Professor Dr. Anja Van Heelsum

Biography

Anja van Heelsum is an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam in the Department of Political Sciences, specializing in migration studies. She leads the programme group on Challenges of Democratic Representation and conducts research on migration policies and their implications on migrants' aspirations, local policies, political participation, and refugee reception. Van Heelsum has extensive fieldwork experience from 2019 to 2023, primarily in Greece, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Turkey, Lebanon, and Ethiopia, focusing on the consequences of migration policies. As a leading scholar in her field, she serves on the board of the Amsterdam Research Centre Migration (ARC-M) and is involved with various journals such as Ethnic and Racial Studies and the PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development (PJGD). Van Heelsum is currently engaged in teaching and supervising PhD students, coordinating a Minor in Global Migration, and teaching various courses related to migration and conflict resolution. Her academic work is supported by her leadership in EU-funded projects like the H2020 AdMiGov project, which explores alternative migration governance.

Research Interests

Experience