The EthnicGoods project is proud to celebrate the outstanding achievement of Gülce Şafak Özdemir, who has been awarded the highly prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship. As a key researcher within the EthnicGoods team, Gülce has made invaluable contributions to our mission of advancing global knowledge on ethnic and minority policy regimes.
Her new fellowship will support her upcoming project, VIMUS (In)Visibility of Illegalized Migrants in Urban Settings, a groundbreaking comparative study exploring how intersecting identities and legal frameworks shape the lived realities of illegalised migrants (IMs). In urban contexts, IMs frequently navigate the paradox of being both highly visible, through racialisation, policing, or labour exploitation, and simultaneously invisible in terms of rights, recognition, and protection. Despite this duality, existing scholarship has yet to fully capture how legal status interacts with race, gender, class, and urban space in shaping these dynamics.
VIMUS seeks to fill this critical gap. Drawing on insights from migration studies, critical race theory, postcolonial feminism, and urban studies, the project will investigate how legal and policy regimes influence (in)visibility across four major cities: Boston, Birmingham, Barcelona, and Madrid. By analysing these diverse urban settings, VIMUS will provide fresh perspectives on urban inequality, challenge established understandings of marginalisation, and contribute evidence that can inform more equitable policymaking.
Gülce will conduct this work across three leading research institutions: Harvard University, the University of Birmingham, and Universität Konstanz, strengthening international collaboration in the study of migration, identity, and justice.
Her achievement stands as a testament to her dedication, intellectual rigor, and commitment to producing socially engaged scholarship. We are thrilled to see her research continue to push boundaries and enrich global conversations on recognition, rights, and belonging.
The EthnicGoods project warmly congratulates Gülce on this remarkable milestone and celebrates the impact she continues to make in our community and beyond.
