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Aamir Ali

Portrait of Aamir Ali
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
Infrastructures from Below: Exploring Pathways of Cross-Border Labour Migration from South Asia to the Gulf States

Aamir Ali (Bielefeld University)
Email: aamir.ali@uni-bielefeld.de
Phone: +49 521 106-87971

Since 04/2024 Doctoral Researcher (DFG funded project) RTG-2951 “Cross-border Labour Markets” Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany
06/2022 - 02/2024 Manager, IDinsight India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India
10/2021 - 05/2022 National Programme Officer, Piramal Swasthya Management and Research Institute (PSMRI), New Delhi, India
2020 - 2021 M.Sc. Public Policy, University College London, United Kingdom
05/2018 - 09/2020 Consultant, Tata Trusts, India
03/2016 - 03/2018

Young Professional, NITI Aayog, Government of India, New Delhi, India

09/2014 - 03/2016 Programme Fellow, Sampark Foundation, India
2012 - 2014

M.A. Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

2009 - 2012 B.A. Social Work with specialisation in Rural Development, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

This research explores the complex infrastructures underpinning cross-border labour migration from India to the Persian Gulf countries. Traditionally, the Gulf region has attracted migrants from southern India, but recent trends show a rise in low-wage, semi-skilled, and unskilled labour migration from northern and eastern states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Introducing the concept of "infrastructures from below," the study examines the migrant-driven networks, structures, and platforms that facilitate the cross-border labour migration process, operating alongside formal institutions. These informal systems, rooted in agency, solidarity, and trust, help migrants navigate the restrictive regulatory infrastructures shaped by the 1983 Emigration Act and other agreements. Employing a multi-sited ethnographic approach, the research follows migrants through key hubs like Mumbai, highlighting the interplay between formal and informal infrastructures. This study enriches migration literature by offering new insights into the dynamics of cross-border labour mobility and its implications for policy-making in regional and global contexts.


Karim Ashour

Portrait of Karim Ashour
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
Labour Migration Governance Outcomes of Skills Mobility Partnerships: EU-North Africa Context

Karim Ashour 
(University of Duisburg-Essen)
Email: karim.ashour@uni-due.de
Phone: +49 176 68161319 

Since 04/2024 Doctoral Researcher, DFG Research Project: “Cross-border Labour Markets: Transnational Market Makers, Infrastructures, Institutions", Centre for Global Cooperation Research, University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Duisburg, Germany (On-site)
02/2019 - 03/2024

Advisor & Coordinator of Governance, Policy, and Capacity Development Workstream, Migration Portfolio, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Cairo, Egypt (On-site)

  • Regional Programme Towards a Holistic Approach to Labour Migration Governance and Labour Mobility in North Africa (THAMM)
  • Global Programme Migration for Development (PME)
  • Global Programme Migration and Diaspora (PMD)
06 - 09/2023 Consultant, Transformative Sustainability Project (TSP), American University of Sharjah (AUS), Sharjah, UAE (Remote)
05/2022 - 12/2023 Consultant, Actualizing Youth Mobility Programme (AYM), Ajman University, Ajman, UAE (Remote)
05/2020 - 04/2023: Consultant, Connected Classrooms Program (SICC), Stevens Initiative, Aspen Institute, Washington, D.C., USA (Remote)
08 - 12/2014 Semester Abroad (MA Degree), Sciences Po (Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris), Paris, France
06/2013 - 06/2016 M.A. in Global Affairs, Concentration: International Cooperation, American University in Cairo (AUC), Cairo, Egypt
09/2013 - 12/2016 Teaching and Research Assistant of Public Policy, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP), American University in Cairo (AUC), Cairo, Egypt (On-site)
10/2011 - 02/2019 Assistant Lecturer of Political Science, Faculty of Economics and Political Science (FEPS), Future University in Egypt (FUE), Cairo, Egypt (On-site)
07 - 10/2010 Research Intern, Middle East Studies, Al-Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies, Cairo, Egypt (On-site)
07 - 08/2009 Intern, Political Section, Africa and Arab-Afro Cooperation Department, League of Arab States, Cairo, Egypt, (On-site)
09/2007 - 07/2011 B.A. in Economics and Political Science, Major: Political Science, Minor: Public Administration, Future University in Egypt (FUE)

