Echipa Executivă
Toma Burean – Director/Cercetător
Toma Burean is a Lecturer at the Political Science Department, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. He obtained a Phd in 2014 at the Postuniveristary School of Social Science, Polish Academy of Science. He graduated a Master course of Political Science at CEU, Budapest. His domains of interest are politics, political behaviour, political attitudes of young people and migration.
Anatolie Coșciug – Vice-Director/Cercetător
Dr. Anatolie Cosciug este director adjunct al CSCM și cadru universitar în cadrul Universității „Babeș-Bolyai” din Cluj-Napoca unde predă pe teme legate de migrație, dezvoltare internațională și metode de cercetare în științe sociale. Ca bursier postdoctoral în cadrul Universității din Bordeaux, Anatolie a continuat să dezvolte vast sa experiență cu proiecte de cercetare care utilizează metode de cercetare atât calitative cât și cantitative. Anatolie a lucrat în proiecte legate de migrație implementate în colaborare cu organizații internaționale (UNHCR, BM, OIM), autorități publice (Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări, Departamentul pentru Relația cu Românii din Străinătate, Departamentul pentru Situații de Urgență), organizații ale societății civile (AIPG, HIAS, FDSC, Groupe SOS, Rethink România, Funky Citizens) și universități/centre de cercetare (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Peace Research Institute Oslo, Universitatea Bielefeld, Universitatea Tel Aviv, Universitatea București). Publicațiile lui Anatolie includ articole în unele dintre cele mai importante reviste academice internaționale din domeniul migrației (Migration Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Central and Eastern European Migration Review) iar în prezent coordonează un proiect de cercetare finanțat de UNHCR România pentru a sprijini incluziunea refugiaților în România. .
Ovidiu Oltean – Secretar/Cercetător
Dr. Ovidiu Oltean is a member of the Centre for Comparative Migration Studies, working as an Assistant Lecturer in the Political Science Department, Babeș -Bolyai University. He holds a PhD in Sociology, with a dissertation on migration, ethnic identity, and social change in Romania, obtained from the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (2021). His research activity focuses on the study of migration, identity changes, inclusion and integration policies, transnational political participation, and economic transformations. He has recently published in BMC Public Health, Social Change Review, Central and Eastern European Migration Review and in several collective volumes tackling migration and social change at Anthem Press, ISPMN Publishing House, Tritonic, Cluj University Press and Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen
Andreea Vornicu – Cenzor/Cercetătoare
Dr. Andreea Vornicu is a member of the Centre for Comparative Migration Studies. She graduated Law College and Journslism at the College of Political , Administrative and Communication Science, and has a Masters Degree in International Development and a PhD in Political Science at Babeș-Bolyai University. Her research interests include: intitutional design and reconstruction of post-conflict countries, rule of law and restorative processes of justice and transition.
Andriana Cosciug – Manager de Proiect/Cercetătoare
Andriana has a BA in Political Sciences and a MA in International Development, both at Babeș-Bolyai University. She works as an Romanian language and cultural orientation teacher for immigrants living in Cluj-Napoca at the League for the Defense of Human Rights, Cluj branch. She worked as project manager at Societatea Studențească de Știinte Politice and Rațiu Democracy Centre. Her topic interests are human rights, inclusion of immigrants and the social.
Viktoriia Kyrychenko – Ukraine Initiative Coordinator/Cercetătoare
Dr Viktoriia Kyrychenko is Associate Professor at NUUPES Kyiv, Ukraine and a researcher at Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania, and CSCM. Viktoriia has significant expertise in leading and overseeing both qualitative and quantitative research projects focused on migration and refugee issues, and she recently conducted a qualitative study on labor immigration in Romania and comprehensive studies on refugee integration. She has conducted high-impact projects commissioned by international organizations, such as UNHCR, HIAS and the Civil Society Development Foundation (FDSC). Her expertise includes trauma-informed research and interviewing techniques for conducting interviews, but also spearheading data collection, training enumerators, designing research methodologies, and managing the delivery of in-depth reports. Her current research interests in migration and integration policies for Ukrainian refugees, and her native Ukrainian language skills, make her adept at conducting interviews and gathering firsthand data from potential Ukrainian trafficking survivors, and her research and managerial skills will enhance other areas of the project.
