Curriculum Vitae
Education
01/2018-12/2022
PhD in Ethnology, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany (summa cum laude, supervisors: Marie-Claire Foblets, Olaf Zenker)
08/2013-12/2013
Study Visit in the Sociology Department, New School for Social Research, New York, USA
10/2012-07/2017
M.A. Social Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
09/2010-01/2011
Study Visit in the Sociology Department, Université Lille I – Sciences et Technologies, France
10/2008 – 09/2012
B.A. Social Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
Professional Activities/ Teaching
07/2022
Interim Head of Research Cluster “Patterns of (Forced) Migration” (Postdoc), Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Freiburg
12/2020-09/2021
Legal Expertise : Refugee Recognition and Protection in Niger, ERC Research Project „RefMig – Refugees are Migrants. Refugee Mobility, Recognition and Rights“ (PI: Prof. Cathryn Costello)
03/2020-03/2021
University Teaching Certificate, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.
10/2020-03/2021
M.A. Seminar “We Didn’t Cross the Border, but the Border Crossed Us” – Introduction to Critical Migration Studies. M.A. Cultural Studies, Institute for Sociology and Cultural Organization, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany.
11/2017-01/2022
Doctoral Candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale)
08/2017-11/2017
Research Contract: State of the Art on the University Access and Higher Education of Refugees, PI: Prof. Julia von Blumenthal, Research Project “Flucht: Forschung und Transfer” at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), University of Osnabrueck, and the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), in Cooperation with the Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration research (BIM), Humboldt University Berlin.
07/2014-09/2017
Student Assistant: Scientific Management of the Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research (BIM), Humboldt University Berlin
05/2016-12/2016
Student Assistant: Research Project “Female Pioneers of ‘Welcome Culture’ – Structures and Motifs of Volunteering for Refugees”, Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research (BIM), Humboldt University Berlin
10/2015-01/2016
Student Assistant: Grant Proposal for the DFG Emmy Noether Research Group “Normative Foundations of a Welcoming Society. Migration Approvals and the Negotiation of Belonging in the Context of Volunteering for Refugees”, PI: Dr. Serhat Karakayali, Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research (BIM), Humboldt University Berlin
10/2014-03/2015
Student Assistant: Research Project “Legal Counselling for Refugees and Migrants in Berlin. Present Condition and Future Requirements”, PI: Dr. Serhat Karakayali, Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research (BIM), Humboldt University Berlin
02/2012 – 03/2013
Instructor of the Seminar “Racism. Theory – Critical Analysis – Intervention”, Institute for Social Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin
04/2011-04/2012
Student Assistant: DFG Research Project “Critical Junctures and the Survival of Dictatorships. Explaining the Stability of Autocratic Regimes”, PI: Prof. Wolfgang Merkel, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB)
Grants/ Scholaships
“Humboldt Research Track” Scholarship for PhD Preparation, funded by Humboldt University Berlin within the Excellence Initiative of the States and the Federal Government
Study Scholarship of the New School for Social Research, New York City
Study Scholarship of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
Awards
Prize “Menschen mit Hintergrund” for the Project “Berlin in Dialogue” (5000€), University of Regensburg and BAMF
Fieldwork
05/2018-19/2018, 11/2018-09/2019 Niamey and Agadez, Niger
10/2016 University Access for Refugees, a German University
06/2016 Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER), Berlin, Germany
08-10/2016 Refugees Welcome Initiatives, Germany
Organization of Conferences and Workshops
Bjarnesen, Jesper/ Lambert, Laura: “Migrant Ruinations in African Contexts.” Panel at the European Conference on African Studies. Cologne University, 31/05/2023.
Agblorti, Samuel/ Bjarnesen, Jesper/ Kandilige, Leander/ Lambert, Laura/ Setrana, Mary B./ Zanker, Franzisca: “Speaking back to theory. Africanist Migration Research beyond the Categories.” DFG-Point Sud Workshop at the University of Ghana/University of Cape Coast, Ghana, 15-18/03/2023.
