| Title | A Happy Migrant in Unhappy Times |
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| Contributor | Reda Mahajar(author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0508.14 |
| Landing page | http://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0508/chapters/10.11647/obp.0508.14 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Reda Mahajar |
| Publisher | Open Book Publishers |
| Published on | 2026-04-29 |
| Long abstract | When your name translates as “happy migrant”, life’s ironies become impossible to ignore—particularly when bullets and paperwork both threaten your life. Born in Syria to refugee parents, I was denied multiple US and Canadian student visas despite securing full PhD scholarships. I pursued my education while dodging bombs in Damascus and bureaucratic nightmares in Lebanon, eventually finding refuge and completing my PhD in Brussels. There, I quickly encountered a new challenge: navigating EU research funding. Although the EU publicly embraces refugee researchers, its rigid mobility rules create clear injustices, effectively excluding us from fair access to postdoctoral opportunities. |
| Print length | 12 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
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Reda Mahajar (PhD) earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of London and completed his PhD in International Relations at the Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent, in 2023. His doctoral research examined the historical persistence of “Sunni” and “Shia” labels as categories of power in the Arab and Muslim spaces. Since then, he has been working as a part-time guest lecturer at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, teaching Theory Construction. In August 2025, after extensive high-level contacts with the European Commission, its Research Agency and the Council, the International Studies Association issued a statement entitled “Statement of the ISA Academic Freedom Committee on the Case of Dr Reda Mahajar: Addressing Systemic Barriers for Refugee Scholars in Research Funding”. It highlights the systemic discrimination he faces in accessing European research funding as a result of ongoing mobility injustices.