Labor migration is currently considered a substantial global phenomenon, with many countries confronting labor shortages in specific sectors, while others have high unemployment rates.  Skills Mobility Partnerships (SMPs) have emerged as a tool for facilitating cross-border labor markets between countries of origin and destination. The SMPs have been usually criticized for being limited pilot programs. Meanwhile, the SMPs’ significance might exceed simple numerical considerations; instead, SMPs might potentially provoke transformative outcomes on the labor migration governance in both countries of origin and destination. Therefore, this study examines the question, “How do SMPs as a tool for cross-border Labour markets contribute to the development of labor migration governance in the countries of origin and destination? The study specifically targets the case studies of EU-North Africa SMPs, focusing on Germany, Belgium, and France as destination countries, and Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia as countries of origin. To address the research question, a conceptual framework is formulated and the comparative case studies approach is employed utilizing qualitative methods.

  • K. Ashour, “Selective State Penetration: The Nexus between Ungovernability and Terrorism in Egypt’s Northern Sinai (2011-2016),” FJSS, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 43–76, 2022, doi: 10.54623/fue.fjss.1.1.3.
  • G. Tuke, S. Kapur, and K. Ashour, “Global citizenship cultivation through COIL-PBL model: Case study of the Great Debates course,” JVE, vol. 4, pp. 80–91, 2021, doi: 10.21827/jve.4.35815.

Ezgi Elmas Uluergüven

Portrait of Ezgi Elmas
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
The Segmented Healthcare Sector for Migrant Physicians in Germany

Ezgi Elmas (University of Duisburg-Essen)
Email: 
ezgi.elmasuluergueven@uni-due.de
Phone: +49 203 3795250

Since 04/2023 Doctoral Researcher in the Research Training Group 2951 "Cross-Border Labour Markets", University of Duisburg-Essen
04/2023 - 06/2023 Student Assistant - Workshop - State, Civil Society and Social Movements in the Middle East and North Africa, University of Kassel, Germany
05/2021- 08/2022 Master Program Coordinator, University of Kassel, Germany
2020 - 2023 M.A. Global Political Economy and Development, University of Kassel, Germany
2017- 2020 Bank, Country and Issuer Risk Specialist, BBVA Garanti Bank, Turkey
2010 - 2015 B.A. International Relations, Middle East Technical University, Turkey

As of December 2023, the number of foreign physicians in Germany rose to 63,567, a 104.1% increase over the last decade, making up 14.9% of the country's active physicians. The largest group among them is Syrian, followed by Romanian, Austrian, Greek, Russian and Turkish physicians. Foreign physicians are recruited to alleviate the physician deficiency's impacts and maintain healthcare services, especially in the rural areas of Germany. Moreover, interviews with Turkish physicians reveal that foreign doctors often enter specialties less favoured by German physicians due to language barriers and initial job market competition. These geographical and specialty specific division among physicians reflect a potential segmentation in the German healthcare sector. The aim of the research is to investigate this segmentation guided by dual labour market theory and to shed light on the factors that restrict them to specific geographies and specialties.

TBA


Kadir Engil

Portrait of Kadir Engil
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
Connecting dots across borders: The nexus between transnational higher education and cross-border labour markets

Kadir Engil
(University of Duisburg-Essen)
Email: kadir.engil@uni-due.de
Phone: +49 203 3795245

Since 06/2024 Doctoral Researcher in the Research Training Group “Cross-Border Labour Markets”, University of Duisburg-Essen
04/2022 – 06/2024 Administrative Officer, Turkish-German University, Turkey
08/2020 – 04/2022 Education Specialist, Mother Child Education Foundation, Turkey
09/2014 – 05/2019 M.A. Modern Turkish History, Boğaziçi University, Turkey
09/2009 – 06/2013 B.A. Sociology, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey
09/2008 – 06/2013 B.A. International Relations, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey

The research project examines transnational higher education in relation to cross-border labour markets and transnational labour mobility. It situates this phenomenon within a broader historical, economic, and political context, questioning why and how it emerged, how it functions, how it interacts with actors of cross-border labour markets such as states, corporations, and intermediaries, and to what extent it contributes to the emergence, consolidation, and operation of these markets.

