Lea Müller-Funk

Dr. Lea Müller-Funk

Scientific Staff - Department for Migration and Globalisation - Center for Migration and Globalisation Research

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Functions

Lea Müller-Funk is Senior Researcher at the Department for Migration and Globalisation since January 2022.

  • Senior Researcher in the areas of interest at the Department for Migration and Globalisation
  • Coordinator of the research cluster “Migration Processes and Drivers”
  • PhD supervision
  • MA theses supervision
  • Teaching in the framework of the PhD Programme "Migration Studies"
  • Responsible for organising interdisciplinary migration research seminars interdisciplinary discussion series on migration research („Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series“)
  • Associate lecturer at the University of Vienna
  • Projects: SYREALITY, TIES, Development implications of involuntary immobility in Africa

About the person

After postdocs at the Universities of Oxford and Amsterdam and the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Lea Müller-Funk is currently a senior researcher and Elise Richter Fellow at the Department for Migration and Globalisation at the Danube University Krems. Her work focuses on diaspora politics, migration processes in displacement contexts, as well as migration governance with a geographical focus on the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Lea Müller-Funk holds a joint PhD degree in Comparative Politics and Arabic Studies from Sciences Po Paris and Vienna University.

She has led and been involved in various research projects on displacement (Marie Curie: SYRMAGINE (Syrian Imagination of Europe, 2017-2019), Horizon2020: MAGYC (Migration Governance and Asylum Crises, 2019-2021), FWF: SYREALITY (Syrian Imagination of Europe meet Reality, 2022-2026).

Her current research project SYREALITY focuses on drivers of (im)mobility and migration decision-making processes of Syrian refugees in the Middle East and Europe. It investigates how broader life aspirations influence refugees’ migration decisions; which influence war and displacement have on life aspirations and social class; and how forced migrants’ legal status and the context of reception in four different European cities impact their life aspirations and well-being.

Her specific research interests include:

  • migration decision-making in contexts of displacement
  • migration governance
  • diaspora politics with a geographical focus on the Middle East, North Africa and Europe

Website: www.leamuellerfunk.com
Twitter: @LeaMullerFunk

Projects (Extract Research Database)

Running projects

Syrian imaginations of Europe meet reality

Duration: 26/01/2022–25/10/2026
Principle investigator for the project (University for Continuing Education Krems): Lea Müller-Funk
Funding: FWF

Completed projects

Teaching Immigration in European Schools

Duration: 01/09/2020–31/12/2023
Principle investigator for the project (University for Continuing Education Krems): Lea Müller-Funk

Online Course in Holistic approach on Integration of Migrants and Refugees

Duration: 11/07/2022–30/04/2023
Principle investigator for the project (University for Continuing Education Krems): Friedrich Altenburg
Funding: andere internationale Organisationen

Publications (Extract Research Database)

Müller-Funk, L. (2023). Violence, life aspirations and displacement trajectories in civil war. International Migration, 61: 209–227

Müller-Funk, L.; Fransen, S. (2023). ’I will return strong’: The role of life aspirations in refugees’ return migration. International Migration Review, 57(4): 1739-1770

Müller-Funk, L.; Fröhlich, C.; Bank, A. (2023). Disentangling Forced Migration Governance: Actors and Drivers Along the Displacement Continuum. International Migration Review, online first: online first

Müller-Funk, L.; Natter, K. (2023). Forced migration governance in Tunisia: Balancing risks and assets for state-making during independence and democratization. Mediterranean Politics, forthcoming: forthcoming

Müller-Funk, L.; Üstübici, A.; Belloni, M. (2023). Daring to aspire: theorising aspirations in contexts of displacement and highly constrained mobility. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, online first: online first

Müller-Funk, L.; Natter, K. (2023). (Trans)formations de l’État et gouvernance des migrations forcées en Tunisie. Afrique(s) en mouvement, 6(2): 31-41

Müller-Funk, L. (2023). Chapter 1: Data Management (Version 1.0). Methodological Handbook SYREALITY

Müller-Funk, L.; Abusulttan, S.; Kabbani, M.; Karabajakian, I.; Omran, L.; Yahya, K. (2023). Chapter 3: The Qualitative Data (Version 1.0). Methodological Handbook SYREALITY

Müller-Funk, L.; Fröhlich, C. (2023). Teaching Immigration in European Schools Module 8: Climate Change and Migration.

