Alison Mountz

Alison Mountz is Canada Research Chair in Global Migration and Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Science. She also directs the International Migration Research Centre and serves as Editor of the journal Environment & Planning C: Politics & Space.

Education:

• BA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Sociology, Dartmouth College
• MA in Geography, Hunter College – CUNY
• PhD in Geography, University of British Columbia (2003)

Her research interrogates the tensions between migratory desires and state efforts to regulate mobility, with a particular focus on refugee studies, asylum, detention, and the legal geographies of border enforcement. She explores how territoriality, legal frameworks, and spatial practices shape access to safe haven.

Recent projects include the NSF-funded Island Detention Project, analysing the use of islands for border enforcement off Australia, Europe and North America; an investigation of shifting asylum landscapes for U.S. war resisters in Canada; and a new collaborative study on the surge in asylum-seeking at the Canada–U.S. land border.

Honours & Awards:

• Canada Research Chair in Global Migration
• Mackenzie King Research Fellowship, Harvard University (2009–2010)

Leadership & Grants:

• Director, International Migration Research Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University
• Principal Investigator, NSF CAREER Grant for the Island Detention Project
• Editor, Environment & Planning C: Politics & Space

Mountz leads trans-disciplinary teams across North America, fostering collaborations that bridge geography, law, political science, and feminist scholarship to advance critical migration studies.