Sonja Fransen

Sonja Fransen is a Research Fellow at UNU-MERIT’s migration group where she works on and manages several research projects on (forced) migration and policy impacts on (forced) migrant populations. She is also one of the principal investigators of the MISTY (Migration, Transformation and Sustainability) project, financed by NORFACE and the Belmont Forum, and led by Exeter University. This three-year research project aims to provide theoretical and methodological innovations on the linkages between migration and sustainability. The interdisciplinary consortium consists of teams in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.

Previously Sonja worked as a researcher and teacher at the University of Amsterdam, where she mainly worked on the Migration as Development (MADE) project. This ERC-funded project studies the drivers of migration using a long-term and cross-national perspective. Sonja also worked as a postdoctoral researcher on several projects related to (forced) migration at UNU-MERIT in collaboration with the Centre for Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford. Sonja’s research interests include (forced) migration, return migration, (post-conflict) development, and remittances. She has extensive, both quantitative and qualitative, fieldwork experience in various countries, and is particularly specialised in migration and development in African and European countries. Sonja has also done various consultancies for NGOs and international organizations, including UNHCR and the World Bank. She has published several academic articles, book chapters, policy briefs, and reports in the area of (forced) migration studies and development.