I am Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex.

I completed an MSc in Sociology supported by an FCO/OSI Chevening Scholarship and a DPhil in Sociology, supported by a Lamb and Flag Scholarship at the University of Oxford, St.John’s College.

My research focuses on vulnerable local communities, migration, inter-ethnic ties, social cohesion, ethnic penalties and multiculturalism. From 2015 to 2019, I led the GEMM project: “GEMM: Growth, Equal Opportunities, Migration and Markets”. The project addressed the challenges and barriers that European countries face in managing the mobility of persons to realize competitiveness and growth.

I currently work on several topics exploring local area effects in relation to migrants, voluntary organizations in the UK, and social trust. You can read more about these projects in the research section.

I am a member of the International Editorial Board of Ethnic and Racial Studies. From 2020 to 2023, I was AE of Migration Studies. I sit on the Advisory Board of the UK Data Service and the Human Rights Centre of the University of Essex.

Pioneering Social Research, my book with Paul Thompson and Ken Plummer is out now with Policy Press. My research has been featured in the Independent, TEDx, LSE Politics and Policy Blog, the Migration Observatory, CORDIS, and the Guardian. I have been invited to speak at the European Ideas Network Seminar in the European Parliament, the European Commission and at the Global Empowerment Meeting 2018 of the Harvard Kennedy School. 

You can email me at: nvdem@essex.ac.uk

I tweet, occasionally, from @DemirevaNeli