Prof. PhD Thomas Faist

Prof. Thomas Faist, PhD

Contact

Thomas Faist
University Professor
Department of Sociology
Bielefeld University
P.O Box 100131
D-33501 Bielefeld
Tel. + 49-521-106-4639/-4650
Fax + 49-521-106-2980
E-Mail: thomas.faist@uni-bielefeld.de

Academic Training

A. Post-Doctoral Qualifications
Habilitation (Post-Doctoral Dissertation) in Political Science, University of Bremen, 1999

B. Graduate Education
PhD Degree in Political Science, The Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, New York, 1992
Magister Artium (MA) in Political Science, University of Tübingen, 1986

C. High School
Abitur, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliches Gymnasium (Mathematics-Natural Science High School), Hausach, Baden-Württemberg, 1978

Awards

Exit. Warum Menschen aufbrechen. Globale Migration im 21. Jahrhundert (Exit. Why people leave. Global migration in the 21st century) listed as „Science Book 2023“ https://www.wissenschaftsbuch.at/jahr/2023/


Member, North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, 2020


Albert Salomon Memorial Award for Outstanding Dissertation in the Social Sciences, New School for Social Research, New York, 1992


Elinor Goldmarck Black Fellow for Advanced Studies in the Dynamics of Social Change, und Alvin Johnson Dissertation Fellowship, New School for Social Research, New York, 1991-1992


Quadrille Ball Fellow of the Germanistic Society of America, 1990-1991


Walter and Vera Eberstadt Fellow, New School for Social Research, New York, 1989-1990


New School Prize Fellow, New School for Social Research, New York, 1987-1990


Andrew S. Cowart Award, Department of Political Science, SUNY at Stony Brook, New York, 1987

Professional Career

Director of the Working Group on “Migration”, North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, 2020-2023


Dean, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, 2013-2016


Professor, Sociology of Transnationalization, Migration and Development Sociology (Lehrstuhl C4/W3), Department of Sociology, Bielefeld University, since October 2004


Professor of Political Science and Political Management (Eckprofessur), and Founding Director of the Program in Political Management, Hochschule Bremen, 2000-2004


Wissenschaftlicher Assistent, University of Bremen and Executive Manager at the Institute for Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS), University of Bremen, 1996-1999


Researcher and Lecturer (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) in the Department Theory and Constitution of the Welfare State, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS), University of Bremen, 1992-1996


Consultant for apprenticeship training and further education in Germany, Manpower Development Research Corporation, New York, 1990-1992


Coordinator of Education Programmes, Arbeitskreis Ausländische Arbeitnehmer, Tübingen, Germany, 1983-86


Intern, Office of Congressman Harold E. Ford, Memphis, TN, 1982-1983


Academic Exchange Program, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 1981-1982


Civilian Service (Zivildienst), Jugendkeller, Kehl/Rhein, Germany, 1978-1980

International Visiting Professorships and Fellowships

Visiting Professor, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Türkiye, 2023-24


Program Coordinator Germany, Sociology, Turkish-German University, Istanbul, Türkiye (DAAD), since 2019


Hannah Arendt DAAD Visiting Professor, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 2004-2005


Willy-Brandt-Guestprofessor, School of International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER), Malmö University, Sweden, 2001 and 2003


Visiting Fellow, Center for the Study of Politics, History, and Culture, The University of Chicago, 1990

Research Projects

Principal Investigator, Research project “Civil Society Integration through Conflict? Functions & Processes of Migrant and Non-Migrant Conflicts”, German Research Council (DFG), 2021-2025


Principal Investigator, Research project “Transnational Mobility and Social Positions in the European Union”, German Research Council (DFG), 2016-2022

Principal Investigator, with Professor Yasemin Soysal (University of Essex; scientific coordinator) and Professor Qiang Li (Tsinghua University, Beijing), Research projects “Bright Futures: A Comparative Study of Internal and International Mobility of Chinese Higher Education Students” and “Asian Educational Mobilities”, German Research Council (DFG), in cooperation with ESRC (UK) and NSFC (China), 2015-2022

Principal Investigator, seed project, with Professor Luis Guarnizo (UC Davis), “Social Inequalities and Migration: A Comparative Longitudinal Study – Germany and USA”, German Research Council (DFG), 2015-2017

Principal Investigator and German partner, Research project “Youth mobility: maximising opportunities for individuals, labour markets and regions in Europe (YMOBILITY)”, European Union, Horizon 2020, 2015-2018

Principal Investigator and German partner, Research project “MECLEP - Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Evidence for Policy”, European Union, Thematic Programme on Migration and Asylum (TPMA), 2014-2017

Principal Investigator and German partner, Research project “Transnational Migration in Transition: Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Mobility of People (EURA-NET), European Commission, 7th Framework Programme, 2014-2017

Deputy Director, Central Coordination Project of Collaborative Research Centre 882 (SFB) “From Heterogeneities to Inequalities”, German Research Council (DFG), 2011-2016

