Explore Migration, Politics and Society at UCL

Your studies will encompass the following issues and beyond: borders and bordering, diaspora and displacement, development and humanitarianism, transnationalism and citizenship, policy and governance, labour migration and inequality, coloniality and decoloniality, race and racialisation, culture and representation, and solidarity and resistance. We study the politics of movement in ways that are at once broad and conceptual, and grounded in the everyday realities of life on the move.

Based in the Department of Geography, this Masters degree taps into the breadth and depth of migration research expertise at UCL. You will be taught by a core team of migration researchers at the forefront of their fields, and will have access to the resources and lively scholarly communities across the University’s Migration Research Unit, Refuge in a Moving World network, and Culture and Migration Research Cluster.

As a student on the MSc Migration, Politics and Society, you will be trained in critical and creative approaches to studying migration, advanced analytical skills, and research methods. The programme equips you with the skills and analytical tools to make interventions in migration research, policy, and wider society.

You’ll also gain training in research methods and methodologies, and be able to choose from a wide range of optional modules on offer at UCL (find out more in the Prospectus). The degree culminates in the dissertation, which is an opportunity for you to design and carry out an original, independent, and substantial piece of academic research, closely supervised by a member of the teaching team.

On graduation, you will have a set of knowledges and skills that will prepare you for advanced research and/or the many careers that centre on migration: in civil society, NGOs, humanitarian and solidarity spaces, cultural organisations, policy, and governance at various levels.

Elena is Co-Director of the UCL Migration Research Unit and coordinates the Refuge in a Moving World research network. Her research focuses on the intersections between gender, generation and religion in experiences of, and responses to, conflict-induced displacement and statelessness. She has a particular regional focus on the Middle East and North Africa.

Visit Professor Fiddian-Qasmiyeh's UCL Profile

Tariq is co-founder and co-director of UCL’s Centre for the Study of South Asia and the Indian Ocean World. His research examines the intersection between critical geography, postcolonial and critical theory, and South Asian studies. He is interested in the politics of ethnicity and difference in Sri Lanka and the diasporic and transnational forms of South Asian cultural production.

Visit Professor Jazeel's UCL Profile

With over 25 years of experience working in Cameroon, Ben has a research interest in the fields of migration and development. He is the editor of Timespace and International Migration, published in 2017.

Visit Professor Page's UCL Profile

Hannah is a Lecturer in Economic Geography at UCL Geography. Her research examines labour migration, social reproduction, and logistics-driven capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe. Combining feminist political economy with ethnographic fieldwork, she explores worker dormitories, precarious employment, and cross-border labour regimes. She holds a PhD from King’s College London.

Visit Dr Schling's UCL Profile

Tatiana's research focuses on people cut off from mainstream institutional support and how they navigate precarious urban environments, especially concerning employment. Alongside her long-term and ongoing ethnographic engagement in Kenya, her projects include research on refugee economies and street-level humanitarian work in Athens, Paris, Berlin and Budapest, funded by the British Academy Camps2Cities.

Visit Dr Thieme's UCL Profile

Tom Western is a Lecturer in Social and Cultural Geography. His work builds creative geographies that seek to imagine futures beyond the colonial past and present – combining approaches from cultural geography with anticolonial methods and knowledge from social movements. He is the research cluster lead for Culture and Migration in the Department of Geography.

1. UCL Doctoral School
2. UCL Graduate Scholarships and Awards
3. ESRC funding at UCL (including the 1+3 scheme, but please contact Professor Ben Page directly for application)
4. UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chevening Programme: Provides approximately 1,000 scholarships for international students pursuing taught postgraduate study or research at a UK Higher Education Institution.
5. Commonwealth Scholarships and Fellowships Plan (CSFP): Open to prospective postgraduate students from Commonwealth countries.
6. Ford Foundation International Fellowships Programme: Available for students from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Russia.
7. Marshall Scholarships - Marshall Commission: Offers funding for taught postgraduate studies to US citizens.
8. Fulbright Traditional Postgraduate Student Awards - US-UK Fulbright Commission: Provides awards to US citizens for funding their first year of a Masters or Doctoral Degree, or for pursuing research at a UK educational institution. 

The application deadline for most of these awards is typically in early March each year, although some awards may require up to 12 months' notice.

We strongly encourage you to contact your Ministry of Education or Education Department, as they will have information on various funding schemes and advise you on your government's conditions for studying abroad.

Additionally, please reach out to the nearest British Council Office in your country of origin. They can provide details on scholarship schemes, as well as information and guidance on educational programs and living in the UK. In the absence of a British Council Office, please contact the nearest British Embassy, High Commission, or Consulate.

There are also additional funding opportunities available from institutions such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Commission. It is advisable to directly contact these institutions for more information.

For further assistance and information about studying in the UK as an overseas student, please get in touch with the UCL International Office.