Dr Vigneswaran is currently Co-ordinator of the History of Migration Policy Initiative and Migrants Rights Monitoring Programme at the Forced Migration Studies Programme (FSMP), University of Witswatersrand, South Africa, which is widely regarded as the premier centre for the study of migration in Southern Africa. His research programme during his four-month Fellowship will focus on Migration Policing in South Africa: Policy and Implementation. The Fellowship offers a valuable opportunity to strengthen long-term institutional links with the International Migration Institute, which shares a common agenda, and will provide the resources and research community to progress Dr Vigneswaran's research agenda.
As part of its developing African Migrations Programme, the IMI are hoping to develop further collaborations with FMSP as we strive to make more materials available online and build the capacity for migration research across the continent. This visiting fellowship will help to cement these institutional linkages and we anticipate that the content of Dr Vigneswaran's study and the international relations perspective that he brings to it will help us stimulate critical debate on the development of migration policies in other parts of Africa.
Dr Vigneswaran's visit has been made possible by a British Academy Visiting Fellowship.