Migration Studies

The Migration Studies pathway offers an interdisciplinary training, brings together research centres that are world-renowned for their work on international migration:

The Migration Observatory (at COMPAS) has been recognised by the national press as the authoritative source of data and analysis on migration in Britain. The RSC sits on UNHCR’s innovation council, the ‘iCircle’, comprised of key UNHCR partners from the private sector, foundations and academia.

Students typically undertake doctoral dissertations that have an interdisciplinary focus, drawing on methods and approaches from anthropology, politics, sociology, psychology, economics, and history.

For applications to the Migration Pathway, in addition to completing the Grand Union application form, applicants must also email andrea.smith@qeh.ox.ac.uk after applying to indicate that they wish to be considered for a studentship. Full details of the DTP application process may be found on the 'How to apply' page.

1+3.5 students take one of these two one-year interdisciplinary specialised MScs as their core training:

and then progress to DPhil study in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography or the Department of International Development, including the DPhil in Migration Studies, or to a DPhil in a related area (Criminology, Geography, International Relations, Politics or Socio-Legal Studies). MSc Migration Studies students may also progress to +3.5 study at the Open University on the Citizenship Studies pathway.

+3.5 students will have completed one of the two MScs listed above, or a comparable MSc which meets the ESRC’s 2022 Training Guidelines.

For applications to the Migration Pathway, applicants must email andrea.smith@qeh.ox.ac.uk after applying  to indicate that they wish to be considered for a studentship. Please also use this contact to confirm the deadline for submissions.

The RSC and COMPAS have extensive links to a range of countries and multilateral agencies such as World Bank, UNDP, OECD, IOM and UNHCR. They also have links with research institutions both in the global South and the North that students can draw upon in their DPhil.

An Virtual Study Trip is organised for MSc RFMS and MSc MS students to meet officials in the major international organisations relevant to their research. Students on this pathway have many opportunities to undertake internships, including with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the National Organisation for Deported Migrants (Jamaica), the IOM and the East European Advice centre in London.

Students from the pathway have taken posts in most of the major international migration bodies and leading think tanks and consultancies in the UK.

Pathway leader: Dr Peter Walsh

Contact: peter.walsh@compas.ox.ac.uk

University of Oxford

School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography
Oxford Department of International Development
Structure of provision: 1+3.5, +3.5