Dr Gaja Maestri

I am a sociologist with an expertise on migrant integration and migrant solidarity, and I specialise in qualitative methodologies. Since 2019 I am a Lecturer in Sociology and Policy in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Aston University (Birmingham, UK). I am also Visiting Professor at the UIC – Barcelona as part of the Master of International Cooperation Sustainable Emergency Architecture, for which I run a class on ‘Camps, politics and space’, exploring the ambiguities and theories on residential segregation in camps.

My comparative research focuses on racial segregation and pro-migrant collective action, with a specific attention to social inequalities in urban contexts through qualitative methods. In the last ten years, I have conducted extensive research in France, Italy and the UK.

Prior to joining Aston University, I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Leicester as part of the ESRC-funded project The Frames of Altruistic Action. I was also member of the French project MARG-IN (“Marginalization/Inclusion: Regulatory Policies Effects in the Long Run. The Case of Romanian Roma Migrants”) that explored the exclusion and inclusion dynamics of Romania Roma migrants France, Italy and Spain and that was conducted by Université de Tours, Université de Poitiers and Centre d’Études Européennes, Sciences Po Paris.

My PhD research was funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council and focused on the persistence of the housing segregation of the Roma people and Algerian migrants in in Rome and Paris. It has been published as a book with Palgrave Macmillan: Temporary Camps, Enduring Segregation. The Contentious Politics of Roma and Migrant Housing .

During my PhD I spent research visiting periods in Paris at the Centre de recherche sur l’habitat (ENSA Paris-Val de Seine) (from January to April 2013) and at the École des hautes études en science sociales (from April to July 2013). From May to July 2015 I was invited visiting fellow at the Centre d’études européennes at Sciences Po, Paris.