Tanja Müller

Tanja Müller is a Professor of Political Sociology at the Global Development Institute (GDI), University of Manchester. She is a founding member and former director of the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (2010–2014) and a key figure in the Manchester Migration Lab (2017–present). Her research focuses on migration, diaspora dynamics, refugee integration, and transnational citizenship, with a geographic emphasis on Africa and the Horn of Africa.

Education: Müller holds an MA in Linguistics and Philosophy (Free University Berlin, 1991), an MSc in Development Studies (University College Dublin, 1994), and a PhD in Development Studies (University of East Anglia, 2003). She has held academic and consultancy roles in multiple countries, including Eritrea, Japan, and Kenya.

Research Interests: Her work explores revolution and new elites (e.g., Eritrea), global solidarity (e.g., Mozambique’s post-socialist legacies), and global rights through refugee trajectories. Recent projects include ESRC-funded studies on transnational citizenship in the Horn of Africa and business-sector roles in refugee integration.

Grants and Leadership: Müller has secured over £1 million in research funding, including ESRC grants on peacekeeping data and transnational citizenship. She leads the GDI’s Migration, Refugees, and Asylum Research Group and serves on editorial boards for journals like the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs.

Labs and Teams: Active in interdisciplinary collaborations, she co-leads projects with Prof. Adriana Kemp (Tel Aviv University) and artists exploring refugee narratives through creative performance. Her work bridges academia, policy, and grassroots activism.