Dr. Georgia
Dimari

Georgia Dimari, PhD is a political scientist specialising in migration governance, refugee and asylum policy, securitization and desecuritization theory, and European Union migration and security politics. She is based in Heraklion, Crete, and holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Crete (2020, grade: Excellent). Her doctoral research examined the securitization of migration in Greece (2011–2019) and advanced the concept of desecuritization and “flexicuritization” as a process-oriented and policy-relevant framework for migrant integration and migration governance. She also holds an MA in American Studies from the University of Turin (Excellent) and a BA in International and European Studies from the University of Piraeus. She has completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Center for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET), Department of Political Science, University of Crete (October 2020–March 2025), entitled “Refugee–Immigration Crisis and Greek Immigration Policy,” focusing on transformations in Greek and European migration policy, governance responses to crisis and geopolitical pressure, and evidence-oriented policy design. She is currently a Teaching Fellow (Lecturer) at the Department of Political Science, University of Crete (2025–2026), teaching undergraduate courses in Migration and Migration Policy, International Theory and Security Policies, and Special Topics in International Security in the EU, and has prior autonomous teaching experience in Migration and Migration Policy and Securitization and Migration Policy (PD 407/80). Dr Dimari has delivered a wide range of invited lectures and keynote-style presentations at international academic and policy fora. Notably, she was invited by the University of Pittsburgh (European Studies Center / Jean Monnet EU Center of Excellence) to present her theory of flexicuritization of migration, focusing on the conditions under which desecuritization strategies can become operational and policy-effective. She has also been an invited speaker at major policy platforms, including the 34th Economic Forum in Karpacz (Poland), contributing to panels on European migration routes and geopolitical dynamics, as well as to policy-oriented report sessions on the evolution of EU migration policy. Her scholarly output includes extensive peer-reviewed publications on securitization practices, migration governance, precarity, and social inclusion in journals such as International Migration, Quality & Quantity, Frontiers in Political Science, and Partecipazione e Conflitto. She is co-editor (with Nikolaos Papadakis) of the forthcoming Springer volume Greek Migration Policy, 1990–2025: Securitization, Social Inclusion, and Europeanization, offering a comprehensive and empirically grounded analysis of three decades of Greek migration policy. In parallel, she has co-authored with Nikolaos Papadakis the monograph The Temperature of Truth: Greek Migration Policy in the European Context (Athens: I. Sideris, 2025), examining the post-2015 refugee–migration crisis and the structural transformation of Greek and European migration governance. Dr Dimari holds leading roles in nationally and internationally funded research and policy projects. She is Principal Investigator of the project Flexicuritizing Migration in a Small State under Geopolitical Stress: A Policy-Ready Framework for Greece (with Cyprus and Malta as light comparators), funded by the Hellenic Observatory (LSE). She has served as project manager and researcher in the Regional Mechanism for Diagnosing Labour Market Needs of the Region of Crete (NSRF 2021–2027), contributing to qualitative research and the development of research-established interventions and sectoral training proposals. She has also been a senior researcher in the PreMoMiGr project, developing pilot migration-flow prediction models and evidence-based policy scenarios for Greek migration policy. Additionally, she has acted as national expert for Greece and Cyprus in European Commission-commissioned studies (DG EMPL and DG AGRI) on working conditions, social security coordination, and labour issues with relevance to mobile and migrant workers.