Visiting Fellowships

About

Applications for a 2026 Visiting Fellowship have now closed.

The Visiting Fellowship Scheme provides an opportunity for statelessness researchers, practitioners, and educators to engage with the work of the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness and to strengthen international collaborations.

Visiting Fellows are provided with a workspace, and library and computer access. As part of their Fellowship, Visiting Fellows are expected to fully participate in the life and work of the Centre during their stay, including events and workshops.

Funded opportunity available

The Centre is offering one (1) funded Visiting Research Fellowship to carry out research work in an area related to statelessness.  
The funding available for this Fellowship is up to $AUD6,000 to support the costs of travel to and from Melbourne, and the costs of accommodation in Melbourne for the duration of the Fellowship. The fellowship is available to be taken up between July and November 2026. 
As part of their Fellowship, scholars will present their work in a Faculty or public seminar or work-in-progress meeting, and contribute a blog post to the Critical Statelessness Studies blog, where appropriate.

Application Process

The Centre acknowledges the diversity of academics doing research or professionals working on statelessness around the globe. Applications are invited from applicants ranging from postdoctoral early-career to tenured academics. Applications from non-academic visiting professionals will also be considered, if they propose an applied research project of relevance to the work of the Centre. Researchers with lived experience of statelessness are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applications for a funded Visiting Fellowship must be submitted by 30 November 2025. Visiting Fellows from outside Australia are responsible for obtaining and funding any necessary visas or insurance.

Applications must include the following (in one PDF document):

  • Curriculum vitae and list of publications
  • Research plan (maximum 1000 words), outlining the research, proposed activities/collaboration during the visit and contribution to the work of the Centre
  • Proposed dates of the visit
  • Fellowship amount requested (up to a maximum of AUD$6000) with a budget breakdown including cost of airfares where needed.
  • One letter of reference (for non-academic visitors a letter of support from employer or other entity the visitor is professionally associated with).

Application Submission

Please direct any inquiries about the Visiting Fellowship program to law-statelessness@unimelb.edu.au. Applications should have in the subject line “Visiting Fellowship Application” and be submitted to law-statelessness@unimelb.edu.au.

Applications for a 2026 funded Visiting Fellowship have now closed.

Self-funded visitors

The Centre welcomes applications from visitors who are able to fund their own stay. We aim to provide self-funded visitors with a workspace (depending on availability), and library and computer access. Visitors are encouraged to fully participate in the life and work of the Centre including events and workshops during their stay.

Those interested in a visit should contact law-statelessness@unimelb.edu.au. Applications to make a self-funded visit to the Centre can be made year-round. However, applications to visit must include:

  • Curriculum vitae and list of publications
  • Research plan (maximum 1000 words), outlining the research, proposed activities/collaboration during visiting period and contribution to the work of the Centre
  • Proposed dates of the visit
  • One letter of reference (for non-academic visitors a letter of support from employer or other entity the visitor is professionally associated with).

Visiting Fellows

2025

  • Julija Sardelic, Senior Lecturer, School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations at Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand - Research: Mapping racialised statelessness/Statelessness law and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand
  • Judith Carter, Lecturer and Solicitor, Liverpool Law Clinic, School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool, UK - Project: Stateless Legal Clinic
  • Hiba Thobani, Advisor & Trainer, Imkaan Welfare Organization, Karachi, Pakistan - Project: Stateless Legal Clinic

2024

  • Zeineb Alsabeehg, PhD Candidate, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, United Kingsdom - Research: :Statelessness as a Consequence of Unequal Citizenship Laws in the Gulf.
  • Marnie Lloyd, Senior Lecturer and Associate-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Public Law at Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand - Research: A mapping of statelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand.
  • Subin Mulmi, Executive Director, Nationality for All -  Research: The place of non-affected persons in the statelessness movement.
  • Abdullah Yassen,Policy and Advocacy Adviser at Norwegian Refugee Council and Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Erbil Polytechnic University, Kurdistan Region, Iraq -  Research: Statelessness in Iraq, particularly for Fali Kurds.
  • Margarida Farinha, Head of Research and Community at Statefree, Germany - Research: From XXX to XXA: Participatory research on the recognition of statelessness in Germany.

2023

  • Janepicha Cheva-Isarakul, Lecturer, Social Policy and Sociology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand - Research: Childhood statelessness, particularly in northern Thailand.
  • Nyi Nyi Kyaw, Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia, Chiang Mai University, Thailand - Research: The Experience of Displaced, De Facto Stateless Myanmar People in Thailand.
  • Dorota Pudzianowska, Associate Professor of Law, Warsaw University, Poland - Research: Statelessness in Poland.
  • Victoria Reitter, PhD fellow, Sociology, University of Salzburg, Austria - Research: Statelessness and its production in Austria.

2020

  • Zahra Albarazi, Statelessness expert and consultant, United Kingdom - Research: Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
  • Talha Abdul Rahman, Legal Practitioner before Supreme Court, New Delhi, India - Research: Assessment of adjudicatory processes regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for the state of Assam in India.

2019

  • Janepicha Cheva-Isarakul, PhD Candidate (anthropology), Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand - Research: Stateless Shan in Thailand; and collaborator on the Centre’s nomadic peoples & statelessness project.
  • Heather Alexander, PhD Candidate (law), Tilburg University, The Netherlands - Research: Nomadic peoples and statelessness.
  • Julija Sardelic, Marie Curie Postdoc Fellow, Leuven International and European, University of Leuven, Belgium - Research: Statelessness and citizenship of Roma in Europe.
  • Nyi Nyi Kyaw, Visiting Fellow, Myanmar Studies Program, ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore - Research: How arbitrary state policies and practices in Myanmar have made citizenship regressively inaccessible for Rohingya.
  • Lindsey Kingston, Associate Professor, Director, Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Webster University, USA - Research: Conceptualising “statelessness-as-punishment” (denationalisation).

2017

  • Laura van Waas,  founder & Co-Director of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Assistant Professor at the Department of European and International Law,  Tilburg University, The Netherlands - Project: collaborative teaching project  to develop a curriculum on statelessness and exploration of other areas for research-related collaboration.