The Routed Team
Shaddin Almasri
Editor & Communications officer
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Shaddin Almasri has just embarked on a PhD Migration Studies program at the Danube University Krems, preceded by completion of an MSc Migration, Mobility and Development at SOAS, University of London. Shaddin has three years of experience in the development sector in research and advocacy roles. Her work has covered numerous topical areas including inequality, austerity, economic justice, gender justice, refugee livelihoods, and access to rights. She has presented her work at various events and panels including Salzburg Global Seminar, IMF-WB Civil Society Policy Forum, and numerous working groups. Shaddin’s current research, and the topic of her PhD, critically assesses international cooperation and multilateral aid agreements as they pertain to refugee support. This has a particular focus on Syrian refugee deals including the Jordan Compact and the EU-Turkey deal as well as refugee inclusion policies across several refugee host states. Additionally, Shaddin also has a particular interest in decolonising research dynamics and questioning Global North dominance of research narratives, journalism and fieldwork surrounding refugees from the Global South.
Lillian Babayan
Editor
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Lillian was born and raised in London, England. She holds a BA in Geography from University College London. Her interest in the subjects of diaspora, diasporic identities, and peoples’ imaginings of homeland led her to pursue an MSc in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford, graduating in 2018. Her dissertation focused on the return migration of young professional Armenian diasporans to Armenia. In her spare time, she enjoys trying new foods, planning holidays, and adding things to her basket.
Madison Bradt
Editor
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Madison grew up in Toronto, Canada. She holds a BA (Hons) in International Development from the University of Toronto, and an MSc in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford. She is interested in a range of topics, including the politics of international development, organised crime, migration routes in North Africa, famine, and alternative histories. She likes travelling, fermenting things, and coming up with Game of Thrones conspiracy theories.
Fiona Buchanan
Editor
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Fiona has worked for both the Australian and UK governments for over five years as a policy adviser, including on migration. She has an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford, where her research centred on the politics of gender in refugee resettlement. She also has an interest in refugee community sponsorship schemes, efforts to combat human trafficking, and the rights of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. As well as playing netball and singing, Fiona enjoys learning Arabic, which she is currently trying to rekindle, despite now living back in her home town of Melbourne.
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Lena Hartz
Editor & Newsletter coordinator
Lena grew up in Luxembourg. She completed an M.A. in International Relations and Literature in a World Context at the University of Aberdeen and spent a year at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. During her MSc in Migration Studies at the University of Oxford, her research focused on EU development and migration politics in West Africa and its colonial legacies. She currently works for Luxembourg’s development cooperation agency in Senegal. In her free time, Lena loves to travel, read and volunteer with her local scout group.
Margaret (Markéta) Koudelkova
Editor, Communications coordinator & Selection coordinator
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Margaret grew up in a small town in the Czech Republic. She graduated from the University of Oxford with an MSc in Migration Studies in 2018. Her time in academia started at Charles University in Prague with a degree in International Area Studies, she also spent one year in Leeds as an Erasmus exchange student. Margaret is currently working for a non-profit in the South of England, with most of her spare time being taken up by architecture studies under RIBA and looking for as-yet-unread J. R. R. Tolkien’s masterpieces.
Chrysi Kyratsou
Communications officer
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Chrysi is a PhD student in Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast. Her academic interests are in musicking, migration, encounters, cultural flows. Chrysi’s fieldwork research into refugees’ sheltering in reception centres explores how refugees’ aesthetic agencies are informed by the shifting backgrounds in which they live, and how they shape their sociality.
Javier Ormeno
Spanish editor
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With a philosophy background, Javier got involved in humanitarian action around the globe, working for the Red Cross Movement between 2008 and 2019. His MA in Human Rights (UCL) was an opportunity to reconnect with academia and articulate his experience. His research links arts and justice (including transitional justice, LGBT+, migration rights, and identity). Besides being involved with the Theatre of Transformation, he is Research Tutor for Diplo Foundation. His interest in performance and pottery seems to be somehow related to his self-declared addiction to matcha.
Magda Rodríguez Dehli
Editor, Web designer & Spanish coordinator
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Magda was born and raised in Spain and obtained a B.A. in International Relations from the Complutense University of Madrid, studying abroad at UCLA and at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Lyon, and an MSc in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford. She is currently preparing the admission exams for the Spanish civl service. Her two passions are singing in the shower and keeping a close eye on all things political.
Woopi Takarasima
Editor & Communications officer
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Woopi is originally from Zimbabwe but grew up in Eswatini. She completed her studies at the African Leadership University with a B.A. (Hons) in Global Challenges, focusing on Governance and Education Accessibility for refugee students. With a mission to use strategic communications, storytelling and advocacy to advance the impact of innovative organisations, in her postgraduate studies, she plans to explore the role of strategic communications in reshaping attitudes towards forcibly displaced individuals for improved integration systems.
Sarah Etter
Editor and Research officer
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Sarah grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with her wonderful parents and four brothers. Lancaster’s diverse and artistic community led her to an interest in migration and culture. She has her undergraduate degree in International Studies and is currently pursuing a masters degree in International Relations, with particular interest in sustainable development, conflict prevention, and migration. In her professional research life, she has investigated economic history, protest movements, terrorism, and election transparency. In her free time, she loves reading, rock climbing, motor sports, and cinema, and hopes to learn as many languages as possible.
Charles Mbatsogo
Editor & Communications officer
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Dr Charles Simplice Mbatsogo Mebo is a junior researcher specialised in migration governance in sub-Saharan Africa. He is a laureate and graduate of the YALI (Young African Leadership Initiative) Programme and holds a double master's degree in Geopolitics and International Relations from the Academy of Diplomacy of Cameroon (IRIC) where he grew up as well as a PhD from the University of Poitiers (France). Charles has over 5 years of experience in corporate communication, project management, creative writing, data collection and analysis, leading to various scientific publications in the field of return migration and development, as well as international communications and positions. He is currently working for a non-profit in Paris (France). In his free time, Charles loves travelling, exploring new cultures and sharing good vibes but also painting landscapes and writing song lyrics and scripts for musicals.
Gabriella Mikiewicz
Online & digital coordinator
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Gabriella Mikiewicz is a social impact and communications professional with an academic background in migration studies and intercultural relations from the Erasmus Mundus program EMMIR. Her experience spans a diverse range of areas, from strategy development and fundraising to curriculum development and community management, earning her the moniker of a 'jack of all trades.' She has worked and lived in various countries, including the United States, South Africa, Lithuania, and is now based in Norway.
Achille Versaevel
Communications officer
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Achille is a junior specialist of migration within and towards Europe. He graduated in 2018 with a first Master’s degree in European Studies from King’s College London and the Humboldt University in Berlin. He then opted for a second Master’s degree, in Migration Studies and at the University of Oxford, from which he graduated in 2019. A keen ping-pong player, his areas of interest also include the study of immobility and the Central Asian migratory ecosystem – but, as for now, he is mostly struggling to learn Russian.