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 program is giving me the opportunity to expand my understanding of the field beyond my own research interest and to reflect more deeply on significant research issues. I particularly appreciate getting to know PhD students from other disciplines, learning more about their work and experiencing the interconnectedness of our research topics. This program opens up possibilities for future collaborations and significant ongoing conversations, which I believe is very exciting and sustaining. Sarah Strauven, University of Melbourne PhD Candidate

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, University of Melbourne PhD Supervisor

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

Wednesday 26 April 2023: 12.30pm
Reading Group – The challenges and rewards of conducting participatory research for your PhD

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

Group photo of 16 people in a seminar room. — Members of the PhD program at their first meeting of 2023.

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

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

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

Philippa Duell-Piening
The right to be counted for people with disabilities who are refugees or from refugee backgrounds

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

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

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

Thomas McGee
The displacement-statelessness nexus – Syrians in limbo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Complete the Online Application Form

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.

Upcoming Events

Past Events

Current Members

Completed Candidates

Application Process