Dan Yayé, Moctar/ Jegen, Leonie/ Korvensyrjä, Aino/ Lambert, Laura/ Louis Uzomah, Ngozi/ Ould Moctar, Hassan/ Zanker, Franzisca: “De-centring and Contesting Externalisation in West Africa and beyond.” Workshop SOAS, London, United Kingdom, 19-20/09/2022
Lambert, Laura/ Lipatova, Margarita/ Millar, Stefan: Future-making in Situations of Containment. Refugees and Migrants’ Imaginaries of the Future and Planning vis-à-vis the Border. Panel at the IMISCOE Conference. Online Conference, 08/07/2021.
Brankamp, Hanno/ Donko, Kamal/ Krause, Ulrike/ Lambert, Laura/ Lingelbach, Jochen/ Moyo, Khangelani/ Owiso, Michael/ Scharrer, Tabea/ Zanker, Francisca: Roundtable Refugee and Migration Regimes in Africa – an Entanglement at Which Costs? Roundtable at the Conference of the German Refugee Studies Network. Online Conference, 18/09/2020.
Dean, Isabel/ Keskinkiliç, Leoni/ Jungwirth, Michel/ Lambert, Laura/ Liebig, Manuel/ Liebscher, Stephan/ Muy, Sebastian/ Orth, Barbara Wriedt, Vera: “(Un-)Doing borders. Realitäten des Grenzregimes – Utopien der Bewegungsfreiheit“. 17th Kritnet Conference. Humboldt University Berlin, 01/11/2018-04/11/2018.
Ataç, Ilker/ Braun, Katherine/ Lambert, Laura/ Liebig, Manuel/ Schwiertz, Helge: “From ‘Welcome Culture’ to Welcoming Structure? Voluntary Refugee Support and Solidarity Networks in and after the ‘Summer of Migration’. Workshop at the Kritnet Conference. Vienna, Austria, 27/05/2016.
Lambert, Laura/ Liebig, Manuel/ Schwiertz, Helge: “The Shallow Water of Welcome Culture. Problems and Potentials of Voluntary Welcome Initiatives”. Presentation at the Kritnet Conference. Hamburg, 26/09/2015.
Presentation at Conferences and Workshops (Selection)
Lambert, Laura. “Everyday Externalisation. The Transformaition of Individual Asylum in Niger.” Brown Bag Lecture, Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies. University of Osnabrueck, 10/05/2023.
Lambert, Laura: “Everyday Categorial Labor. Moral and Political Economies of Refugee Deservingness in Niger.” Point Sud Workshop “Speaking back to Theory”, University of Ghana. Accra, 16/03/2023.
Lambert, Laura: “Extraterritorial Processing. The Libya-Niger Emergency Transit Mechanism.” Annual Conference of the Refugee Law Initiative. School of Advanced Studies, University of London, 30/06/2022.
Lambert, Laura: “Translating Asylum. The Circulation of National Asylum Procedures to Niger.” Conference of the Association for the Anthropology of Social Change and Development (APAD). Lomé, Togo, 01/12/2021.
Lambert, Laura: Beyond Dublin. Secondary Movements to Niger and the Negotiation of Protection and Assistance. Presentation at the Conference of the German Anthropological Association (DGSKA). Online Conference, 01/10/2021.
Lambert, Laura: The Promises of a Better Future in Humanitarian Migration Control Infrastructures and Migrants’ Contestations in Niger. Presentation at the IMISCOE Conference. Online Conference, 08/07/2021.
Lambert, Laura: Remaking Asylum in the Context of EU Externalization. Path Dependencies and Unintended Consequences in Niger. Presentation in the Working Group "The Future of Asylum", Neuchâtel Graduate Conference of Migration and Mobility Studies, NCCR-on the move. Online Conference, 02/07/2021.
Lambert, Laura: Translating Asylum. The Circulation of National Asylum Procedures to Niger. Presentation at the Conference of the Association for the Anthropology of Social Change and Development (APAD). Online Conference, 17/05/2021.
Lambert, Laura: “Refugee Recognition in Niger”. Workshop “Recognising Refugees Country Profiles” by ERC Research Project RefMig, Centre for Fundamental Rights/Hertie School and Refugee Studies Centre/University of Oxford. Online Conference, 28/01/2021.
Lambert, Laura: “I do not like the Administration”. Criticism and Compliance by Young State Employees in Niger. European Association for Social Anthropologists. Online Conference, 23/07/2020.
