Professor Majella Kilkey (she/her)
PhD, MA, BSSc (Hons)
Department of Sociological Studies
Professor of Social Policy
Director of Research
Director of the CDT in New Horizons in Borders and Bordering
+44 114 222 6459
Full contact details
Department of Sociological Studies
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
߲ݴý
S10 2AH
- Profile
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Majella’s work is in the field of migration studies, with particular focus on the intersections between migration and families / care / gender / ageing / geopolitical transformations, which she approaches from sociological and social policy perspectives. These interests coalesce in different configurations around three key areas: transnational families, transnational political economy of care and migration and transformations. She works with groups traditionally seen as ‘marginalised’ / ‘excluded’ / ‘disadvantaged’, including older people with a migrant background, young migrants and asylum seekers and migrant care workers. Her research is grounded in partnership working, and she uses creative and participatory approaches to research lived experience with the aims of engendering inclusion, respect and esteem. She has a strong track record in co-producing public engagement events around challenging topics.
Majella has a strong track record in UKRI funding, and is involved in two current initiatives: she is Principal Investigator on the project (2022-2025), funded under the ’s Inclusive Ageing programme; and Co-Investigator in the ’s (2021-2026), leading a programme of work on Borders and Care. She also currently holds a number of externally funded international research grants. Currently these include two EU H2020-funded projects on which she is University of ߲ݴý Principal Investigator: Empowerment through liquid integration of migrant youth in vulnerable conditions [] (202-2023) and Migration, Integration and Governance Research Centre [] (2019-2023). She is a member of the Management Committee of the COST Action (2022-2025).
- Research interests
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Majella’s main current research areas are: migration, (transnational) families and care; migration and gender, including masculinities, ageing and migration; family migration policies; the multiple and interconnected ‘crises’ experienced in Europe in recent years, including the economic crisis, the ‘refugee crisis’, Brexit and Covid-19, examining their implications for EU integration, European Free Movement, EU migration governance and migrants’ lived experiences.
Majella currently holds a number of externally funded research grants in those areas.
- (PI, 2022-2025), funded under the ’s Inclusive Ageing programme. Its key aim is to interrogate accepted interpretations of social inclusion/exclusion in order to reconceptualise them from the perspective of the “Black Asian and Minoritised Ethnic and Refugee” (BAMER) population's life courses, and to employ this reconceptualisation as the basis for a new understanding of inclusive ageing and the steps needed to achieve it. The project's interdisciplinary team will research in partnership with BAMER groups and other key local and national stakeholders. These are included variously in the project as Co-investigators, Policy & Practice Partners, Community Researchers, Voice Forum and Stakeholder Platform members. In undertaking impactful co-produced research, we will centre the lived experience of BAMER older people, employing a creative 'storying' approach throughout the project. This will give us a participant-led, inclusive and adaptive way of developing knowledge with those who have experienced exclusion and/or exploitation. Through an innovative combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, we will co-construct a more pluralistic and inclusive knowledge-base and provide a catalyst for change, identifying creative policy and practice steps at micro, meso and macro levels to prevent the risks of exclusion and to promote inclusive ageing.
- ’s (Co-I, 2021-2026). Majella leads the Care Trajectories and Constraints Research Group, and within that has particular responsibility for a strand of work on Borders and Care. The overarching aim of the work in the Borders and Care research strand is to understand the role of bordering processes in shaping experiences of care depletion within the care convoys of people with migration experiences. In this work we put lived experience centre stage to explore the relational, affective and temporal nature of care in different parts of the care ecosystem. We are committed to using our work to influence care policy and practice and support ‘recognition’ of care in people’s daily lives. Our research is co-produced with people who require, receive and provide care in participatory and, we hope, empowering ways.
- EMpowerment and Integration of Migrant Youth (). Majella leads the University of ߲ݴý’s team work on this European Commission H2020-funded project (2020-2023) composed of twelve partners. The project aims to improve the situation of migrant youth throughout Europe by understanding what enables and constrains integration. It focuses specifically on the situation of migrant young people from outside of the EU who have experienced different conditions of exclusion, vulnerability and inequality. MIMY puts the experiences of young migrants at the centre of its activities by directly involving them as peer researchers through participatory research.
- Migration, Integration and Governance Research Centre (). Majella leads the University of ߲ݴý’s team work on this European Commission H2020-funded project (2019-2023). MIGREC is a research-capacity building project in the field of Migration Studies at the University of Belgrade. The project focuses on three inter-related challenges for confronting Serbia – migration, demographic ageing and geo-politics.