Principal Investigator, Research project “Informal Social Protection in Transnational Social Spaces“, Collaborative Research Centre 882 (SFB) “From Heterogeneities to Inequalities”, German Research Council (DFG), 2011-2016

Principal Investigator, with Oliver Razum (Public Health), “Pilot Project: Transnational Panel Study”, Collaborative Research Centre 882 (SFB) “From Heterogeneities to Inequalities”, German Research Council (DFG), 2011-2016

German partner and leader of two work packages of “Transnational Migration and Transformation” (TRANS-NET), European Union, Specific Targeted Project (FP 7), 2008-2011

Convenor, ZiF Cooperation Group “Transnationalization and Development(s): Concepts and Venues for Research”, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld, 2008-2009

Scientific Board and German partner of “Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios” (EACH-FOR), European Union, Specific Targeted Project (FP 6), 2007-2009

Principal Investigator, Research project on “Political Practices of Migrants in Germany”, German Research Council (DFG) and European Science Foundation (ESF), 2005-2006

Principal Investigator, Research project in the Collaborative Research Centre 597 “Transformations in Statehood”, University of Bremen: „Migration Control and Democratic Legitimacy“, German Research Council (DFG), 2003-2006

Principal Investigator, International Research Project on “Dual Citizenship in a Global World: Germany in Comparative Perspective”, funded by the VolkswagenStiftung, 2002-2005; cooperation with partners from the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey and Poland

Principal Investigator, German representative of European research network “Social Inclusion and Exclusion in Europe”, European Commission, TSER Program, Brussels, 1998-2000

Co-Director of Research Project, with Claus Offe and Klaus Sieveking, on “The Employment of Contract Workers from Eastern Europe in Germany: Legal Regulations and Political Conflicts” (Die Beschäftigung von Werkvertragsarbeitnehmern aus Osteuropa in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Rechtliche Regelungen und politische Konflikte), VolkwagenStiftung, 1995-1998; cooperation with partners from Poland, Hungary and Russia

Leadership in Post-Graduate, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Programs

Principal Investigator in the Research Training Group (RTG) “World Politics”, German Research Council (DFG), since 2018


Director, Research Conference Series on „Climate Change, Environmental Migration and Conflict“, European Science Foundation (ESF), 2010-2014


Mentoring and intensive training for highly qualified young women scientists on their way into professorship, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt a.M., Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University Berlin, University of Osnabrück, University of Kassel, since 2007


Principal Investigator, Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS), since 2006


Director of the German-Turkish Summer Institute, in cooperation with Professor Eyüp Özveren (Middle East Technical University, Ankara); funded by Robert-Bosch-Stiftung, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Körber-Stiftung, 2000-2004

Membership in Committees, Advisory and Editorial Boards

Member of the Advisory Board, Research Centre on Migration and Integration, Turkish-German University, Istanbul, since 2023


Member of the International Advisory Board, Division of Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO), Linköping Universität, Schweden, since 2021


Advisory Board, “Negotiating Diversity in European Public Spaces” (Sciences Po, Paris; University of Bristol; Arena, Oslo; University of Pompeo Fabro, Barcelona), 2019-2023


Selection Committee, Philipp Schwartz Initiative (for persecuted scientists), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2019-2022


Advisor to the Migration Commission of the German Bishops’ Conference, since 2016


Scientific Advisory Board, Multilayered Borders of Global Security (GLASE), Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland (UEF), since 2016


Scientific Board, Jagiellonian Centre for Migration Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakov, since 2014


Advisory Board, Max Planck Institute for the Research of Multireligious and Multiethnic Societies, Göttingen, 2014-2022


Foreign Collaborator, Canada-Europe Transatlantic Dialogue, Carleton University, Ottawa, since 2013


International Advisory Board, Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE), Maastricht University, since 2013


Advisory Board, Research Group “Crossroads Asia”, 2011-2014

Member, National Committee for Research on Global Change, Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Executive Board, COST Action “Climate Change and Migration: Knowledge, Law and Policy, and Theory”, 2011-2015

International Advisory Board, Center for Study of Pluralism and the Civil Sphere, Augustana College, since 2010

Board of Directors, International Network on Migration and Development (INMD), University of Zacatecas, Mexico, since 2009; Scientific Committee, since 2014

International Advisory Board, International Migration and Diaspora Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, since 2009

Deputy Editor, The Sociological Quarterly, 2004-2008

Advisory Board, The Bucerius Ph.D. Scholarships in Migration Studies: Settling into Motion, ZEIT-Stiftung, Hamburg, 2007-2014

Board Member of the Section “Migration and Ethnic Relations”, German Society for Sociology (DGS), 2006-2010

Co-chair of the Working Group on “Migration Politics”, German Political Science Association (DVPW), 2000-03

Member of the Editorial Board of Social Problems; South Asian Diaspora; Migration and Development; Pakistan Journal of Social Issues; Social Inclusion; African Human Mobility Review; Cadernos ISUP (Institute of Sociology of the University of Porto)

