I am Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, Tilburg University. I Chair the COST Action 'European Network on International Student Mobility: Connecting Research and Practice (ENIS)' (2021-2025). Together with Elif Keskiner (University of Amsterdam), Christine Lang (Max Planck Institute MMG Göttingen), Jens Schneider (University of Osnabrück) and Nicolai Netz (DZHW) I also co-coordinate an IMISCOE Standing Committee on Education and Social Inequality.

 

Scientific career:

I obtained a MA in History (University of Antwerp, Belgium, 2006), an international MA in Migration Studies (University of Valencia, Spain & Lille Catholic University, France, 2008), and a PhD in Sociology (University of Antwerp, Belgium, 2013). After completing my PhD, I joined the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI, the Hague), first as a postdoctoral researcher, from 2015 onwards as senior researcher. In November 2017 I joined the Department of Sociology of Tilburg University, and since 2019 I am also affiliated Faculty at the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (Catholic University Milan).

 

Scientific interests:

My main thematic interests are international migration processes, patterns, and outcomes, with a specific focus on intra-European mobility flows. Methodologically, I am interested in innovative forms of mixed-method research and online survey methodology.

 

Awards

• 2021 CIES Study Abroad & International Students Best Article Award, for the article International student mobility and labour market outcomes: an investigation of the role of level of study, type of mobility, and international prestige hierarchies, published in Higher Education.

• 2020 ASHE CIHE Award for Significant Research on International Higher Education, together with Anthony Ogden (University of Wyoming) and Bernhard Streitwieser (George Washington University)

• 2020 Comparative & International Education Society Study Abroad and International Students SIG Best Article Award (3rd place), for the article Intra-European student mobility and the different meanings of 'Europe', published in Acta Sociologica.

• Best Course Award 2018/2019, Tilburg University, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, for the course 'Sociological Themes, coordinated with Peter Achterberg

• 2016 Best Book Award, RC31 (Sociology of Migration) of the International Sociological Association, for the book Intra-European Student Mobility in International Higher Education Circuits. Europe on the Move, published by Palgrave Macmillan.

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Invited talks:

• International student mobility from a mobility regime perspective, EUMIGS Network, 27 October 2021.

• How to engage, activate, and connect with students in online education? IMISCOE Annual Conference - PhD conference,  7 July 2021.

• Environmental migration & climate refugees. Amnesty International Tilburg, 18 June 2021.

• Integration of immigrants into today's increasingly heterogeneous societies: challenges and opportunities, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, 26 April 2021.

• Myths of migration. Versot Study Association, 13 April 2021.

• Student mobility and labour market outcomes. Abroadia, 20 October 2020.

• Collecting and analysing data, Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation, Catholic University Milan, 17 March 2020.

• Mind the Gap! Bridging disciplinary boundaries in the study of international student mobility and migration, Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation, Catholic University Milan, 16 March 2020.

• Designing your research project, Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation, Catholic University Milan, 16 March 2020.

• Labour market outcomes of international student mobility: is selectivity an issue?, Final SAREP Conference Brussels, 4 February 2020.

• Studying migration and mobilities, Utrecht University, 18 December 2019.

• Lifestyle migration and international student mobility, Radboud University Nijmegen, 20 November 2019.

• Lifestyle migration and mobilities, University of Antwerp, 1 July 2019.

• Collecting and analysing data, Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation, Catholic University Milan, 26 March 2019.

• Now you have a research question, how will you answer it? Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation, Catholic University Milan, 25 March 2019.

• Studying migration and mobilities, Utrecht University, 5 December 2018.

• Lifestyle migration and international student mobility, Radboud University Nijmegen, 15 November 2018.

• Who benefits from international student mobility? A confrontation of popular discourses on the benefits of study abroad with empiral evidence, Paul Valéry University Montpellier, 8 November 2018.

• Lifestyle migration and international student mobility, Radboud University Nijmegen, 30 November 2017.

• European integration through study abroad, University of Pittsburgh, videoconference, 15 November 2017.

• International student mobility in Europe: myths, realities and a future research agenda, Tilburg University, 24 October 2017.

