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TEMPLATE Bios

Anna Triandafyllidou

Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration
Education PhD, European University Institute
Areas of ExpertiseInternational governance of migration and asylum; cultural diversity, nationalism and identity; global outlook of migration, refugees, integration

Anna Triandafyllidou is an internationally recognized sociologist and migration policy expert whose interdisciplinary research focuses on the governance of migration and asylum; the management of cultural diversity, nationalism and identity issues; and, overall, the contemporary challenges of migration and integration across different world regions. In 2019, she was appointed the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration. In 2023, Anna took on the additional role of scientific director for a new $98.6 million project, Bridging Divides, (opens in new window)  funded by the Government of Canada through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).  

Prior to her CERC at Toronto Metropolitan University, Anna was based in Florence, Italy, where she held a Robert Schuman Chair at the European University Institute and directed the Cultural Pluralism Research Area as part of the European University Institute’s Global Governance Programme. Since receiving her PhD from the European University Institute in 1995, she has held teaching and research positions around the world, including the London School of Economics, the College of Europe in Bruges, and the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Rome. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Residence at New York University in 2001. In 2021, the University of Liège awarded Triandafyllidou an honorary doctorate in recognition of her contribution to migration scholarship.

Anna served as a member of the Network of International Migration Experts of the OECD (2010-2018) representing Greece, and has provided expert policy advice for the Government of Canada (Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and the Canadian Senate), the European Parliament, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs as well as the International Organisation of Migration (she co-edited the World Migration Report, 2022), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other inter-governmental organisations.

Since 2013, she has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, (external link)  and also chairs the IMISCOE Editorial Committee, (external link)  overseeing a large, fully peer-reviewed book series, (external link)  and is also a member of the IMISCOE Board of Directors.  

Anna has conducted stakeholder-engaged research with immigrant and refugee communities, settlement organizations and governments, among others. She has published extensively on migration, asylum, cultural diversity and integration. Her publications include more than 180 articles in refereed journals and chapters in collective volumes, six authored books and 30 that were edited and co-edited. Her recent edited volumes include: Routledge Handbook of Violent Extremism and Resilience (external link)  (with R. McNeil-Willson, Taylor & Francis, 2023); Migration and Pandemics: Spaces of Solidarity and Spaces of Exception (external link) . (Springer Nature, 2022); Routledge Handbook on the Governance of Religious Diversity (external link, opens in new window)  (with T. Magazzini, Routledge, 2020); Migrants with Irregular Status in Europe (external link)  (with S. Spencer, Springer, 2020); Handbook of Migration and Globalisation (Edward Elgar, 2018); The Problem of Religious Diversity: European Challenges, Asian Approaches (with T. Modood, Edinburgh University Press, 2018); Multicultural Governance in a Mobile World (Edinburgh University Press, 2017); Global Governance from Regional Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 2017).

Books that Anna has authored include: Rethinking Migration and Return in Southeastern Europe: Albanian Mobilities to and from Italy and Greece (external link)  (with E. Gemi, Routledge, 2021); What is Europe? (external link)  (with R. Gropas, Routledge, 2022, 2nd edition); Migrant Smuggling: Irregular Migration from Asia and Africa to Europe (with T. Maroukis, Palgrave, 2015); and Immigrants and National Identity in Europe (Routledge, 2001). 

Recent special issues that she has edited include: De-centring the study of Sino-African migrations (external link) , African Human Mobility Review (with O. Olakep, 2023); Why Do Migrants Stay? Migrant Retention in Small and Mid-Sized Cities in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand (external link) Journal of International Migration and Integration (with M. Kelly and M. Nguyen, 2023); The Global Race for Migrant Labour: Pandemic Contradictions (external link) Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies (2023); and Temporary Migration. Category of Analysis or Category of Practice? (external link)  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2022).

Over the past 20 years, she has raised over 20 million Euro in research funds from European, international and national sources, and co-ordinated 30 international research projects on migration, asylum and integration. Since beginning her tenure at CERC Migration, she has been awarded several major grants through Canadian funding agencies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), WES Mariam Assefa Fund, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Her current research team comprises over 30 full-time researchers and 15 graduate students. 

A full list of current research projects that Anna is leading at CERC Migration can be found here:  https://www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/projects/.