Nando Sigona

Nando Sigona is Professor of International Migration and Forced Displacement and Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) at the University of Birmingham, UK. He serves within the School of Geosciences Human Geography and Spatial Planning in the Urban Geography department, where he leads significant research on migration policy and forced displacement.

His research spans critical areas including undocumented migration, the migration-citizenship nexus, naturalisation and denaturalisation processes, Romani politics and anti-Gypsyism, EU asylum systems, Brexit impacts on European mobility, and child and youth migration. Sigona's work is characterized by its policy relevance and theoretical innovation in understanding contemporary migration governance.

His recent publications demonstrate a clear trend toward examining the intersection of migration enforcement, digital platforms, and labor markets, particularly evident in his 2025 research on migrant food delivery riders in Birmingham. His scholarly output spans foundational theoretical works like The Oxford Handbook of Superdiversity (2022) to urgent contemporary analyses of migration enforcement in the gig economy.

Sigona has received significant research funding including Horizon Europe support for the I-CLAIM project (Improving the living and labour conditions of irregularised migrant households in Europe), where he serves as co-Investigator and Scientific Director. His work has been published across leading journals including Sociology, Social Anthropology, Antipode, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Ethnic and Racial Studies.

• Founding editor of Migration Studies (Oxford University Press)
• Lead editor for Global Migration and Social Change book series (Bristol University Press)
• Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS)

His recent blog posts and media commentary reveal active engagement with contemporary policy debates, particularly regarding Labour's immigration enforcement strategies targeting migrant workers in the gig economy. Sigona's research team has documented a 79% increase in immigration raids in Birmingham since Labour came to office, based on Freedom of Information data (FOI2025 07429).