Member of the Advisory Board: Migration Letters, Transnational Social Review; Central and Eastern European Migration Review; Sosyoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi; Internationale Zeitschrift für Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaft - International Journal of Cultural and Social Sciences (IJCS); Anthem Press: “Anthem Studies in the Political Sociology of Democracy”

Teaching - Functions

Coordinator, MA Sociology, International Track, Bielefeld University (since 2012)

Coordinator, Double degree programme, MA Sociology, with University of Bologna (since 2016)

Representative of the Faculty of Sociology for Internationalization (since 2009)

Principal Investigator, Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS) (since 2008)

Coordinator (Studiengangsbeauftragter) MA Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University (2009-2013)

Coordinator (Studiengangsbeauftragter) BA Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University (2005-2009)

Director, International Studies in Political Management (ISPM), University of Applied Sciences Bremen: Development, Design and Accreditation of BA Political Management and MA Political Management (2000-2004)

Supervision of Dissertations (First Supervisor) – Finished Theses (June 2024)

Paul, Johanna: Transnational Mobilization for Memorialization in post-war Bosnia-Hercegovina: Struggling for the Right to Remember in Prijedor


So Young Chang: Invisible Hands: The policies and non-policies that make migrant domestic work precarious


Agoe, Paul: Transnational Influences of Clothing Practices of Second-Generation Ghanaian Immigrants


Holtgreve, Sandra: Coloniality in the Global South and North. An Analysis of Social Work Education in Germany, Mexico and Ecuador


Gehring, Tobias: Discourses on Refugees and Refugee Policy in Ugandan Media


Takuma Fujii: Die Eigenlogik der künstlerischen Felder und Mobilitätspraxen von angehenden Künstlern. Eine kritische Studie zur „internationalen Studierendenmobilität“


Lisa Bonfert: Social Positions and Social Change in Transnational South-North Migration


Isabell Diekmann: Islamfeindlichkeit und Muslim*innenfeinlichkeit. Zum Verhältnis von Religion und Individuum


Schultz, Susanne: Involuntary Return and Migration Dynamics in West Africa – Critical Dimensions of EU-Africa Policies of Migration and Development


Zhao, Meng-Yao: Return or Remain: Migration Intentions among Chinese Students in Germany


Kuboyama, Ryo: Constructing International Immigration Control. Genesis and Development of State Immigration Policy and Politics in Germany, USA and Japan 1794-2001


Mosuela, Cleovi: Practices of Assemblage and Circular Transnational Migration Governance between Germany and the Philippines


Reich, Galit: From "Gola" ("exile") to "Tfutsa" ("diaspora"): The Changing Perception of the Phenomenon of Emigration from Israel in the Last 60 Years


Fröhlich, Joanna, née Sienkiewicz: Die informelle soziale Sicherung von Kasachstandeutschen in Deutschland


Ulbricht, Christian: Doing National Identity through Transnationality: Categorizations and Mechanisms of Inequality in Integration Debates


Nitz, Alexandra: Why Study in Latin America? International Student Mobility to Colombia and Brazil


Ette, Andreas: Security versus rights: The Europeanization of Policies on Human Trafficking, People Smuggling and Irregular Migration


Barglowski, Karolina: How do transnational networks matter? Eine Analyse informeller Sicherungsstrategien in deutsch-polnischen transnationalen Räumen


Aksakal, Mustafa: Transnational Development -- Limits and potentials of a model for ‘migration and development’. A case study on Caxcania in Zacatecas, Mexico


Alscher, Stefan: „Das Klopfen an den Toren Europas“: Undokumentierte Migration und Grenzkontrollpolitik in Südspanien (1991-2008)


Asomadu-Kyereme, Robert: Extending Pro-Poor Social Insurance in Ghana - The Role of Mutual Insurance Organisations


Bilecen, Basak: Social Support Networks of International PhD Students in Germany: Transnational Connections and Cosmopolitan Imaginaries


Fauser, Margit: Constructing Accommodation. An Inquiry Into Migrant Organizations, Integration Policies and Local Politics


Hinnou, Patrick: Demokratieverhandlung im Alltag. Die politischen Eliten und die lokalen Arenen in Benin von 1990 bis heute


Nergiz, Devrimsel Deniz: Citizenship and Turkish Elites in Europe


Rahmonova-Schwarz, Delia: Transnational Migration and Sociopolitical Change in Central Asia. A Cross-National Study on Labor Migrants from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to Russia


Reisenauer, Eveline: Soziale Nähe bei physischer Distanz. Transnationale persönliche Beziehungen von türkischen Migrantinnen und Migranten in Deutschland


Rescher, Gilberto: Der ländliche Raum im Demokratisierungsprozess in Mexiko: Lokale Aushandlung, nationale Bedeutung und globale Vernetzung


Rohde, Caterina: Au-pair Migration: Geographische und soziale Mobilität junger Frauen zwischen Russland und Deutschland