Lambert, Laura: “Asylum Adjudication in Niger – Political and Moral Economies of Granting Refugee Status”. Workshop “Recognising Refugees”, organized by Deutsches Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsfragen and RefMig project at Refugee Studies Centre/ University of Oxford. Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, Berlin, 12/12/2019.
Lambert, Laura: “Asylum and Refugee Protection in Practice. Bureaucratic Classifications and Counter-strategies for Refugee Protection and Assistance in Niger”. MIASA Summer School “Intra-Regional Migration in Africa: Logics, Practices and Challenges”. University of Accra, Ghana, 26/05/2019.
Lambert, Laura: “’Il n’ y aura pas d’asile pour les Soudanais à Agadez’. Craintes, preuves et stratégies politiques dans la médiation locale du droit des réfugiés”. Summer School of the Groupe d’Etudes et de Recherche Migrations, Espaces et Sociétés (GERMES) and JEAI SysMob, in cooperation with LMI MOVIDA. Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger, 20/11/2018.
Lambert, Laura: Klassifikationen, Migrationskontrollinfrastrukturen & becoming von Migrant*innen in Niger. Presentation at the Conference of Netzwerk Flüchtlingsforschung, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany, 05/10/2018.
Lambert, Laura: “Channeling Migrants away from Europe. Or, the Multiplication of Migration (control) Infrastructures in Niger”. Presentation at the International Workshop “How can Science and Technology Studies Help to Reflect on the Political Crisis associated with Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers ?”. University of Coimbra, Portugal, 28/09/2018.
Baum, Franziska/ Grimm, Carmen/ Lambert, Laura/ Wallis, Mira: Logistics under Construction. Mobility and Standstill in the Berlin Brandenburg Airport Region. Technical University Chemnitz, 04/12/2017.
Lambert, Laura: “University Access of Refugees”. Lecture at the Welcome-Studierendenkonferenz, supported by DAAD and Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. Humboldt University Berlin, 05/10/2017.
Lambert, Laura: “Challenging the Law or Subverting it. Visible and Invisible Struggles against Refugees’ Legal Subjectivation in Berlin’s Refugee Protest Movement (2012-2014)”. Presentation at the International Workshop “Migration and the Transformation of Public Law”. Law and Society Institute, Humboldt University Berlin, 03/10/2017.
Lambert, Laura: “The Logistics of Immobilizing Migrants at BER Airport”. Presentation at the International KOSMOS Summer University “Investigating Logistics: Lifestyles, Migration, the Common(s)”. Humboldt University Berlin, 23/09/2016.
Lambert, Laura/ Dengler, Pascal: “Student Initiatives”. Workshop at the Conference „Refugees Welcome? Refugees at German Institutions of Higher Education” by Junge Akademie. Berlin, 13/05/2016.
Lambert, Laura: “Welcome Society Germany. Results of the Study ‘Voluntary Refugee Support (EFA 1)’”. Presentation at the Professional Association Migration and Flight of Diakonie Rheinland-Westfalen-Lippe. Cologne, 08/12/2015.
Lambert, Laura/ Wilcke, Holger: “O-Platz as a Political Moment”. Presentation at the German Congress of Geography. Berlin, 04/10/2015.
Lambert, Laura/ Karakayali, Serhat/ Kluge, Ulrike: “Legal Counselling for Refugees and Migrants in Berlin”. Study Results and Discussion with Counselling Centers and the Berlin Commissioner for Migration and Integration. Berlin, 23/03/2015.
Membership in Professional Associations
Association for the Anthropology of Social Change and Development (APAD)
Working Group Political and Legal Anthropology, German Anthropological Association (DGSKA)
Network on Science and Technology Studies in Migration Research (STS-MIGTEC)
Study Group on Political Ethnography, Humboldt University Berlin, Institute for European Ethnology
Member of the European Association for Social Anthropology
Member of the Department "Integration, Social Networks and Cultural Lifestyles at the Berlin Institute for Integration und Migration Research (BIM), Humboldt University Berlin
Research Affiliation at the Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherche sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local (LASDEL), Niamey, Niger
Member of the Network on Migration and Border Studies (Kritnet)
Internal PhD Student Representative of the MPI for Social Anthropology (with Frank Rochow)
Member of the Refugee Law Clinic e.V. Berlin: Legal Counselling for Refugees
Languages
German (native)
English (C1)
French (C1)
Hausa (A1)