Müller-Funk, L.; Ghabash, W. January 2023. (2023). Chapter 2: The SYREALITY Survey (Wave 1). Version 1.0. Methodological Handbook SYREALITY: 1-81, Krems

Müller-Funk, L.; Van der Vorst, N.; Ghabash, W. (2023). Teaching Immigration in European Schools Module 7: Displacement and asylum.

Fröhlich, C.; Müller-Funk; L. (2022). Mobility Control as State-Making in Civil War: Forcing Exit, Selective Return and Strategic Laissez-Faire. Migration Politics, (001): 1-28: https://doi.org/10.21468/MigPol.2.1.001

Müller-Funk, L.; Katharina N. (2022). Forced migration governance at critical junctures of state formation in Tunisia. MAGYC Working Paper 4.2. MAGYC Working Paper, Université de Liège

Müller-Funk, L. (2020). Research with refugees in fragile political contexts: How ethical reflections impact methodological choices. Journal of Refugee Studies, 34(2): 2308–2332

Müller-Funk, L. (2020). Egyptian Diaspora Activism during the Arab Uprisings: Insights from Paris and Vienna. Routledge, London

Krawatzek, F.; Müller-Funk, L. (2019). Two centuries of Flows between ‘Here’ and ‘There’: Political Remittances and Their Transformative Potential. Journal of Ethnic and Migration, 46(6): 1003-1024

Müller-Funk, L. (2019). Fluid identities, Diaspora Youth Activists and the (Post-) Arab Spring: How Narratives of Belonging Can Change over Time. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(6): 1112-1128

Müller-Funk, L. (2017). Managing Distance: Examining Policies Governing Egyptian Emigration. Egypte Monde Arabe, 15: 47-69

Müller-Funk, L. (2016). Diaspora Mobilizations in the Egyptian (Post)Revolutionary Process. Comparing Transnational Political Participation in Paris and Vienna. Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, 14(3): 353-370

Müller-Funk, L. (2014). Transnational Politics, Women & the Egyptian Revolution: Examples from Paris. Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East Migration Studies, 2(1): 29-55

Lectures (Extract Research Database)

Ambivalent involvement in humanitarian aid, civil society, and everyday humanitarianism in the context of Syrian displacement

Ambivalent Solidarities: Ethical commitments in contexts of dispossession, 26/03/2024

The TIES project and its modules

TIES Launch Event, 07/11/2023

Daring to aspire: Violence, life aspirations and displacement trajectories in civil war

Migration Seminar Series UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, 14/12/2022

Mobility Control as State-Making in Civil War: The Case of Syria and Libya

Seminar "Introduction to the Islamic Arabic World: History and Society", 16/11/2022

‘You are locked up from the outside’: Violence, life aspirations and displacement trajectories in civil war

7th Biennial Conference on Migration and Integration Research in Austria 2022, 26/09/2022

Forced migration governance at critical junctures of state formation in Tunisia

7th Biennial Conference on Migration and Integration Research in Austria 2022, 26/09/2022

The SYRMAGINE Survey: A Cross-National Survey in the Middle East

Surveying refugees and hard-to-reach populations in Europe and beyond: Comparing lessons learned, 02/09/2022

Forced migration governance at critical junctures of state formation in Tunisia

ECPR General Conference 2022, 24/08/2022

The difficulties were when you were cut off from the rest of the country’: Violence, life aspirations and displacement trajectories in civil war

IMISCOE Annual Conference 2022, 30/06/2022

Ukrainian displacement and the future of the global refugee regime

World Refugee Day Conference 2022, 20/06/2022

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