Bio
Katja Swider is an Assistant Professor at the Amsterdam Center for Migration and Refugee Law at the Free University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on statelessness, citizenship and human rights, with an additional interest in EU Constitutional Law. Prior to joining the VU, Katja worked as a Senior Research Associate at the University of East Anglia on an ESRC-funded project "Negotiating Brexit". Katja defended her PhD thesis, entitled "A Rights-Based Approach to Statelessness", in 2018 at the University of Amsterdam. Her doctorate thesis was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). She worked under the supervision of prof. Leonard Besselink and prof. René de Groot.
Katja is passionate about teaching and innovation in higher education. At her home university, Katja teaches in the core LLB programme (Fundamental Rights in Europe, Human Rights and Citizenship, and Moot Court), the interdisciplinary ‘Law in Society’ BA (Global Migration Governance), the International Migration and Refugee Law LLM (Selected Topics: Migration Law), and supervises LLB and LLM thesis projects.
In addition to her work as a researcher and a lecturer, Katja regularly consults on migration and statelessness for such organisations as the UNHCR, the EU, and Council of Europe. She has taught on statelessness in various states across Europe and Asia, including Italy, Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Türkiye and Ukraine.