Octavian Bernanz – Moldova Initiative Coordinator/Cercetător
Octavian Bernaz graduated in Political Science at the College of Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University. He is currently a junior researcher at the Romanian Center for Comparative Migration Research with experience in social research, international migration, refugees, humanitarian aid, and media literacy.
Research Team
Alexandra Porumbescu – Cercetătoare
Dr Alexandra Porumbescu is a senior lecturer at the University of Craiova, Romania and her PhD thesis in Sociology focused on Romanians` migration in Germany (2013). At the Center for the Study of Comparative Migration (CSCM), she works on International Migration, European Policy Analysis, Refugee Integration, and Institutional responses to Labour Migration. Alexandra has extensive experience in conducting and supervising both qualitative and quantitative research projects on migration and refugee issues, including studies commissioned by international bodies such as UNHCR, on projects where she led data collection efforts, trained enumerators, applied ethical research practices, designed research methodologies, and delivered comprehensive reports. Her experience in trauma-informed research and interviewing techniques ensures that the data collection process is sensitive to the needs of survivors, minimizing the risk of re-traumatization. Her recent work includes a qualitative study on labor immigration in Romania and extensive research on the integration of refugees, providing a nuanced understanding of migration patterns and challenges.
Livia Pogan – Cercetătoare
Livia Pogan is currently a Lecturer at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, holding a PhD in Sociology (2017). She also studied Law and Psychology (BA&MA) and has previous practical experience as a Human Resources psychologist. Her research interests were focused on work-life balance, organizational learning, development and change, work behavior and other work-related aspects and are reflected in papers published in scientific journals or presented at national and international conferences.
Anca Serban – Cercetătoare
Anca Serban is a master’s student in International Development at Babeș-Bolyai University with a background in both theoretical and applied aspects of migration studies. She has extensive experience in data collection, having conducted trauma-sensitive interviews with Southeast Asian labor migrants for CSCM on issues such as difficult work conditions, discrimination, and racism. She has substantial experience with qualitative research, as evidenced by her recent work on the implementation of human rights frameworks in the European context. With a particular focus on the socio-economic rights of vulnerable groups such as migrants and the Roma community, she has a good understanding of the gaps between formal protections and lived realities which also characterize human trafficking. Anca’s current research interests include investigating the nexus between social exclusion, migration, and human rights, with a focus on women and marginalized communities in transit or at risk.
Former Colleagues
Andreea Mercea – Manager de Proiect/Cercetătoare
Andreea Mercea has a background in Legal studies and Management of Non-profit Organization. She has proven experience in coordinating projects with the Romanian Peace Institute – PATRIR, for the integration of refugees in Romania by strengthening the cooperation at the local level and by facilitating activities designed to support socio-cultural orientation and integration. Andreea has experience in legal assistance in situations of human rights violations, advocacy, and raising awareness campaigns in the Equality and Human Rights Action Centre Association and Centre for Legal Studies.
Alin Croitoru – Cercetător
Alin Croitoru holds a PhD in Sociology (University of Bucharest, 2013) and he is a lecturer at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (since 2014). He participated as a researcher in multiple national and international research projects focused on various topics (e.g. HORIZON 2020 – YMOBILITY, PN2 – MIGLIFE, FP7 – TEMPER, FP7 – EUCROSS). He has experience with qualitative and quantitative analysis of social data and published on topics linked to international migration, entrepreneurship and rural studies.
GABRIEL BĂDESCU – Cercetător
Gabriel Bădescu is an university professour, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy and member of the Political Science Department at Babeș-Bolyai University. He is licensed in Mathematics and Sociology, has a PhD in Sociology, had a scholarship at Fulbright la University of Maryland, College Park and followed specializations in social statistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Between 2009 and 2010 he coordinated the Agency for Governmental Strategies, and between 2011 and 2013 he was a member of the national Council of Scientific Research. His later publications include themes of socialisation, politics, social capital, civil society, labour migration and scientometry. Among his academic interests, themes as democratic transitions in Eastern Europe, social capital, political and social participation in a compared perspective, social inequality, labour migration, quantitative/calitative methods of research can be found.
