Dr. Nassim Majidi is a Research Associate at three universities across the Global North and South: the African Centre for Migration and Society at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; the LAASSE Research Lab at the Université Félix, Houphouët Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire; and the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, USA. Nassim specialises in return migration. She has published more than twenty academic and policy articles on migration issues, and she teaches a graduate course on Refugees & Migration as part of Sciences Po Lille’s Conflict and Development Programme. 

Nassim is the Co-Founder of Samuel Hall and Head of the Research Unit, where she leads evidence-based research and policy development on migration and displacement. Covering three continents (Africa, Asia, Europe) over the past ten years, her cross-cutting skills have led her to interview refugees, migrants, and returnees in the world’s border areas, conflict settings, and countries of origin. Based on her knowledge of migration actors, she has developed strategic programming initiatives, national policies on migration, and monitoring reviews that have had a lasting impact. 

Nassim was nominated in 2015 by the Norwegian Refugee Council for the prestigious Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of her work on behalf of Afghanistan’s displaced population. She holds a BA in Government from Cornell University, a Summa Cum Laude Masters in International Affairs and Development Studies and a Ph.D. in International Relations from Sciences Po Paris.