The project adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on perspectives from sociology, economics, political science, international relations, and history to investigate the dynamics at play. Through a detailed case analysis, it aims to provide an in-depth examination of empirical data to explore the intersection between transnational higher education and cross-border labour markets, and to offer findings that are applicable beyond the specific cases studied.

TBA


Jonas Feldmann

Portrait of Jonas Feldmann

Doctoral Project: The Road Transport Sector between Poland, Lithuania and Germany since the 1990s. On the social constitution of a Cross-Border Labour Market.
Jonas Feldmann (Bielefeld University)
Associated Doctoral Researcher
Emailjonas.feldmann@uni-bielefeld.de
Phone: +49 521 106-4228

since 2024 Associated Researcher of RTG 2951 “Cross Border Labour Markets”
since 2023 Doctoral Researcher and teaching staff at the University of Bielefeld (Sociology of Work/ Economic Sociology)
2020 - 2023 Doctoral Researcher and teaching staff at the University of Bielefeld (Sociology of Work/ Economic Sociology)
2019 - 2020 Research Assistant and teaching staff at the Fachhochschule Dortmund
2016 - 2020

B.A. Social Work (part-time), Fachhochschule Dortmund

Logistics plays a crucial role for the operation of contemporary global production networks.  Today, the sector is characterized by competitive subcontracting and fragmentation, the dominance of transnational corporations and a variegated landscape of different business models driven by intense supply chain pressures.  Faced with significant labour shortages over time, employers, business associations and governments in various European countries have expanded their search for a labour force into countries outside of the EU.  The project investigates the development of the sector since the liberalisation phases of the late 1980ies that have significantly shaped the respective labour market. It focuses on Germany, Poland and Lithuania as countries with different institutional contexts and migration regimes. Using qualitative methodology, the projects reconstructs how actors at different „scales“ (sectoral, national, supranational) have contributed to the development of a distinctive „cross-border labour market“ in the European union, and how developments on different scales have interacted with each other.


Mariana Gomes

Portrait of Mariana Gomes
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
The Au Pair Imaginary: Examining the Intersection between Cultural Exchange and Reproductive Labour between Germany and Brazil.

Mariana Gomes (Bielefeld University)
Email: mariana.gomes@uni-bielefeld.de
Phone: +49 521 106-87972

Since 04/2024

Doctoral Researcher at RTG 2951 ‘Cross-Border Labour Markets’. Bielefeld University, Faculty of Sociology, Germany

2022 - 2024 M.A. Sociology – International Track. Bielefeld University
2019 - 2021 B.A. Social Sciences. Federal University of Juiz de Fora.
2019 - 2021 Editorial Team of the electronic journal CSOnline. Federal University of Juiz de Fora.
2019 - 2020 Scientific Initiation Scholarship by CNPq in the project ‘Studies on the judicialization of gender violence’. Federal University of Juiz de Fora.
2017 - 2018 B.A. Human Sciences. Federal University of Juiz de Fora.

