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Bisong, Dr. Amanda

Portrait von Amanda Bisong
E-mail:
amanda.bisong [at] gmail.com
Areas of research:
Migration governance, free movement regimes, labour mobility, social protection, EU - Africa migration cooperation, migration and development, migration and trade, private sector engagement in migration, regional integration and trade
Regional focus:
West Africa, Continental level (African Union Commission), EU – Africa, Gulf Countries - Africa
Professional experience:
Since 2024
Thematic Co-lead, Legal Pathways and Labour Migration, African Non-State Actors Platform on Migration and Development
September 2025 – June 2026
Policy leader Fellow, Florence School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute, Italy
October 2025 – December 2026
Fellow, Freiburg Rising Stars Academy, University of Freiburg, Germany
2018 – 2025
Senior policy analyst, European Centre for Development Policy Management, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2012 – 2018
GIZ support programme to the ECOWAS Commission, various roles including Head of West Africa Trade Integration Programme (WATIP).
Education:
November 2019 – January 2025
PhD in Law (with Distinction), Faculty of Law VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands
September 2011 – September 2012
Master in International Law and Economics, World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland
July 2010 – November 2012
MSc International trade policy and trade law, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Sweden
October 2008 – November 2009
Barrister of Laws (B.L), Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus, Nigeria
August 2002 – August 2008
Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Nigeria

Bisong, A. 2025. Analysing narratives of free movement of persons in West Africa. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 51(18), 4598–4620. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2025.2544080 

Bisong, A. 2025. Rethinking externalization of migration governance in Europe - Africa relations: Future research directions in a changing geopolitical landscape. International Migration Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/0197918325140975 

Panizzon, M. and Bisong, A. 2025. World Trade Organisation. In Elgar consise encyclopedia of Migration and Asylum Law. Vincent Chetail, Jittawadee Chotinukul and Giulia Raimondo eds. 

Zanker, F. and Bisong, A., 2024. ‘Contested Mobility Norms in Africa: Reconciling Visions, Policies and Practice’. Heinrich Boell Stiftung Report, April. Available at: https://www.boell.de/en/2024/04/11/contested-mobility-norms-africa

Arhin-Sam, K., Bisong, A., Jegen, L., Mounkaila, H. and Zanker, F., 2022. 'The (in)formality of mobility in the ECOWAS region: The paradoxes of free movement', South African Journal of International Affairs. DOI: 10.1080/10220461.2022.2084452. https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rsaj20/29/2

Full list of publications, podcasts, webinars, blogposts, and other commentary can be found at www.amandabisong.org.

Stocktaking Labour Mobility Between West African Countries and the Gulf: Case Studies of Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Chad (IOM/ JLMP AU, 03/2025 – 07/2025); 

Evaluating the African Union Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA) (05/2023 - 09/2024); 

Analysis on the feasibility of establishing an African Union labour migration and employment authority/ council (GIZ AU, 03/2023 – 07/2023); 

Analysis on the development impacts of labour migration projects – Evidence from selected GIZ and ICMPD projects (GIZ Eschborn, 08/2023 – 10/2023)

Analysis on Diaspora engagement in the European Union Talent Partnerships (EUDiF/ICMPD, 03/2021 – 09/2021); 

March - June 2024 Kurzer Besuch, Migration Policy Centre, European University Institute, Fiesole, Italy

2020 - 2021 Fellow, Young Policy Network on Migration. Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland und dem German Marshall Fund of the United States, Berlin, Germany

2018 - 2019 Swiss Subsaharan Africa Migration (S-SAM) Forschungsprojekt, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

2019 Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) Fellow University of Ghana. Junior Fellow, IFG 1 - Interdisciplinary Fellow Group on ‘Migration, Mobility and Forced Displacement’

June - July 2019 Swiss Subsaharan Africa Migration (S-SAM) Fellowship Austausch, University of Geneva, Switzerland

June - July 2017 National Center of Competence in Research – The Migration-Mobility Nexus (NCCR - on the move), Gastwissenschaftlerin, University of Bern, Switzerland