Research news

Carla Mascia successfully defends joint VUB-ULB PhD

On Wednesday 28 August, Ms. Carla Mascia successfully defended her PhD on the implementation of (family) migration policies. It was a joint PhD between IES (now: Brussels School of Governance) and GERME, Université Libre de Bruxelles, co-supervised by Prof. Ilke Adam (IES-VUB) and Prof. Andrea Rea (GERME, ULB). Further members of the jury were: Prof. Dirk Jacobs (ULB), Prof. Florian Trauner (VUB), Prof. Dirk Jacobs (ULB), Prof. Saskia Bonjour (University of Amsterdam) and Prof. Sylvie Saroléa (Université Catholique de Louvain). Most research on immigration policy studies decision-making processes and analyses policy on paper. Very few scholars study the concrete implementation of immigration policies by the administration. However, it is the bureaucrats who make policy real. Carla Mascia observed the decision-making processes within the Belgian immigration office and demonstrates, amongst others, how working conditions, sometimes more than the law, determine the bureaucrats’ decisions. She also highlights the impact of judicial control on how migration bureaucrats proceed. Her findings are relevant for other European migration countries in which immigration is politicized. The thesis was defended in French, and is entitled: ‘Construire l’indésirable, justifier l’indésirabilité. La mise en oeuvre du regroupement familial’. IES congratulates Carla Mascia with her PhD degree and wishes her success in her future academic career!