My research proposal aims to explore the intersection of cultural exchange and reproductive labour in au pair programmes, focusing on Brazil as the sending country and Germany as the receiving country. Au pair programmes’ informal and unregulated settings allow for a broad spectrum of discourse to its promotion (Hess & Puckhaber, 2004), which may differ for each involved part. This discourse is co-produced by various social actors and institutions across borders and maintains an ambivalence about the exchange as being mainly a cultural and language learning experience, disguising the labour aspect of it. With these reflections, the study argues that au pairing is a form of reproductive labour, whose commodification is obscured by its cultural framing. Drawing on feminist theories of social reproduction and employing ethnographic methods, discourse analysis, and literature review, the aim is to investigate how institutions such as agencies, regulatory bodies, intermediaries and households contribute to creating and sustaining a cross-border reproductive labour market. The research project highlights how Brazilian women are increasingly navigating this market through social media platforms, which significantly shape the imaginary of the au pair programmes. By critically examining institutions involved in these programmes in Brazil and Germany, this project seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the cultural, social, and economic dynamics driving this global phenomenon, and how it perpetuates the invisibilization of reproductive labour within labour legislations. The contribution of this research to the existing literature is to explore how cultural processes and social interactions shape the creation of a cross-border labour market that does not initially appear as one.


Benedikt Heckens

Portrait of Benedikt Heckens
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
Appropriation of Surplus Labour and the Régulation of Labour Regimes in Global Production Networks. The Example of Volkswagens Battery Production Networks
Benedikt Heckens (Bielefeld University)
Email: benedikt.heckens@uni-bielefeld.de
Phone: +49 521 106-87972

Since 2024 Doctoral Researcher in the Research Training Group “Cross-Border Labour Markets”, University Bielefeld
2020 – 2024 Freelance Educational Work in Political Education
2017 – 2022 M.A. Political Science, University of Kassel
2012 – 2017 B.A. Politics and Economics, University of Münster

In my doctoral project I analyse the establishment of labour regimes in Global Production Networks (GPNs). I focus on the strategic activities of transnational corporations as lead firms in these GPNs and their interaction with other relevant actors in the process of establishing labour regimes. Empirically I study the GPN of batteries for electric vehicles with the Volkswagen Group (VW) as the lead firm. I focus on two sites of the production network: a nickel mining project in Indonesia and the production of batteries in Hungary. While VW plays a direct role in the first case as part of a joint venture, the batteries produced for VW in Hungary are manufactured by VWs supplier Samsung. However, in both cases VW plays a direct or indirect role in the social regulation of the respective labour regimes with the goal of shaping the conditions of production in its favour.

I analyse the role and the strategies VW uses to establishing labour regimes through its participation in struggles over relevant policies like labour policy, trade policy, or foreign investment regulations. From a materialist-historical perspective I will look at the structures and institutionalised mechanisms of decision making, which favour certain actors and interests, and the role of the uneven development of global capitalism for the arrangement of GPNs to address the question of how labour relations across borders are organised and reproduced in global capitalism.


Ammar Kakish

Portrait of Ammar Kakish
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
Examining the Viability of Social and Legal Frameworks for Migrant labor in Jordan

Ammar Kakish
(University of Duisburg-Essen)
Email: ammar.kakish@uni-due.de
Phone: +49 176 13944275

Since 06/2024 Research Assistant and Doctoral researcher under the Research Training Group – Cross-Border Labor Markets
09/2021 - 05/2024 Senior Project Coordinator at Jordan River Foundation (JRF) for Livelihoods and Graduation approach funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
10/2020 - 06/2023 MA of Social Work/ Refugees and Migration from the German Jordanian University (GJU) in Jordan
03/2019 – 12/2020 Senior Project Coordinator at Jordan River Foundation (JRF) for Livelihood’s project funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
04/2017 – 03/2019 Senior Cash Based Interventions Assistant at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) within the Cash Delivery Team
04/2016 – 04/2017 Help-Line Assistant at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
11/2015 – 03/2016 Logistics and B2B Officer and BE SOLAR for energy solutions
06/2015 – 08/2015 Help-Line Assistant at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
2009 - 2015 BSc. Water and Environmental Engineering and its Management from the German Jordanian University (GJU) in Amman- Jordan

This study examines the viability of social and legal frameworks in transnational labor markets, focusing on Jordan as a case study. In the context of an increasingly globalized economy, transnational employment has become commonplace. This research aims to understand the emerging social order of labor markets that account for global migration movements, particularly in Jordan in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, examining labor market shaping through north to south FDIs and export processing zones, tackling the refugee governance and how refugee influxes reshape the labor market, as well as, the role of inter-state agreements and how regional and international institutions shape and filter how migrant workers integrate.