• Mobilities in Europe and the Mediterranean: perspectives of European programmes, Université d'Aix-Marseille, 29 September 2017.

• Networking at Academic Conferences, IMISCOE PhD Workshop, Rotterdam, 28 June 2017.

• Academic Recruitment and Scientific Brain Drain, Goethe University Frankfurt, 20 June 2017.

• Effects of international student mobility on identity and employment outcomes, German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies, 11 May 2017.

• Intra-European mobility and European identity: a match made in heaven or marriage of convenience?, Sciences Po, 10 May 2016.

• Mobility within the Erasmus programme, EP/Nuffic, 19 April 2016.

• The lure of capitals and second tier metropolitan regions: the spatial distribution of Erasmus students, University of St-Andrews, 29 February 2016.

• Intra-Europese student mobility: an overview of recent trends and developments, The Hague University, 2 December 2015.

• Student mobility in Europe: trends and future perspectives, Université de Neuchâtel, 25 November 2015.

• Migration and immigrants in Europe: a historical and demographic perspective, Sint-Lievenscollege Antwerp, 28 May 2015.

• Migration and Integration in Europe, 1950-2015, Vrijzinnig Centrum Oostkamp, 21 May 2015.

• Europe on the Move. Intra-European mobility in the twenty-first century, Free University Brussels, 30 April 2015.

• Intra-European mobility in the twenty-first century: a research agenda, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, 18 February 2015.

• Migration towards and within Europe, 1950-2014, Free University Brussels, 6 November 2014.

• A Systems Approach for a Theory on International Student Mobility, University of Liège, 3 April 2014.

• Anthropology of Europe, University of Antwerp, 24 March 2014.

• Intra-European migration and mobility, Free University Brussels, 20 March 2014.

• Sociology of the European Union, Sint-Lievenscollege Antwerp, 24 May 2013.

• Anthropology of Europe, University of Antwerp, 29 April 2013.

• Europe on the Move. A study into intra-European student exchanges in higher education, University of Antwerp, 19 April 2013.

• Student Mobility and European Identity, The Hague University, 24 January 2011.

• Academic Mobility, University of Oxford, 18 February 2010.

• Integration Policies in Brussels and the Walloon provinces in Belgium, Belgian National Security, 4 December 2008.

• Integration Policies in Belgium, Catholic University of Lille, 2 December 2008.

• Immigration in Spain. History, causes and characteristics, University Lille 3, 18 December 2007.

 

Visiting scholarships

• Erasmus University Rotterdam, August-October 2013.

• University of Innsbruck, April 2010.

• Warsaw University, March 2010.

• University of Oxford, February 2010.

• University of Oslo, January 2010.

• University of Rome 'La Sapienza', December 2009.

 

Reviewer for:

Acta Sociologica; Area; Baltic Journal of Political Science; British Educational Research Association; Central and Eastern European Migration Review; East Asia; European Educational Research Journal; European Journal of Higher Education; European Societies; European Union Politics; Field Methods; Geoforum; Geographic Journal; Geographic Review; Globalisation, Societies and Education; Global Networks; Higher Education; Innovation; Intercultural Education; International Journal of Bias, Identity and Diversities in Education; International Journal of Comparative Sociology; International Journal of Intercultural Relations; International Journal of Social Research Methodology; International Journal of Research & Method in Education; International Migration; International Migration Review; Journal of Common Market Studies; Journal of East Asian Studies; Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies; Journal of Social and Personal Relationships; Journal of Studies in International Education; Journal of Studies in International Relations; Journal of Youth Studies; Learning and Instruction;'Mobilities; Nordic Journal of Migration Research; Organizacija; Palgrave Macmillan; Population, Space, and Place; Social and Cultural Geography; Studies in Higher Education; Public Opinion Quarterly; SAGE Open; Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research; Social and Cultural Geography; Social Science Computer Review; Studies in Higher Education; The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; World Studies in Education.

