Leoni J. Keskinkilic

Leoni J. Keskinkilic is a research associate at the Berlin Institute for Empirical Migration and Integration Research (BIM) at Humboldt University of Berlin, affiliated with the Faculty of Cultural, Social and Educational Sciences. Since 2020, she has been working on the BMBF-funded project 'From Demolition to Immigration II' (StadtumMig II), focusing on local social boundary processes and barriers to resource access. She is concurrently pursuing her PhD on migration in East Germany at the Institute of European Ethnology.

Her research examines:

• Home (un-)making and homing processes in migration contexts
• (Translocal) spatial production and urban ethnography
• Social and political inequality in neighborhood contexts
• Qualitative research methodologies and ethnographic approaches
• Refugee integration in peripheral housing estates

Keskinkilic's publications demonstrate a consistent focus on migration patterns in urban peripheries, refugee integration barriers, and spatial dimensions of inequality in East German contexts. Her work blends urban sociology with migration studies, examining how housing policies and neighborhood dynamics shape immigrant experiences.

Awards and Scholarships:

• Doctoral Scholarship from Heinrich Böll Foundation (2022-present)
• Georg Simmel Award for her Master's Thesis (2020)
• Nomination for Humboldt Award (2019)
• ASA-Program Fellowship at GIZ in Jordan (2017)
• DAAD Scholarship for studies in Turkey (2013)

As a member of the 'SpaceMig' research cluster and 'Labor Migration' group, she collaborates on interdisciplinary migration studies. She serves on the editorial staff of 'movements: Journal for Critical Migration and Border Regime Studies' and has contributed to multiple federally-funded research projects examining refugee integration in urban contexts.