Jordan, traditionally a country of emigration, has also developed into a country of immigration, with a significant proportion of foreign employment in various sectors. This demand is mainly met by Egypt and the Asian region. However, due to regional crises and wars, a large number of people have been forcibly displaced to Jordan, seeking work opportunities to improve their livelihoods.

The study will analyze the developing transnational employment model in Jordan, providing insights into the national conditions that influence the success of or obstacles to the implementation of transnational employment. It will also trace institutional developments to identify and visualize the strategies associated with transnational migration in and to the country.

The research will utilize a mixed-methods approach, combining field research, surveys, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of existing data and literature. The findings are expected to contribute to the optimization of transnational employment, promoting fair working conditions, protecting the rights of migrant workers, and encouraging labor mobility. Ethical considerations, such as informed consent and confidentiality, will be strictly adhered to throughout the research process.

TBA


Duaa Kattana

Portrait of Dua Kattana
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
Cross-border Telework between Germany and Austria.

Duaa Kattana
(University of Duisburg-Essen)
Email: duaa.kattana@uni-due.de
Phone: +49 203 3795249

Since 04/2024 Researcher at RTG “Cross-border Labor Markets”
University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
Since 04/2024 PhD Student in Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
01/2023 - 03/2024   

Financial and Administrative Assistant
Care Deutschland e.V., Bonn (Germany)

09/2022 - 11/2022

Intern, Migration and Integration Research Group
RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, Essen (Germany)

07/2021 - 12/2022    Research Assistant, Chair of Health Economics
University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
2019 - 2022 M.Sc. in Markets and Firms, University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
07/2015 - 03/2018 Financial Coordinator
Headquarters of Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Damascus (Syria)
2010 - 2014 Bachelor of Economics, Damascus University (Syria)

During the corona pandemic, telework increased considerably, enabling categories of professions and businesses to pursue their activity, and will remain to a certain extent, a way of working. Moreover, many citizens have found advantages with telework, during that period (e.g., with the saving of transport time). Germany has agreed bilateral framework agreement with Austria, which allows employees to perform up to 40 percent of their total working time physically in the country of residence without changing the applicable social security legislation. The paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy and analyze the role of bilateral agreements in regulating cross-border labor markets and protecting the rights of workers.

TBA


Ardita Osmani

Portrait of Ardita Osmani
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
Navigating migration through its infrastructures: A Study of Chinese Labor Migrants in Italy.

Ardita Osmani (University of Duisburg-Essen)
Associated Doctoral Researcher
Email: ardita.osmani@uni-due.de
Phone: +49 203 379-5196

 

Since 2024 Affiliated Ph.D
Bielefeld University, Bielefeld
RTG2951 project on Transnational Labor Markets 
Since 2023 Ph.D.
Universität Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 
Department of Political Science – Institute of East Asian Studies ( IN-EAST)
China Politics
Since 2023 Research Assistant
Universität Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 
Department of Political Science – Institute of East Asian Studies ( IN-EAST)
China Politics
2020 - 2021 Teaching Assistant
Ca´Foscari University of Venice 
Department of Asian and Mediterranean African Studies
2018 - 2019 Teaching Assistant
Ca´Foscari University of Venice 
Department of Asian and Mediterranean African Studies
2016 - 2019 M.A., Languages, Economics and Institutions Of Asia And North Africa
Ca´Foscari University of Venice
Department of Asian and Mediterranean African Studies 
Field of studies: China studies, Politics, institutions, economy and society of People´s Republic of China
2013 - 2016 B.A., Language, Culture and Society of Asia and Mediterranean Africa
Ca´Foscari University of Venice 
Department of Asian and Mediterranean African Studies 
Field of studies: China studies, language, literature and history.

