PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies

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Addressing the contemporary issues of asylum-seeking, migration and statelessness across the areas of law, health, culture, education, creative arts, history, social policy, housing, social sustainability, community wellbeing and mental health.

The Melbourne Social Equity Institute's Interdisciplinary PhD Program is open to graduate researchers in any faculty at the University of Melbourne undertaking a PhD related to migration, refugee studies or statelessness.

Students are supported to build networks across the University and with relevant external organisations and to develop their research in reference to current real-world challenges. Masterclasses, workshops and seminars will include a focus on ethics, research methods and approaches for communicating research to diverse audiences across and beyond the academy.

The program enriches the PhD experience by creating a strong cohort and intellectual community that assists students in developing their post-doctoral pathways.

Eligible students must have commenced a PhD and have at least one supervisor based at the University of Melbourne.

The PhD program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies has given me great opportunities to learn from people with robust experiences and knowledge in migration and human rights. Its masterclasses, workshops and informal meetings have introduced me to a wide range of topics crucial to researching in this area; ethics, engaging with community and so on. I found it most wonderful that this program brings together individuals with different areas of research and creates spaces for conversations and collaborations.. Nurul Azizah Zayzda, PhD Candidate, Melbourne Law School
As a supervisor it's been a joy knowing that a PhD candidate I am supervising is able to be part of this Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies. It's also made it possible for us to create an interdisciplinary supervisory team. Three cheers for interdisciplinary team work! Dr David Denborough, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Work
The program has enabled me to connect with PhD candidates from other faculties who are interested in similar research areas. This opportunity to engage in discussion, and share resources and perspectives, has been energising and valuable for my own dissertation. I especially appreciated the fortnightly Shut-Up and Write sessions as it is wonderful to write with others, rather than in isolation, which largely characterises the PhD journey Melina Mallos, PhD Candidate, Melbourne Graduate School of Education

In addition to the formal events below, program members have fortnightly "shut up and write" sessions and regular casual catch-ups, as well as sharing information about relevant webinars, conferences, scholarships, post-doc opportunities, funding opportunities and more.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday 26 March 2024
1.00pm

Narrative Workshop with Professor André de Quadros (Boston University)

Past Events

Friday 15 March 2024
2.00pm

Gender and Migration Symposium

Friday 23 February 2024
2.00pm

Welcome Event 2024

Thursday 16 November 2023
9.00am

Migration, Refugees and Statelessness Interdisciplinary Conference

Thursday 2 November 2023
1.00pm

Masterclass with Dr Julia Hurst and Dr Nicholas Apoifis on Insider/Outsider Research

Thursday 19 October 2023
1.00pm

Masterclass with Professor Jenny Phillimore and Professor Gabriella Elgenius on Civil Society and Superdiversity

Tuesday 17 October 2023
12.00pm

Masterclass with Professor Yiorgos Anagnostou and Dr Andonis Piperoglou on Diasporas, Ethnicities and The Politics of Whiteness

Friday 1 September 2023
1.00pm

'Brown Paper Bag' Seminar Kate  Coddington on Border enforcement and Feminist Mapping

Wednesday 19 July 2023
1.00pm

'Managing Up' Supervisors Workshop

Wednesday 26 April 2023
12.30pm

Reading Group – The challenges and rewards of conducting participatory research for your PhD

Monday 20 March 2023
10.30am

Reading Group – Identity and Belonging

Friday 3 March 2023
Afternoon

Welcome Event 2023

Friday 18 November 2022
All Day

Migration, Refugees and Statelessness Interdisciplinary Conference 2022
Learn More 

Friday 7 October 2022
1.00pm

Insider/Outsider Research Workshop with Dr Julia Hurst and Dr Nicholas Apoifis

Friday 13 May 2022
10.30am

Migrants, Settlers, Sovereignties: A Workshop on Migration and Colonialism with Dr Andonis Piperoglou

Friday 18 March 2022
2.30pm

Welcome Event 2022

Monday 22 November 2021
2.30pm

Masterclass with Associate Professor Cathy Vaughan (Interim Director, Melbourne Social Equity Institute) on Using Photovoice in Research

Thursday 30 September 2021
10.00am

Workshop – The Politics of Solidarity and Anti-Racism in Settler Colonial Contexts

Thursday 16 September 2021
4.30pm

Masterclass with Professor Lynn Gillam (Centre for Health Equity) on Managing Ethical Tensions in Research

