

Adaptation, professionalization and disruption

Current trends and future scenarios of Somali diaspora engagement

Nauja Kleist, Ahmed Musa & Jethro Norman

Read publication (external link)
DIIS Policy Brief

2021

Development aid is unlikely to reduce migration from Africa

Migration, aid and economic progress

Hans Lucht, Lars Engberg-Pedersen & Ida Marie Savio Vammen

Download (pdf, 2.1 MB)
Photo/illustration by Allison C Bailey/Alamy Live News

DIIS Interview

2021

Migration, violence and the deep roots of US anti-Asian hate

Alice Troy-Donovan

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DIIS Policy Brief

2021

Risks of technology use in humanitarian settings

Avoiding harm, delivering impact

Adam Moe Fejerskov, Maria-Louise Clausen & Sarah Seddig

Download (pdf, 414.9 KB)
DIIS Blog

2021

Responding to a crisis

Lessons learned from Northern Ghana

Marie Ladekjær Gravesen & Francis Jarawura

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Santi Palacios/AP/Ritzau Scanpix

DIIS Policy Brief

2021

A lack of evidence-based approaches will weaken the implementation of the EU Action Plan against migrant smuggling 2021-2025

Gabriella Sanchez

Download (pdf, 628.6 KB)
Photo/illustration by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Ritzau Scanpix copyright license

DIIS Longread

2021

What makes a climate migrant?

Stories of waves of climate migrants miss the complexity that lies behind migration itself

Lily Salloum Lindegaard

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Danny Wilcox Frazier/Redux/Ritzau Scanpix

DIIS Longread

2021

Unmasking the human smuggler ,

Anne Blaabjerg Nielsen & Gabriella Sanchez

Read publication (external link)
DIIS Policy Brief

2021

Recognising diaspora humanitarianism

What we know and what we need to know more about

Mohamed Aden Hassan, Sahra Ahmed Koshin, Peter Albrecht, Mark Bradbury, Fatima Dahir Mohamed, Abdirahman Edle Ali, Karuti Kanyinga, Nauja Kleist, George Michuki, Ahmed M. Musa, Jethro Norman & Obadia Okinda

Download (pdf, 1.3 MB)
DIIS Comment

2020

Tech and Trust Challenges

Emerging Trends in Somaliland Diaspora Response to Covid-19

Ahmed Musa, Jethro Norman, Mark Bradbury, Mohamed Aden Hassan & Nauja Kleist
DIIS Policy Brief

2020

Shock Mobility

Long term impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and lock-down

Biao Xiang & Ninna Nyberg Sørensen

Download (pdf, 4.8 MB)
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

DIIS Comment

2020

Mogadishu in the time of COVID-19

Abdirahman Edle Ali, Abdirahman Mustaf Mohamed, Jethro Norman, Karuti Kanyinga & Peter Albrecht
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

DIIS Comment

2020

COVID-19: A Looming humanitarian disaster for Somali East Africa and its diaspora

Abdirahman Edle Ali, Ahmed Musa, Mohamed Aden Hassan, Nauja Kleist & Mark Bradbury
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

DIIS Policy Brief

2020

The traumas of Ethiopian male migrants

Re-integration efforts must put vulnerabilities at the centre

Adam Moe Fejerskov & Meron Zeleke

Download (pdf, 4.4 MB)
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

DIIS policy brief

2020

A moving frontline in Africa

climate-cattle-conflict

Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde & Peer Schouten

Download (pdf, 6.2 MB)
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

DIIS policy brief

2019

EU pressure on Niger to stop migrants is reshaping cross-border economies

From migrants to drugs, gold, and rare animals

Hans Lucht & Luca Raineri

Download (pdf, 3.5 MB)

Photo/illustration by Joerg Boethling / Alamy Stock Photo

Livestreaming

West Africa now

DIIS Auditorium

This seminar sheds light on the myriad challenges shaping West Africa and discusses the recent political upheavals, the growing influence of Russia, and the complex web of migration patterns intersecting the region and beyond
Photo/illustration by MSF/Stefan Pejovic

Deadly borders: politics of aid and people on the move on the Mediterranean

DIIS Auditorium

What does it mean to rescue at sea? And how does it feel to be rescued? This seminar sheds light on the work of Doctors without Borders on the current situation on the deadliest migration route in the world, the Mediterranean Sea
Photo/illustration by Mikkel Funder

Webinar

Governing climate change adaptation: Lessons from the ground

Online via Zoom

How should climate change adaptation be governed? This webinar examines how climate change adaptation policies and projects govern mobility, land rights and finance in the African context, and what the lessons are for adaptation governance.
Photo/illustration by Finn Stepputat

Studying state, sovereignty and other stuff

DIIS Auditorium

A retrospective seminar with and for senior researcher Finn Stepputat
Livestreaming

Somali diaspora humanitarianism in complex crises

DIIS Auditorium

When disaster strike, diaspora groups are often first responders and remain engaged during lengthy and complex crises. Join this roundtable where we discuss practices, possibilities and pitfalls
Photo/illustration by ICRC, Taaxta Ismail

Livestreaming

No climate security without human security: Insights from Africa’s climate hotspots

DIIS Auditorium

This seminar brings together scholars and practitioners to discuss pathways for a broadened climate security agenda on fragile states centered on addressing livelihood and security needs of populations
Livestreaming

Technocolonialism: Digital humanitarianism as extraction and experimentality

DIIS Auditorium

Join us for this seminar with Professor Mirca Madianou on how data practices revitalise colonial legacies in humanitarianism and technological development itself
Photo/illustration by ICRC / Yazdi, Pedram