Bogdan Radu – Cercetător
Bogdan Radu received his MA in European politics from the University of Manchester (MA) and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine, USA, in 2007. His research interests revolve around issues interconnecting religion and politics. He conducted research on religious values and political beliefs, for both adults and the youth, focusing on the relationships between religiosity and religious participation on the one hand, and political participation and support for democracy on the other hand. More recently, Bogdan became interested in studying the concept of public opinion in the realm of international governance, especially focusing on international development. He is committed to interdisciplinary approaches and the combined use of empirical and interpretive methods. He also teaches courses iof Introduction in International Relations and Theories of International Relations, and a course of Economical and Democratic Transition in Taiwan at the College of Political, Administrative and Communication Science. Bogdan Radu is also responsible for the Maters Degree program of International Development, which started in 2010.
Giorgiana Găvruş – Research Fellow
Georgiana Găvruș is a Phd candidate in the Political Science Department at Babes-Bolyai University. Her thesis explores the relationship between religion and forced migration in the European context.She holds a BA in Psychology and an MPA in NGO Management at the same university. For her Master Thesis she researched the volunteer’s motivation to work amongst refugees in Europe. Her academic interests are migration, social networks and religion. Before enrolling in the MPA program, she spent six years in Afghanistan working in education and development.
Marius Matichescu – Cercetător
Lector in the Sociology Department, he got his Licentiate degree in sociology at the West University in Timișoara, and his Masters Degree and Phd at Montpellier 3 University, France. Among his fields of scientific interest are social integration of immigrants and political representation. Also, he teaches the courses of Social integration and Techniques of negotiation at the Sociology and Psychology College, West University, Timișoara.
Giorgian Guțoiu – Cercetător
Giorgian Guțoiu is a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. Since 2019 he holds a PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Bucharest with a thesis on urban electoral geography of Bucharest. His main areas of interest are in political behavior, urban sociology and human geography.
Mara Birou – Research Fellow
Mara Birou is coordinator of socio-educational and cultural activities within the SIM_CIS project – „Integrated services for migrants – Intercultural and Solidarity Communities”, implemented by the League for the Defense of Human Rights, Cluj branch and political scientist at Babeș-Bolyai University. She holds a bachelor and master degree in Political Science from UBB Cluj. Her academic interests focus on migration, political participation, political behavior and electoral system. Her recent research also includes topics related to social marginalization, living conditions, the vulnerable consumer and energy poverty.
Astrid Hamberger – Research Fellow
Astrid Hamberger holds a BA and MA from the University of Copenhagen and a PhD from the University of Bucharest, specializing in international migration and immigrant integration. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Transilvania Brasov, where she teaches two courses on international migration. With extensive practical and academic experience in these fields, she has coordinated several EU-funded and other donor-funded projects focusing on migration, integration, and humanitarian assistance. Astrid is also the founder and coordinator of the Migrant Integration Center in the city of Brasov.
Oana Marchis – Project Manager / Research Fellow
With an educational background in psychology, Oana has worked since 2013 as a Project Manager for the non-governmental sector in Romania, on international projects tackling social and educational aspects, such as human trafficking, migration, active citizenship, youth personal development and mental health. In addition, Oana has experience in providing consultancy in human resources processes design and implementation to support business execution, individual and group assessment and counselling, training and soft skills development. She is passionate about mental health, antropology, education and human rights.
Ionela Racatău – Manager de Proiect/Cercetătoare
Raluca Drob – Manager de Proiect/Cercetătoare
Affiliated researchers
Stefánia Toma
Stefánia Toma is a researcher at the Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities. Since March 2020 she is a research fellow of the HOMING: The Home-Migration Nexus, an ERC project hosted by University of Trento. She is also a PhD student at the Sociology Doctoral School of the Babeș-Bolyai University. Her area of interest includes anthropology of ethnic minorities and ethnic relations, migration, economic anthropology and sociology of education.
László Fosztó
László Fosztó is a social anthropologist working as senior researcher at the Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities in Cluj-Napoca. His main research interest includes approaches to ethnicity, nationalism, migration and the intersections of anthropology of religion and economic anthropology. He served as Secretary for the European Academic Network on Romani Studies a joint initiative of the European Commission and Council of Europe between 2011 and 2015. After the project was finalized he continues as voluntary administrator of the Network webpage and email-list.
Volunteers
Alexandra Chirigut – Research Assistant
Monica Iosep – Research Assistant