Tuesday 16 August 2021
12.30pm

Panel: Post-PhD Careers in Academia and Beyond

Thursday 3 June 2021
2.30pm

Seminar:  Funding Opportunities and Strategies for Grant Writing

Thursday 1 April 2021
2.00pm

Reading Group: Spatial Politics and Migration

Monday 22 March 2021
11.00am

Workshop: Working with Supervisors

Friday 26 February 2021
2.00pm

Welcome Event 2021

Wednesday 28 October 2020
1.00pm

Writing and Publishing for ECR and HDR Researchers (open to all)
Video Available

Thursday 8 October 2020
3.00pm

Workshop on Policy and Policy Change in Asylum Governance

Wednesday 2 September 2020
10.00am

Masterclass with Professor Karen Farquharson (Faculty of Arts) on Critical Race Theory

Wednesday 13 May 2020
3.00pm

Masterclass with Professor Deborah Warr (Charles Sturt University) on Co-produced Research

Friday 21 February 2020
2.00pm

Welcome Event 2020

Monday3 December 2020
3.00pm

Activism and Academia Workshop

Tuesday19 November 2019
All Day

Migration, Refugees and Statelessness Interdisciplinary Conference

Friday20 September 2019
2.00pm

Masterclass with Carolina Gottardo (Jesuit Refugee Service) on Global Compacts and Regional Refugee Processes

Wednesday21 August 2019
2.00pm

Masterclass with Dr Ibi Losoncz (ANU) on Unforced Migration

Wednesday29 May 2019
10.00am

International Fieldwork Workshop

Monday25 March 2019
2.30pm

Ethics Workshop

Thursday14 March 2019
1.00pm

Welcome Event 2019

Thursday21 February 2019
2.00pm

Workshop on Responsibility for Refugee and Migrant Integration

Friday7 December 2018
2.00pm

Masterclass with Associate Professor Val Colic-Peiske, Migration and Mobility Research Network, RMIT

Thursday15 November 2018
All Day

Researchers for Asylum Seekers Interdisciplinary Conference

Friday6 October 2018
2.00pm

Share Your Research Session

Thursday16 August 2018
3.00pm

Study Circle led by Shannon Owen: The Research Encounter

Friday10 August 2018
2.00pm

Masterclass with Associate Professor Eva Alisic (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health) on children and trauma

Friday13 July 2018
3.00pm

Study Circle led by Anh Nguyen: Refugee Mobility, Framework and Purpose

Friday29 June 2018
2.00pm

Masterclass with Gillian Triggs, Vice Chancellor's Fellow and former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission

Friday8 June 2018
2.00pm

Masterclass with Professor Nick Haslam, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences

Friday18 May 2018
2.00pm

Skills Workshop: Writing and Responding to Journal Review with Professor Julie McLeod, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Capability)

Friday11 May 2018
2.00pm

Masterclass with Erika Feller, Vice Chancellor's Fellow and former Assistant High Commissioner (Protection) at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Friday23 March 2018
3.30pm

Welcome Social Event at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute

Tuesday & Wednesday13 – 14 February 2018
All Day

Refugee Alternatives Conference

Thursday16 November 2017
All Day

RAS Postgraduate Conference

Friday13 October 2017
2.00pm

Abstract writing and presentation skills workshop

Friday8 September 2017
2.00pm

Research translation and communication workshop

Friday11 August 2017
All Day

Introductory full-day workshop and launch of the PhD Program

PhD researchers enrolled in the PhD program come from schools and faculties from across the University of Melbourne including Law, Education, Architecture, Fine Arts, History, Engineering and Health.

17 members of the PhD program posing for a photo with MSEI staff. They are in a University seminar room.

Members of the PhD program at their first meeting of 2024.

Current Members

Daphne Arapakis
Mediterranean diasporas, Indigenous sovereignties: the ethnic dimensions of the settler colonial present

Sayomi Ariyawansa
Tackling the exploitation of temporary migrant workers

Sana Ashraf
Silence behind the locked doors: domestic violence experiences and coping mechanisms of Pakistani immigrant women in Australia

Rashika Bahl
Misinformation behaviour in migrants

Surriya Baloch
Antenatal screening for family violence with migrant south Asian women in Australia

Alan Bechaz
Navigating mental health with diverse linguistic repertoires: an applied linguistic approach to CALD community members’ and mental health workers’ talk

Brendan Casey
Visiting authors: transnationalism and Australian literary history

Bella Choo
The "Australian Dream": Aspirations of young migrants with disability

Sumedha Choudhury
Citizenship and statelessness: a critical enquiry of India’s practice

Salsawi Feleke Debela
Settling well: a longitudinal study of refugees in regional Australia

Vincent Dogbey
The dilemmas of development: forced migration, displacement and involuntary resettlement

