Hélène Le Bail is a researcher at CNRS and Sciences Po Paris – CERI (Centre de recherches internationales) and a fellow of the Institut Convergences Migrations. She holds a PhD in political science from Sciences Po Paris and a master’s degree in Chinese studies from Inalco (National Institute for Eastern Languages and Cultures). She spent many years in Japan where she has been a research fellow for the French research center on contemporary Japan (Nichifutsu kaikan) in Tokyo and an invited researcher at Kobe University.
Hélène’s research relates to Asian migrations (to Japan and France) and migration policies in a comparative approach. Special focus is made on female routes of migration (marriage, reproductive labour, sex work) and on collective actions and political participation.
She is currently the principal investigator for the research project PolAsie (Political Participation of Asian Migrants and their Descendants in France) funded by the French Ministry of Research; co-investigator for the Japanese JSPS project Rethinking the Nexus Migration and Sex Work Trafficking, and co-investigator for the Colombia/Alliance joint project Anti-Asian Hate Compared: Origins, Patterns, and Responses in the US and France.