Aleksandra Lewicki

Aleksandra Lewicki is a Reader in Sociology (Sociology and Criminology) at the University of Sussex, affiliated with the School of Law, Politics and Sociology, the Sussex European Institute, and the Sussex Centre for Migration Research. She also serves as the Director of Research and Innovation in her school and as Co-Director of the Sussex European Institute. Her academic journey includes a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Freie Universität Berlin and a Research Associate position at the University of Bristol, where she also earned her PhD in Sociology and an MA in Politics.

Her research focuses on boundary-making, structural inequalities, and racialisation in post-colonial Europe. Key areas include institutional racism, political mobilisation, citizenship politics, and the gendered dimensions of racialisation, particularly concerning 'Eastern Europeans' and Muslim populations in Germany and the UK. She critically examines how categories of difference are produced and institutionalised, shaping social hierarchies and life trajectories.

Her recent publications in journals like Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, The Sociological Review, and International Political Sociology explore themes such as the ambiguous racialisation of Eastern Europeans, the material effects of Whiteness in the German welfare state, and the coloniality of post-Brexit borders. Her work consistently highlights the geopolitical, legal, and economic dimensions of racism beyond individual prejudice.

Lewicki has secured competitive research funding from the British Academy, the German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency, and the Research Council of Norway. Her projects include studies on discrimination in the labour market, political subjectivities after East-West migration, and transnational anti-immigration movements in Europe.

• Co-Director, Sussex European Institute
• Director of Research and Innovation, School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex
• In-House Associate Editor, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
• Co-Chair, Ethnicity, Race, and Diverse Societies Research Network

She supervises undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and welcomes PhD students working in de/postcolonial sociology, the sociology of race and racism, and migration studies. Lewicki is actively engaged in public scholarship, contributing to policy debates and public discourse on migration, racism, and citizenship.