Paolo Novak

Paolo Novak is a Lecturer in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS University of London, specialising in migration, border studies, and the postcolonial politics of asylum infrastructure. He is actively publishing across books, journal articles, and digital artefacts, with fieldwork spanning Italy, Pakistan, and the EU border regime.

Research Interests

Novak’s work interrogates how borders, asylum systems, and humanitarian governance reproduce postcolonial power relations. Key themes include:

• Ethnographic investigations of asylum accommodation in Italy, France, and the UK.
• Critical analyses of the EU’s humanitarian border and its spatial logics.
• Postcolonial readings of migration infrastructure and carceral geographies.

Publication Trends

Since 2015 he has produced a steady stream of high-impact outputs, peaking in 2025 with a monograph, multiple journal articles, and edited-chapter contributions. His scholarship consistently blends critical theory with detailed ethnography, emphasising the everyday violence of border regimes and the neoliberal governance of asylum.

Advising & Supervision

Novak has supervised at least two PhD theses at SOAS:

• Sowa, C. (2022) The Camp, Housing, and the City: On Migrant Camp Accommodation in Berlin
• Mogiani, M. (2018) Borders as Meeting Points: Neoliberalism, Securitisation and Migrants' Autonomy in the Port/Border area of Patras

Both projects extend his research agenda into urban geography and migrant autonomy.