Jean Claire Dy
The affective tensions between memory and forgetting, between guilt and forgiveness: the use of poetic and observational modes of documentary filmmaking on a post-conflict community

Donya Eghrari
Sexual and reproductive healthcare experiences of refugee families

Wong Yuen Ping Estella
Ethnotheatre as a public artistic process for community building

Trisnasari Fraser
Social cohesion and resilience through intercultural music engagement

Hannah Gordon
Is Ending Statelessness Enough? A Critical Analysis of Current Approaches to Addressing Statelessness

Asangi Mira Gunawansa
Investigating the mental load of immigrant mothers

Zali Siaw Yen Fung
The uneven development of the Yuam River water diversion project in the Salween river basin: participation, exclusion and resistance

Aishah Jameel
Evaluating the role of bicultural workers in improving maternal and child health outcomes among refugee background women

Sara Javadian
Co-design of a mindfulness-based art intervention for children from refugee backgrounds

Andrea Marilyn Pragashini Immanuel
The Right to Nationality in Armed Conflict

Saltanat Kamenova
Superdiversity in entrepreneurship: the case of refugee women entrepreneurs in Melbourne

Anaita Kanga-Parabia
Migrant and refugee experiences of preconception and pregnancy genetic screening

Mireille Kayeye
Empowerment of women seeking asylum: a voice for change

Sarah Khaw
Exploring community-based doulas' and health care providers' experiences when providing care to migrant and refugee women in Australian maternity settings

Kimberly Lakin
Childbearing Indian migrant women's expectations and experiences of care: a case study for improving health system responsiveness

Meghan Lee
Exploring mental health supports, needs and access with young people of a refugee background in western Victoria

Alison Lemoh
Challenges in nursing sepsis management: an exploration of organisational and cultural barriers and enablers in acute care provision

Jin Li
Perspectives of death and dying among Chinese migrant community in Australia

Thomas McGee   
Syria’s changing statelessness landscape: protracted situations and “ticking time bombs”

Jemima McKenna
Making sense of irregular migration governance: relations of domination within third-state agreements?

Jack McMahon
Impacts of Sinicisation: Generational challenges within Tibetans living in exile

Sheenagh McShane
Refugee populations: what role does housing play e.g. accessibility/instability/affordability in mental health outcomes over time?

Alyssa Moohin
Reconceptualising cultural hegemony, resistance and agency under liberal multicultural governance: a case study of Australian Muslim women leaders

Bongkot Napaumporn
Negotiating identities and inclusion: analysis of interactions between stateless migrants and the States where they have legal connection - the case of stateless persons from Thailand in Japan

Hoang Tran Nguyen
The role of the artist and the contingent other

Shiva Nouri
A multi-ethnographic exploration of migrant women's experience in virtual and physical spaces

Samantha O'Donnell
Precarious migration status, family violence and immigration law and policy in Australia

Shannon Owen
Projecting futures through documentary film

Daniel Pejic
The city as group agent in global migration governance

Ratu Ayu Asih Kusuma Putri
Refugee mobilisation in ‘transition’: comparing the organisational patterns of Rohingya communities in Malaysia and Bangladesh

MD Mizanur Rahman
Stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: identities, belongings, and aspirations

SM Safiqur Rahman
Performance-based refugee shelter planning and design: the case of the Rohingya people in Bangladesh

Gowri Rajaram
Help-seeking behaviours and service utilisation following self-harm in young people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Yasodhara Ranasinghe
Community in disaster recovery: establishing strategies for community-inclusive resettlement solutions following landslides in rural Sri Lanka

Jade Roberts  
Beyond the state: an individual rights approach to recognising and protecting the rights of stateless people

Shiva Pourali Roudbaneh 
Menstrual needs study: exploring the physical, psychological, social and medical needs of young women with heavy menstrual bleeding and pain

Maryam Sarrafzadeh
Using positive psychology to increase employability of migrants

Eyram Ivy Sedzro
Risk assessment in migration: the impact of information campaigns on the risk perception of unskilled and semi-skilled Ghanaian female migrants

Nina Serova
Inheritances and encounters: Russian migrant women’s experiences in Australia

Farnaz Shahimi
Resilience and sense of identity among refugee children: a social ecological perspective

Claire Sullivan
Legal responses to violence: experiences of women from refugee backgrounds

Shadow Toke
Understanding what works to enable trauma-informed and culturally safe maternity care for Karen women of refugee background: A participatory learning and action research study

Catherine Townsend
Continental European architects who migrated to Victoria between 1930 and 1940: their experience and contribution to Australian architecture

Ann Truong
Collective memory and collective prospection in victim groups of mass atrocities