The global COVID-19 outbreak has underscored systemic inequalities, particularly affecting vulnerable populations such as labor migrants. This research investigates the experiences of Chinese labor migrants in Italy, focusing on their understanding of labor rights and protections outside China. Italy hosts a significant population of Chinese labor migrants, who have encountered increased sinophobia among other challenges caused by restrictive movement regulations and work reorganization during the pandemic. This study examines the highly organized nature of the Chinese migrant community and how the Chinese migration industry, with its various actors and mechanisms, shapes the work experiences of this group. By exploring the case of labor migrants from an authoritarian state adapting to work in a democratic state, the research aims to shed light on how their awareness of employment status and local labor laws is formed. While the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a crisis that exposed unknown realities about cross-border labor markets and social protections, the primary focus of this study is to understand the broader dynamics of labor migration and rights awareness in this context and gain insights into possible future crises. The expected outcomes include a better understanding of cross-border labor markets and the influence of political regimes on labor migration, informed by the case of Chinese labor migrants in Italy.

TBA


Elisabeth Schmidt

Portrait of Elisabeth Schmidt

Doctoral Project:
The Global Stage: Analyzing the Labor Market Dynamics of Internationally Active Performers from a Circus Artist Perspective

Elisabeth Schmidt (Bielefeld University)
Email: elisabeth.schmidt@uni-bielefeld.de  
Phone: +49 521 106-87971

Since 04/2024 Doctoral Researcher in the Research Training Group “Cross-border Labour Markets”, Bielefeld, Germany
Since 2023 Freelance English editor at MDPI - Publisher of Open Access Journals
02/2022 – 12/2022 Coordinator at the Public Health Department “Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg”, Berlin, Germany
2018 – 2021  M.A. Sociology and Technology Studies, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2019 – 2021 Student research assistant in the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center 1265: "Re-figuration of space" at Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
09/2019 - 01/2020  Exchange semester with the PROMOS stipend, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
2017– 2019 Student assistant at the “International Office TU Berlin”, Berlin, Germany
05/2017 - 07/2017  Internship in Information and Library Services at the "Goethe-Institut Seoul", Seoul, South Korea
09/ 2015 -  02/2016  Exchange semester with the ERASMUS stipend, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
2013–2018 B.A. Sociology and Technology Studies, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Focusing on the work life, career trajectory, and associated mobility of circus artists who perform on circus stages and at other entertainment venues as a long-term economic strategy, my dissertation investigates mobility in the work life as a strategy for career progression. By examining a working culture at the intersection of culture, creative careers, and global labor markets, this study will provide insights into the highly mobile working and spatial arrangements of contemporary circus artists.

The primary aim of this thesis is to explore the multifaceted nature of cross-border labor markets as they pertain to circus artists. It will delve into the various types of borders crossed by these performers, and by circus as a form of art in general, encompassing the divide between art and commerce, work life and private life, and the physical-geographical boundaries associated with working and living in countries other than their country of origin. The concept of a "country of origin" itself will be scrutinized within the context of the development of circus as a form of art and entertainment across the globe. This study thus aligns with current debates on global labor markets, labor in creative industries, and transnational communities.

Employing qualitative research methods, this study aims to illuminate the circumstances and actors that enable performers to establish and sustain careers as circus artists. The research will utilize the categories of competition, cooperation, collaboration, and emulation to describe the labor life-world of circus performers. These categories will serve as a framework for understanding the dynamics of global labor markets in creative industries.


