Laura Cleton is a postdoctoral researcher in return migration governance in Europe. At UNU-MERIT, she investigates the involvement of diaspora in capacity building and development through temporary return programs, facilitated by the International Organization for Migration. She investigates whether and how such programs enable the transfer of skills and knowledge to diaspora members’ countries of nationality. It not only questions what this process looks like and what (enduring) effects it has,...

Expertise

Migration processes
Migration consequences (for migrants, sending and receiving countries)
Migration governance
Cross-cutting topics in migration research
Disciplines
Methods
Geographies

Roles

  • UNU-MERIT & Maastricht University

    University, Maastricht, Netherlands
    Postdoctoral Researcher

Suggested Research

“We have nothing to hide”: Legitimacy narratives, researcher positionality and the ethics of accessing the Dutch deportation apparatus

Authors Laura Cleton
Year 2022
Journal Name International Migration
Citations (WoS) 4
1 Journal Article

The time politics of migrant deportability: an intersectional analysis of deportation policy for non-citizen children in Belgium and the Netherlands

Authors Laura Cleton
Year 2021
Journal Name Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
3 Journal Article

Intersectional migration research: Re‐centring governance structures

Authors Laura Cleton, Laura Cleton, Sarah Scuzzarello, ...
Year 2024
Journal Name International Migration
Citations (WoS) 4
4 Journal Article

‘Our aim is to assist migrants in making a well-informed decision’: how return counsellors in Austria and the Netherlands manage the aspirations of unwanted non-citizens

Authors Laura Cleton, Reinhard Schweitzer
Year 2021
Journal Name Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
5 Journal Article

Contesting policy categories using intersectionality: reflections for studying migration governance

Authors Laura Cleton, Petra Meier
Year 2023
Journal Name Ethnic and Racial Studies
6 Journal Article

Determinants of Enforced Return: A Quantitative Analysis of the Spectrum of (In)voluntariness Among Rejected Asylum Seekers in the Netherlands

Authors Michael Sinnige, Laura Cleton, Arjen Leerkes
Year 2025
Journal Name Population, Space and Place
7 Journal Article

Legitimising detention and deportation of illegalised migrant families: reconstructing public controversies in Belgium and the Netherlands

Authors Nathan Wittock, Laura Cleton, Robin Vandevoordt, ...
Year 2021
Journal Name Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
8 Journal Article
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