Livestreaming

Loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change

DIIS Auditorium

At this seminar, we assess recent developments in loss and damage policy, research and practice to identify possible ways forward towards COP27 and beyond
Photo/illustration by ICRC / Therrien, François

Livestreaming

Climate change is not the cause, migration not the problem

Auditorium

Climate change is often seen as causing migration. This excludes the many other causes of, and responsibilities for, crises that follow climate-change. Join us for this seminar where expert Jesse Ribot offers an insight into the multiple causes producing precarity and shaping migration in Senegal
Photo/illustration by Nauja Kleist

Livestreaming

Climate change and human mobility

DIIS, Auditorium

How is climate change and mobility linked and how do people cope through moving or staying? These are some of the questions four researchers discuss based on their research at this seminar
Photo/illustration by Cover photo by Chinedum “Maxzy” Iregbu

Webinar

Women on the move - new insights on women as migrants, refugees, and trafficked

Online via Zoom

In the past years we have seen images of West African women en route to Europe crossing the Mediterranean and currently newspapers and media are brimming with images of Ukrainian women.
Photo/illustration by Rob Crandall / Alamy Stock Photo

Livestreaming

Development and Migration: Root causes and successful interventions

DIIS Auditorium

Lessons from Central America
Blogpost

31 January 2022

Doing a PhD during Pandemic Times

A Somali Mother’s Journey
Photo/illustration by AG, Aboubacrine, ICRC

Webinar

What drives African migration and what role does development aid have to play?

Unpacking the relationship between migration and development and the implication for development policy
Photo/illustration by Unsplash

Livestreaming

Migration, inequality, and ethnoracial stratification

DIIS Auditorium

The dynamics of racialized inclusion and exclusion between and within groups
Livestreaming

Oprør og alliancer - Mellemøsten efter Det Arabiske Forår

Auditoriet - DIIS

Kom til boglancering for seniorforsker Lars Erslev Andersens nye bog og bliv klogere på, hvor Mellemøsten er på vej hen
Photo/illustration by Rasmus Fly Filbert

Webinar

West Africa Perspectives

Online via Zoom

It matters how the dynamics of West Africa are discussed. Join this webinar to understand why, and hear more about appropriate responses to some of the main challenges that the region is facing.
Photo/illustration by ICRC

Webinar

The politics and challenges of doing field research in humanitarian disasters

Based on personal experiences Dr. Tamara Last and DIIS Senior Researcher Ninna Nyberg Sørensen discuss the challenges that may affect research and lead to Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) among researchers
Blogpost

6 May 2021

A Year After the Floods In Qardho

What Has Been The Response And How Is The Community Coping?
Forskningsprojekt

23 February 2021

New project on migration management in Africa and the Middle East

How does the EU's migration agenda influence policy-making in Africa and the Middle East?
10 February 2021

DIIS-researcher new editor of Progress in Development Studies

DIIS senior researcher Adam Fejerskov has been appointed new associate editor of Progress in Development Studies.
Photo/illustration by Menahem Kahana/AFP/Ritzau Scanpix

Webinar

Future of Palestine : One state, Two states, No state

Online via Zoom

How will the Trump plan for solving the Israeli – Palestinian conflict and the recent normalization between UAE and Bahrain and Israel impact the future situation for the Palestinians?
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Blog

30 June 2020

Here, There and Everywhere

Covid-19 Travel Ban Effects on the Somali Diaspora
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Blog

30 May 2020

Khat and COVID-19

Somalia’s cross-border economy in the time of coronavirus
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Blog

5 May 2020

Puntland and COVID-19

Local Responses and Economic Impact

BorderImages: Migration, Trafficking & Rescue

The research initiative conducts field work among, and with, undocumented migrant women en route from West Africa to Europe’s Southern borders; In red light districts among trafficked women and...
Diaspora Humanitarianism in Complex Crises (D-Hum)

This collaborative research project explores how Somali diaspora groups mobilize, channel and deliver humanitarian assistance to Somalia during complex humanitarian crises.

Based on multi-sited...
New Geographies of Hope and Despair

The social effects of migration management for West African migrants. ‘New Geographies of Hope and Despair’ is a five-year research programme on West African migration, running between 2012 and...

Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Podcast

2022

Adapting to a changing climate in Ethiopia

Climate change has become an apparent reality in world. The problem is more pronounced in developing countries, such as Ethiopia, where the majority of the population and the national economy are dependent on the agricultural sector.
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Podcast

2022

What drives migration in Ghana and Ethiopia?

We often hear that climate change will cause mass movements of people, but is that really the case? In this interview we hear from experts from Ethiopia and Ghana that for years have been studying how climate change affects migration.
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Podcast

2018

Climate resettlement: the challenges of moving entire communities

Lessons from fieldwork in Vietnam and Zambia

Experts

Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Fannie Agerschou-Madsen

Peace and violence

PhD Candidate

+45 2758 4418

faam@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Hans Lucht

Migration and global order

Head of unit, Senior researcher

+45 2251 7305

halu@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Ida Marie Savio Vammen

Migration and global order

Senior Researcher

+45 3269 8707

imv@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Jethro Norman

Peace and violence

Postdoc

jeno@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Lily Salloum Lindegaard

Sustainable development and governance

Senior Researcher

91325502

liln@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Nauja Kleist

Migration and global order

Senior Researcher

+45 3269 8667

nkl@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Ninna Nyberg Sørensen

Migration and global order

Senior Researcher

+45 3269 8961

nns@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Marie Hald

Sine Plambech

Migration and global order

Senior Researcher

+45 6065 0479

spl@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Sofie Henriksen

Migration and global order

Researcher

sofh@diis.dk