Martha Isela Vazquez Corona
Giving mums a fair go: culturally responsive care for refugee and migrant women

Kavitha Vipulananda
Building Affordable Homes for the Disadvantaged

Max Walden 
Where to now, if anywhere? The role of international NGOs and grassroots civil society actors in advocating on behalf of asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia

Elodiea Wilson
Borders of knowledge: cross-ontological border violence

Sintayehu Abebe Woldie
Sexual violence against female victims in Ethiopia: health services’ response to the mental health effects

Tammie Wong
The journey home: intimacies and loss of return migration

Dana Young
Sports participation, social capital and health for refugee and migrant teenage girls

Nurul Azizah Zayzda
Southeast Asian states’ behaviour on international human rights regime and the dynamics of citizenship practice affecting refugees’ lives

Shouyue Zhang
Citizenship: U.S. naturalisation and expatriation policies and practices, 1906-1930s

Peixin Zuo
Online learning and mental health of Chinese International students

Completed Candidates

Adrienne Anderson
Refugee law and gender-based violence against women: uncovering the political dimensions
Completed in 2022 

Duncan Caillard
The art of looking: contemplating emptiness in the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Completed in 2022

Jonathan Daly
Out-of-placeness: mediating intercultural encounter through urban design
Completed in 2019

Caitlin Douglass
Exploring alcohol and other drug use among young people of migrant backgrounds in Victoria
Completed in 2022

Philippa Duell-Piening
Knowledge, data, visibility and power: the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article 31 in refugee contexts
Completed in 2023

Rose Iser
Understanding second-generation African Australian students from refugee backgrounds in the classroom
Completed in 2022

Rasika Jayasuriya
Protecting the right to family unity: the impact of low-waged labour migration on children left behind
Completed in 2019

Ebony King
The role of services in facilitating the resilience of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors
Completed in 2019

Sanaz Nasirpour
Diasporic relations and women’s leadership: the question of women’s rights in Iran
Completed in 2018 

Hala Nasr
Safe spaces as a response to gender-based violence in refugee settings: possibilities and limitations
Completed in 2023

Melina Mallos
New media and identity: Exploring Greek migrant youth perspectives
Completed in 2023

Anh Nguyen  
Vietnamese child migrants in Australia and the historical use of Facebook in digital diaspora
Completed in 2019

Louise Olliff
Refugee diaspora organisations in the international refugee regime: motivations, modalities and implications of diaspora humanitarianism
Completed in 2017

Farnaz Shahimi
Resilience and sense of identity among refugee children: a social ecological perspective
Completed in 2023

Elham M Shoorcheh
Examination of key clinical, biological, psychological and social factors associated with post-pubertal anxiety in young people diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Completed in 2018

Kelly Soderstrom
Governance and responsibility in the refugee crisis in Germany: an analysis of institutional change and the capabilities-expectation gap
Completed in 2021

Sarah Strauven
People with and without refugee experience co-creating a shared world through narrative practices
Completed in 2021

Franka Korantemaa Vaughan   
Who is a Liberian anyways? The claim for formalised identity by diasporic Liberians
Completed in 2023

Brandais York
The legal rights and protections of Cambodian women within international marriage migration to China
Completed in 2019

The Program is offered by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and graduate researchers remain enrolled in their current departments. Eligible students must have at least one supervisor based at the University of Melbourne and be undertaking doctoral research on a relevant topic.

Timely completion of a PhD thesis remains the priority, with the Program intended to enhance the experience of advanced research training and aid post PhD pathways.

Participants can join the program at any time during their candidature and remain part of the program until the completion of their doctoral studies.

If you are not a current student at the University of Melbourne and would like information about how to apply to undertake a PhD at the University, please visit the Future Students website.

Application Process

Applicants are asked to provide the following information via an online form. We strongly recommend that you prepare your answers offline (in Microsoft Word or similar) and save a copy for your own records.

  • Name, enrolment and contact information
  • Start and expected completion dates
  • Current Supervisor/s
  • Thesis title (or proposed title)
  • A brief description of their topic (up to 100 words)
  • An outline of what they are most interested in gaining from the program (up to 100 words)

The PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies is open to graduates researchers enrolled in a PhD at the University of Melbourne through any of its Faculties.  If you would like information about how to apply to become a PhD candidate at the University, please visit the Future Students website.

If you a current student or have already applied to study at the University of Melbourne and have questions about the PhD Program please contact:

Associate Professor Karen Block
keblock@unimelb.edu.au
socialequity.unimelb.edu.au

+61 3 8344 0862

For updates about our work in the area of refugees and migration, and the other activities of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, please subscribe to our email newsletter.