Julia VAN DESSEL

BIO

Julia Van Dessel is a post-doctoral researcher associated with REPI. She also teaches as a substitute professor in Political Science and European Studies at the ULB. She previously studied Political Science and Philosophy, before obtaining a PhD in Political and Social Sciences at the ULB in February 2024.

CV

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2024 – 2025 : post-doctoral researcher (REPI)
Substitute professor in Political Science and European Studies (ULB)

2023 : Visiting Researcher – Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), Universiteit van Amsterdam (UVA)

2018 – 2024: PhD in Political and Social Sciences (ULB)
Mandat Aspirant F.R.S - FNRS (2019 - 2023)
Bourse Mini-Arc ULB (2018 - 2019)

Thesis title : L’immobilisation pour horizon. Fabrique et enjeux d’un instrument européen de dissuasion migratoire en Afrique de l’Ouest : les « campagnes d’information et de sensibilisation »

Thesis jury : Andrea Rea (ULB), promoteur, Julien Jeandesboz (ULB), co-promoteur, Elisa Lopez- Lucia (ULB), présidente, Irene Di Jorio (ULB), secrétaire, Antoine Pécoud (Université Sorbonne Paris Nord), Ilke Adam (VUB)

2015 – 2018 : MA in Ethics (ULB) - Magna Cum Laude

2015 – 2017 : MA in European Studies (IEE – ULB) - Summa Cum Laude

Research Interests

• Information and awareness-raising campaigns
• Border control and externalization
• EU migration politics
• Africa-EU relations

Teaching

- POLI-D404 - Études approfondies de science politique / Master Thesis Seminar
  https://www.ulb.be/fr/programme/2023-poli-d404

- POLI-O419 – External Action of the EU
  https://www.ulb.be/en/programme/poli-o419

Research

My research focuses on the externalisation of the European Union's border and migration policies, in particular the use of “information and awareness-raising” campaigns to deter irregular migration from the African continent. I have built an interdisciplinary approach drawing on international political sociology, political philosophy, and development anthropology.
 

Selected Publications

• Van Dessel, J., Maâ, A. & Savio Vammen, I. M ., "Can Migrants do the (Border)Work? Conflicting Dynamics and Effects of 'Peer-to-peer' Intermediation in North and West Africa", Journal of Borderlands Studies, 38:6, 995-1013, 2023.
• Van Dessel, J., "I Know, Therefore I (don’t) Go: The Role of Information in Migration Decision-Making and Irregular Migration Governance" in: Research Handbook on the Institutions of Global Migration Governance, Pécoud, A. & Thiollet, H. (eds.), Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2023.
• Van Dessel, J., "Externalization through ‘awareness-raising’: the border spectacle of EU migration information campaigns in Niger", Territory, Politics, Governance, 11:4, 749-769, 2022.
• Van Dessel, J., "International Delegation and Agency in the Externalization Process of EU Migration and Asylum Policy: The Role of the IOM and the UNHCR in Niger", European journal of migration and law, 21:4, 435-458, 2021.