Maria Schäfer

Portrait of Maria Schäfer
© Maria Schäfer

Doctoral Project:
International Recruiters, Cross-border Matching and Migration

Maria Schäfer (Bielefeld University)
Emailmschaefer41@uni-bielefeld.de
Phone: +49 521 106-4855  

Since 12/2024

Doctoral Candidate at Research Training Group 2951 “Cross-Border Labour Markets” Bielefeld University, Germany

Since 01/2023

Affiliated Researcher at Leibniz Science Campus SOEP RegioHub, Bielefeld University, Germany

Since 10/2022

Doctoral Candidate at Bielefeld Graduate School of Economics and Management, Chair of Labour Economics, Bielefeld University, Germany

04/2021 – 09/2022

Research Assistant at the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”, Project “The Politics of Persisting Inequality: Evidence from the US South”, University of Konstanz, Germany

10/2020 – 03/2021, 10/2019 – 03/2020 & 10/2018 – 03/2019

Teaching Assistant for “Introduction to Marketing, University of Konstanz, Germany

04/2020 – 09/2020

Teaching Assistant for “Marketing Management, University of Konstanz, Germany

10/2019 – 05/2022

M.Sc. in Economics, Major: Public Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany

02/2019 – 09/2019

Intern “Financial Risk Management“, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Friedrichshafen, Germany

10/2016 – 09/2019

B.Sc. in Business Studies and Economics, Major: Applied Economics. University of Konstanz, Germany

This project investigates the role of international recruiters (e.g. migration brokers, subcontractors and for-profit personnel agencies) and social networks for individual migration decisions as well as cross-border migration flows. The objective is to develop a sound theoretical framework for understanding the decisions of workers and firms in contacting international recruiting companies, contract conditions, the process of intermediation and cross-border matching of workers to vacancies.
This framework will allow us to study the effect of intermediation conditions and competition between recruiters on workers’ wages, unemployment, welfare and migration flows in a two-country setting. In particular, the goal is to investigate which factors enable the entry of international recruiters, as well as their competition reflected in comparing the monopolistic and oligopolistic settings.
Special attention will also be given to the trilateral (i.e. worker, firm, recruiter) wage determination mechanism. The model will be developed in a search and matching modelling framework and tested by using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and from the German Migration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS).

Mark Simon

Portrait of Mark Simon
© Universität Bielefeld

Doctoral Project:
War-induced Migration from Russia to Neighboring Countries: Mutual Support Infrastructures and Employment Strategies under Uncertainty

Mark Simon (Bielefeld University)
Email: mark.simon@uni-bielefeld.de
Phone: +49 521 106-87971

Since 04/2024 Doctoral Researcher in the Research Training Group “Cross-border Labour Markets,” Bielefeld University
2022 – 2024 Guest Researcher, Institute of Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, University of Göttingen
2015 – 2022 Lecturer and Researcher, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka)
2012 – 2013 M.A. Political Science and International Relations, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka)
2000 – 2005 B.A. Sociology, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Over the last quarter of a century, cross-border labor markets in Northern Eurasia have developed in such a way that Russia has been the main center of gravity for mobile workers from countries with a Soviet past. However, after the start of Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, a new migration phenomenon has emerged in the region. This phenomenon consists of the outflow of Russians who left because of the war. A significant number of them have been accommodated in neighboring countries, namely Kazakhstan and Georgia. Since neither Russia nor the authorities of these countries facilitate the employment of Russian migrants, the latter take it upon themselves to create infrastructures that help them navigate through uncertainty. These infrastructures help Russian citizens who are stuck in transit to complete the documentation process, find jobs and housing, and receive psychological support.

Conceptualizing the infrastructures in question as assemblages of physical, technical, and social elements, this study aims to explore how cognitive orientations that condition the Russian migrants’ labor activities, are constructed within them. To achieve this goal, the research project focuses on the following issues: (a) the constellation of participants in the relevant infrastructures in terms of their professional skills and employment expectations; (b) the role of infrastructures created by Russian migrants in aggregating information about employment opportunities; (c) the collection, exchange and validation of this information in virtual and physical spaces; (d) the ability of mutual support infrastructures to empower Russian migrants in their job search; (e) the stabilization of Russian migrants’ expectations and employment strategies under the influence of labor regulation institutions on the one hand and the studied infrastructures on the other.


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