Tihomir Sabchev

Tihomir Sabchev is a Research Fellow at Tilburg University’s Tilburg Law School, Department of Criminal Law, focusing on forced migration governance, refugee policies, and municipal solidarity. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity (2023–2026). His research examines asylum seeker welfare, refugee sponsorship programs, and EU migration policies. Sabchev holds a PhD from Utrecht University (2017–2021), where he studied local authority roles in Greece and Italy’s migrant reception systems.

Education:

• PhD in Migration Governance (Utrecht University, 2021)

Research Focus: Reception policies for asylum seekers, refugee sponsorship mechanisms, administrative barriers in resettlement programs, and EU migration governance in the Mediterranean. His work bridges policy analysis, victimology, and criminal justice perspectives.

Key Trends in Publications: Recent work critiques bureaucratic challenges in refugee sponsorship (Canada/Europe), EU-Tunisia migration deals, and municipal solidarity models (e.g., Tilos, Greece). He emphasizes equitable policy design and local governance roles in refugee integration.

Collaborations: Active in TLS Migration Reading Group and projects with Prof. Steven Vertovec (Max Planck). Research interests include education pathways for refugees and labor market integration strategies.