 

Organisation/chair of workshop/sessions at conferences:

• Organisation of a session on migration-related diversity in higher education, with Elif Keskiner (Free University Amsterdam), Nicolai Netz (DZHW), Jens Schneider (University of Osnabrück), and Christine Lang (MPI MMG Göttingen) at the IMISCOE 17th Annual Conference, Luxembourg, 2020.

• Organisation of a session on the role of place in international student mobility and migration dynamics, with Prof. dr. Yvonne Riaño (University of Neuchâtel), Prof. dr. Parvati Raghuram (Open University) and Nicolai Netz (DZHW) at the IMISCOE 16th Annual Conference, Malmö, 2019.

• Organisation of an international IMISCOE/DZHW workshop on trajectories of internatuional student mobility with Prof. dr. Yvonne Riaño (University of Neuchâtel), Prof. dr. Parvati Raghuram (Open University) and dr. Nicolai Netz (DZHW) at the German Centre for Higher Education Studies and Science Research, 2018.

• Organisation of a session on International Student Mobility and Migration: trajectories, transitions and social transformations with Prof. dr. Yvonne Riaño (University of Neuchâtel), Prof. dr. Parvati Raghuram (Open University) and Nicolai Netz (DZHW) at the IMISCOE 15th Annual Conference, Barcelona, 2018.

• Organisation of an international IMISCOE workshop on gendered perspectives on international student mobility with Prof. dr. Yvonne Riaño (University of Neuchâtel) and Prof. dr. Parvati Raghuram (Open University) at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, the Hague, 2017.

• Organisation of a session on gendered perspectives on international student mobility with Prof. dr. Yvonne Riaño (University of Neuchâtel) and Prof. dr. Parvati Raghuram (Open University) at the IMISCOE 14th Annual Conference, Rotterdam, 2017.

• Session chair of the session 'Determinants and consequences of immigrants' residential choices' at the European Population Conference, Mainz, 2016.

• Organisation of an international NCCR-IMISCOE workshop on International student migration and mobility: policy perspectives with Prof. dr. Yvonne Riaño (University of Neuchâtel) at the University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, 2016.

• Organisation with dr. Sónia Pereira (University of Lisbon) of the session 'Welfare inequalities and migration' at the Nordic Migration Conference, Oslo, 2016.

• Organisation with dr. Marie Godin (University of Oxford) of the session 'A transnational approach towards welfare provision: heading towards a better understanding of its role in shaping mobility patterns towards and across Europe' at the IMISCOE 13th Annual Conference, Prague, 2016.

• Organisation with Prof. dr. Yvonne Riaño (University of Neuchâtel) and Prof. dr. Parvati Raghuram (Open University) of the session 'International student migration and mobility: policy perspectives' at the IMISCOE 13th Annual Conference, Prague, 2016.

• Organisation with dr. Sónia Pereira (University of Lisbon) of the session 'Welfare inequalities and migration' at the AAG Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 2016.

• Organisation of International Conference Transnational Academic Spaces with dr. Basak Bilecen at the University of Bielefeld, 2015.

• Session chair (on invitation) at the IMISCOE 11th Annual Conference, Madrid, 2014.

• Session chair (on invitation) at the European Population Conference, Budapest, 2014.

• Organisation of a session with Prof. dr. Christiane Timmerman (University of Antwerp) and dr. Noel Clycq (University of Antwerp) at the IMISCOE 10th Annual Conference, Malmö, 2013.

• Organisation of a session with dr. Basak Bilecen at the 15th International Metropolis Conference, the Hague, 2010.

• Session chair (on invitation) at the International Bilingual Conference on Academic Mobility, Tallinn, 2009.

 

Other academic activities

• Member of the Peer Review Board of the Journal of International Students (2018-2021)

• Member of the Advisory Board of the Mobility project (2019-2021)

• Member of the Advisory Board of the SIG 'Study Abroad and International Students' at the Comparative and International Education Society (2018-2022)

• Editorial Assistant European Journal of Population (2015-2017)

• Member of the International Editorial Review Board of the International Journal of Bias, Identity and Diversities in Education

• Member of the International Sociological Association

• Member of IMISCOE (International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion)