Richa Shivakoti

Richa Shivakoti is the Research Lead on Migration Governance at The Global Migration Institute and a Researcher with the Bridging Divides program at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her current research focuses on Multinational migration to Canada and on Emigration from Canada. She also works on gendered migration policies and the impact of migration bans on migrant domestic workers from Ghana. Previously, she has worked on issues related to the governance of labour migration within Asia, particularly between the labour-sending states of South Asia and South East Asia and the labour receiving states in the Middle East. 

Richa’s research is interdisciplinary and she has been successful in attracting diverse research collaborators for research conducted in Canada, Nepal, the Philippines, the UAE and Ghana. She has also been successful in securing various research grants, including two Insight Development Grants (2021 and 2025) from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, from CERC Migration (2021- 2025) and from the Bridging Divides program (2025).

She is an Associate Editor for Comparative Migration Studies and on the advisory board for the Public Administration and Development journal. At the Global Migration Institute, she co-organizes the Migration Winter School on Qualitative Research Methods and serves as the managing Editor for the Global Migration Institute Working Paper Series.

Richa has a PhD in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore and a dual Masters in Public Affairs and Political Science from Indiana University, Bloomington. Previously, she was a research officer at Carleton University, a postdoctoral fellow at Maastricht University and the United Nations University in the Netherlands, and a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University. Richa has taught in various capacities in universities in Canada, USA, Singapore and Nepal. She has also worked for and consulted with various international organizations such as the International Organization for Migration, the International Labour Organization, the ASEAN Secretariat, the Open Society Foundations and the International Rescue Committee.

• Emigration from Canada: Rationale and Implications of Immigrants Leaving. Principal Investigator, funded by SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2025-2027)
• Multinational migration to and from Canada. Principal Investigator, funded by Bridging Divides Emerging Research Grant (2025-2027) 
• Migration bans on women migrant domestic workers from Ghana, Principal Investigator, funded by CERC Migration (2025-2026). 
• Complex Migration Flows and Multiple Drivers in Comparative Perspective. Collaborator, funded by SSHRC Partnership Grant (2022-2028)  
• COVID-19 and the worsening precarity of temporary migrant workers from Nepal. Principal Investigator, funded by SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2021-2024) 
• Pandemic Returns: The impact of COVID-19 on the return of Nepali and Filipino temporary migrant workers. Principal Investigator, funded by CERC Migration (2022-2023).

Shivakoti, Richa (2026) Individual and Institutional preparedness post pandemic return to Nepal and the Philippines (external link) . International Migration, Vol 64, Issue 4. 

With KC, Hari (2025) Narratives on emigration of women from Nepal: Is the state discourse keeping up with reality? (external link)  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol 51, Issue 18.

With Joseph, J., Henderson, S., Withers, M. (2025). Regulation through responsibilisation: Gendered exit policies and precarious migration from India and Sri Lanka. (external link)  International Migration, Vol 63, Issue 1.

With Saguin, K. (2023). Keeping up with the migrant workers: The role of embassies in transnational administration of labor migration policy. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 1-18.

(2022). Temporary labour migration in South Asia: Nepal and its fragmented labour migration sector. (external link)  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol 48, Issue 16. Pp 3910-3928.

With Milner, J. (2022). Beyond the partnership debate: localizing knowledge production in refugee and forced migration studies (external link) . Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol 35, Issue 2. Pp 805-826. 

With Withers, M. & Henderson, S. (2022) International Migration, Remittances and COVID-19: Economic Implications and Policy Options for South Asia. (external link)  Journal of Asian Public Policy, Vol 15, Issue 2. Pp 284-299.

With Henderson, S., & Withers, M. (2021). The migration ban policy cycle: a comparative analysis of restrictions on the emigration of women domestic workers. (external link)  Comparative Migration Studies, 9(1), 1-18.

With Howlett, M.P., Fernandez. V., & Nair, S. (2021) Governing International Regime Complexes through Multi-level Governance Mechanisms: Lessons from water, forestry and migration policy, (external link)  International Journal of Water Resources Development. 

(2019) When Disaster hits Home: A look at Nepali migrants response to the 2015 Earthquake, (external link)  Migration and Development, 8:3.

(2018) Improving International Policy-Making in the Absence of Treaty Regimes: The International Forestry, Migration and Water Policy Cases, (external link)  (with Michael P. Howlett) International Journal of Public Policy, 14:5/6, 303-319. 

(2017) ASEAN’s Role in the Rohingya Refugee Crisis, (external link)  Forced Migration Review. 

(2024)  (excel file) Circular labour migration governance (external link)  in Asia In A. Triandafyllidou (Ed) The Handbook of Migration and Globalization, Edward Elgar Publishing.

With Howlett, M. (2022). Agenda-Setting Tools in Theory and Practice. In The Routledge Handbook of Policy Tools (external link)  (pp. 113-124). Routledge.

(2020) Asian Migration Governance (external link) . In K. Marchand, G. Rayp & I. Ruyssen (Eds.), Regional Integration and Migration in the Global South, Springer United Nations University Series on Regionalism. 

(2020) Protectionist or Discriminatory Policies? The case of Nepal’s policy banning female migrant workers. (external link)  In D. Joshi & C. Brassard (Eds.), Urban Spaces and Gender in Asia, Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. 

With Deepa Nagari (2025)  (PDF file) Nepalese immigrants in Canada: Complex pathways and experiences. Toronto Metropolitan Centre for Immigration and Settlement (TMCIS) and the CERC in Migration and Integration Working Paper Series no. 2025/17.

(2024/10)  (PDF file) The Governance of Temporary Labour Migration in Asia. Toronto Metropolitan Centre for Immigration and Settlement (TMCIS) and the CERC in Migration and Integration Working Paper Series no. 2024/07.

With Michael Howlett (2014) Improving Global Water Governance: Dealing with Weak International Regimes through Enhanced Multi-Level Governance Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Research Paper No. 14-34. 

With Areej Jamal and Nasra Shah (2026) Retaining Talent: Strategic pathways for highly skilled South Asian migrants in Saudi Arabia’s Knowledge Economy (external link) . Gulf Labour Markets and Migration (GLMM) Policy Report No. 4.

(2019) With Melde, S., Milan, A., Roy, S.Y., Martineau, D., Laczko, F. Migration Governance Indicators: A Global Perspective, (external link)  International Organization for Migration.

(2025) With Anna Triandafyllidou The H1-B visa fee hike in the United States opens a policy window for Canada (external link) . The Conversation. 

(2022) Research Ethics Process. DemiKnow project blogs.

(2020) Can Nepal cope with the return of migrant workers? (external link)  Blog on Pandemic Borders, Open Democracy

(2020) with S. Henderson and M. Withers. A Critical Analysis of the Migration Ban Lifecycle for Women Domestic Workers in the Indo-Pacific Region (external link)  The Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement

What’s driving migration? (external link) , Borders & Belonging, Season 3, Episode 7. 

Nepalis speak about their journeys to and lives in Canada (external link) , Nepal Now, Season 8, Episode 3.