Julia VAN DESSEL

Bio

Since 2024, I have been a post-doctoral researcher and substitute professor in Political Science and European Studies at the ULB. I am also an associate researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in International Politics (REPI).

I previously studied Political Science and Philosophy at the ULB. I obtained a Master's degree in European Studies in 2017, a Master's degree in Ethics in 2018, and a Thesis in Political and Social Sciences in February 2024.

 

CV

• 2024 – 2025 : substitute professor in Political Science and European Studies (ULB)
   
• 2023 : Visiting Researcher – Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), Universiteit van Amsterdam (UVA)
   
• 2018 – 2024: PhD in Political and Social Sciences (ULB)
   
• 2019 - 2023 : Mandat Aspirant F.R.S - FNRS
   
• 2018 - 2019 : Bourse Mini-Arc ULB - Thesis title : L’immobilisation pour horizon. Fabrique et enjeux d’un instrument européen de dissuasion migratoire en Afrique de l’Ouest : les « campagnes d’information et de sensibilisation »
   
• 2015 – 2018 : MA in Ethics (ULB) - Magna Cum Laude
   
• 2015 – 2017 : MA in European Studies (IEE – ULB) - Summa Cum Laude

Areas of research

• EU migration politics
• Border control and externalization
• EU-Africa relations
   

Teaching

-POLI-D404 - Études approfondies de science politique / Master Thesis Seminar

-POLI-O419 – External Action of the EU

Research

My research focuses on the externalisation of the European Union's border and migration policies, in particular the use of “information and awareness-raising” campaigns to deter irregular migration from the African continent. I have built an interdisciplinary approach drawing on international political sociology, political philosophy, and development anthropology.

Publications

-Van Dessel, J., Maâ, A. & Savio Vammen, I. M ., "Can Migrants do the (Border)Work? Conflicting Dynamics and Effects of 'Peer-to-peer' Intermediation in North and West Africa", Journal of Borderlands Studies, 38:6, 995-1013, 2023.

-Van Dessel, J., "I Know, Therefore I (don’t) Go: The Role of Information in Migration Decision-Making and Irregular Migration Governance" in: Research Handbook on the Institutions of Global Migration Governance, Pécoud, A. & Thiollet, H. (eds.), Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2023.
 

-Van Dessel, J., "Externalization through ‘awareness-raising’: the border spectacle of EU migration information campaigns in Niger", Territory, Politics, Governance, 11:4, 749-769, 2022.

-Van Dessel, J., "International Delegation and Agency in the Externalization Process of EU Migration and Asylum Policy: The Role of the IOM and the UNHCR in Niger", European journal of migration and law, 21:4, 435-458, 2021.