- (PI, 2022-2025), funded under the ’s Inclusive Ageing programme. Its key aim is to interrogate accepted interpretations of social inclusion/exclusion in order to reconceptualise them from the perspective of the “Black Asian and Minoritised Ethnic and Refugee” (BAMER) population's life courses, and to employ this reconceptualisation as the basis for a new understanding of inclusive ageing and the steps needed to achieve it. The project's interdisciplinary team will research in partnership with BAMER groups and other key local and national stakeholders. These are included variously in the project as Co-investigators, Policy & Practice Partners, Community Researchers, Voice Forum and Stakeholder Platform members. In undertaking impactful co-produced research, we will centre the lived experience of BAMER older people, employing a creative 'storying' approach throughout the project. This will give us a participant-led, inclusive and adaptive way of developing knowledge with those who have experienced exclusion and/or exploitation. Through an innovative combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, we will co-construct a more pluralistic and inclusive knowledge-base and provide a catalyst for change, identifying creative policy and practice steps at micro, meso and macro levels to prevent the risks of exclusion and to promote inclusive ageing.
- Publications
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Books
- Foreword.
- Gender, Migration and Domestic Work: Masculinities, male labour and fathering in the UK and USA. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
- . Policy Press.
- . Routledge.
Edited books
- Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility: Global Perspectives through the Life Course. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Social Policy Review 24: Analysis and debate in social policy, 2012..
- In Defence of Welfare: The Impacts of the Comprehensive Sepnding Review. UK Social Policy Association.
- Social Policy Review 23: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2011. Bristol: Policy Press.
- Social Policy Review 22: Analysis and debate in social policy, 2010. Bristol: Policy Press.
Journal articles
- . Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-20.
- . Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-20.
- . The Gerontologist.
- . Population, Space and Place, 27(3).
- . International Migration Review, 55(1), 227-253.
- . Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(9), 1903-1921.
- . Journal of Family Research, 32(3), 393-414.
- . Journal of Family Research, 32(3), 514-536.
- . Central and Eastern European Migration Review, 9(1), 5-12.
- . European Review, 28(2), 306-324.
- . Journal of Family Studies, 24(1), 1-4.
- . International Migration, 56(1), 23-38.
- . Journal of Social Policy, 46(4), 797-814.
- . Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(15), 2573-2590.
- . GLOBAL NETWORKS-A JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL AFFAIRS, 14(2), 210-229.
- . INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 52(1), 178-191.
- . Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy, 29(2), 109-121.
- . Social Policy and Society, 9(3), 379-384.
- . Social Policy and Society, 9(3), 443-454.
- . Community, Work and Family, 13(2), 127-146.
- . European Urban and Regional Studies, 17(2), 197-215.
- . Time & Society, 19(2), 239-264.
- . Men and Masculinities, 13(1), 126-149.
- . Feminist Economics, 15(1), 85-111.
- . Gender and Education, 20(6), 623-637.
- Working mothers and the welfare state. religion and the politics of work-family policies in western Europe and the united states. WEST EUR POLIT, 30(5), 1225-1226.
- . Social Policy and Society, 5(02), 167-175.
- . Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-19.
Chapters
- Transnational families in the era of global mobility, Handbook of Migration and Globalisation (pp. 387-401).
- , Migration, EU Integration and the Balkan Route (pp. 12-33). Routledge
- Welfare/migration regimes and care chains, Handbook on Migration and Ageing (pp. 67-75).
- Key developments and future prospects in the study of transnational families, Research Handbook on the Sociology of the Family (pp. 439-451).
- Transnational Families: Opportunities and Constraints for Caring Across Borders In Kapella O, Schneider N & Rost H (Ed.), Familie Bildung Migration
- Migrants and Asylum Seekers In Alcock P (Ed.), Students Companion to Social Policy, 5th Edition
- Transnational families, care and wellbeing, Handbook of Migration and Health (pp. 477-497).
- , Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility (pp. 337-350). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility (pp. 1-18). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility (pp. 137-161). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Migrant men and fathering: the circulation of fatherly care within the families of recent Polish male migrants in London In Baldassar L & Merla L (Ed.), Transnational Familes, Migration and the Circulation of Care: understanding mobility and absence in family life Routledge
- Getting tough on the family-migration route: a blurring of the 'them' and 'us' in anti-immigration rhetoric In Foster L (Ed.), In Defence of Welfare 2 Policy Press
- , Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care (pp. 201-216). Routledge
- Mexican Gardeners in the USA, GENDER, MIGRATION AND DOMESTIC WORK: MASCULINITIES, MALE LABOUR AND FATHERING IN THE UK AND USA (pp. 122-+).
- , Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 35-64). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 1-19). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 149-177). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 94-121). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 65-93). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 20-34). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Symposium on the coalition government, Social Policy Review 23: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2011 (pp. 1-6).
- (pp. 431-443). Edward Elgar Publishing
- , The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Families (pp. 155-175). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- In Baldassar L & Merla L (Ed.) Routledge
Book reviews
- Disabled fathers. Disability, Pregnancy & Parenthood International, 62.
- Citizenship in an enlarging Europe: from dream to awakening. J GENDER STUD, 16(3), 300-301.
- The politics of sexual harassment: A comparative study of the United States, the European Union, and Germany. SOC POLICY ADMIN, 40(5), 565-567.
- . JOURNAL OF SOCIAL POLICY, 35, 325-326.
- . JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY, 11(3), 281-281.
- Single mothers in an international context: Mothers or workers?. WOMENS STUDIES INTERNATIONAL FORUM, 21(1), 127-128.
- Women and the European labour markets - vanDoorneHuiskes,A, vanHoof,J, Roelofs,E. JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY, 7(2), 163-165.
- Women of the European Union. The politics of work and daily life - GarciaRamon,MD, Monk,J. JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY, 7(2), 163-165.
- . JOURNAL OF SOCIAL POLICY, 24, 467-469.
Reports
- British Medical Association's Cohort Study of 2006 Medical Graduates: Longitudinal Analysis of Career Trajectories
- Disabled Fathers: towards a research agenda
Website content
- 'Not one of you any longer': EU Nationals' Brexit uncertainty and mistrust..
- Foreword.
- Research group
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Majella co-founded the Migration Research Group in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of ߲ݴý, within which she is now Director of the CDT in New Horizons in Borders and Bordering.
- Grants
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2022-2025 Economic and Social Research Council
PI on the project (Funded value = £1,114,718)
2021-2026 Economic and Social Research Council
Co-I in the (Funded value = £8,219,677)
2020-23 European Commission H2020
Co-I on the EMpowerment and Integration of Migrant Youth () project, leading the University of ߲ݴý team (Award = €2,999,998; PI = Prof Birte Nienaber, University of Luxembourg)
2019-23 European Commission H2020
Co-I on the Migration, Integration and Governance Research Centre () capacity-building project (Award = €799,919; PI = Prof Natalija Perisic, University of Belgrade).
2019-20 Worldwide Universities Network
PI on the research collaboration Migrants’ decision-making in the context of shifting migration regimes (Award = £31,640).
2017-21 Economic and Social Research Council
Co-I on the , co-leading the work package - Care ‘in’ and ‘out of’ place: towards sustainable well-being in mobile and diverse contexts. (Award = £2.54 million; PI = Prof Sue Yeandle).
2017-19 Noble Foundation
Co-I on the project (Award = £29,760; PI = Prof Louise Ryan).
2016-19 European Commission
University of ߲ݴý PI on the (Award = €374,371 Euro; Project Co-ordinator = SEERC, Thessaloniki).
2016 British Medical Association
PI on the project Analysis of the BMA Cohort Study of 2006 Medical Graduates (Award = £38,720)
2016 World Universities Network
Co-I on the project Hidden Voices: Exploring the health experiences of children who migrate (Award = £20,000; PI = Dr Jill Thompson).
2013-14 White Rose University Consortium
PI on the Research Network Migration and Economic Crisis: the experiences of Brits at home and abroad (Award = £10724)
2008-9 Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
PI on the project Situating men within global care chains: the migrant handyman phenomenon (Award = £98,000)
2005-7 Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Co-I on the Seminar Series Gender, work and life in the new global economy (Award = £15,000; PI = Prof. Diane Perrons).
- Teaching activities
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Majella is Director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in New Horizons in Borders and Bordering.
- Postgraduate Supervision
Majella has a strong track record in successful PhD supervision. Topics previously and currently supervised include: transnational care networks, young unaccompanied asylum seekers and transitions to adulthood, Roma and experiences of European citizenship, women’s experiences of trafficking, UK asylum and refugee policy, migrant care workers in Saudi Arabia, diaspora engagement in development, rural-urban migration and return migration in China and care workers’ wellbeing. Majella is interested in supervising PhDs relating to the research areas listed on her Research page.