Leonie is a PhD Candidate at the University of Amsterdam and doctoral bursary of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. From March – December 2022, she was affiliated to the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal. Her research investigates the entanglements of colonial continuities/ racial capitalism with the production of migration governance in the context of externally (and internally) driven migration control in Senegal’s anti-migrant smuggling governance.
Before starting her PhD Leonie worked at different research projects on migration governance in West Africa, at the Vrije Universeit Brussels and the University of Freiburg. In the framework of this work, she conducted research stays in Ghana, Niger, Senegal. Leonie has (co)-authored reports and policy briefs and her work has been published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, The South African Journal of International Affairs, Bristol University Press, and Fanele.
Before working in academia, Leonie worked as Communication Officer and Assistant at the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. She holds a MA in Migration Studies from the University of Sussex, and a BA in International Relations from the University of Groningen.
Leonie has been actively supporting various grassroots projects fighting for the freedom of movement for the past ten years. Since 2019 she is part of the collective migration-control.info where she contributes to the organizing group and co-coordinates the West Africa working group.
