Derya Ozkul

Profile

Dr Derya Ozkul is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick. Her research explores the politics of migration and displacement, with a particular focus on the use of emerging technologies to ‘manage’ and control mobility and asylum in Europe. She has previously conducted research on migration policies in Turkey, Lebanon, Germany and Australia. She is the author of various journal articles and book chapters on the politics of migration and displacement. Her work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Journal of Refugee Studies, Third World Quarterly, Turkish Studies, German Law Journal, and British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies.

Prior to joining Warwick, Derya worked for over five years at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. She previously also worked at the University of Sydney, where she completed her PhD in Sociology. She holds an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a BA in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University in Turkey.

Derya currently leads the Digitising Identity Project, funded by the ESRC Digital Good Network, as Principal Investigator, and serves as Co-Investigator on the Algorithmic Fairness for Asylum Seekers and Refugees Project, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Previously, she was the Principal Investigator of the Governance of AI-based Technologies in the Management of Migration Project, funded by the John Fell Fund at the University of Oxford.

Beyond academia, Derya contributes to #ProtectNotSurveil, a coalition of civil society organisations advocating for amendments to the EU AI Act to safeguard against potential harms from AI use in migration contexts. In collaboration with European Digital Rights (EDRi), Access Now, the Platform for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), and the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), she currently leads the “Visualising Digital Migration Control: An Open Resource for EU Policymakers and Advocates” project, funded by the Policy Support Fund 2025–26 at the University of Warwick. She has also served as an expert advisor to Forced Migration Review—the most widely read publication on forced migration—for its issue on ‘Digital Disruption’. Additionally, she occasionally provides expert opinions on asylum adjudication, particularly concerning the conditions faced by Alevis in Turkey.

Dr Ozkul welcomes PhD supervision on topics related to migration, displacement, and the role of new technologies.

Digitising Identity: navigating the digital immigration system and migrant experiences

Funded by the ESRC Digital Good Network, this research investigates the UK Home Office’s transition to a digital-only immigration status system, focusing on its impact on migrants’ everyday lives. As part of a broader trend in government digitalisation, migrants in the UK are now required to use an online portal to digitalise their immigration status and generate a ‘share code’ to verify their status when accessing their rights such as employment and housing.

Guided by the central question – How has the digitalisation of immigration status impacted migrants in the UK? – this research explores how migrants have navigated this transition, the challenges they have faced, and the emotional, social, and legal consequences of digital-only status. Subsidiary questions address issues of accessibility, support-seeking behaviours, emotional well-being, and perceptions of fairness, as well as the reproduction of existing inequalities through digital systems.

Using a mixed-methods approach that combines computational tools, qualitative interviews, and Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, the research highlights how technical glitches, lack of clarity, and systemic biases disproportionately affect migrants depending on their legal status, socio-economic background, and digital literacy. By centring migrants’ voices and lived experiences, the research contributes to emerging scholarship on digital identity and administrative digitalisation, with a focus on equity and justice.

Algorithmic Fairness for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (AFAR)

The AFAR project is a collaborative research project led by Prof Cathryn Costello (University College Dublin and Hertie School) and co-led by Dr Derya Ozkul (University of Warwick, previously University of Oxford), Prof Martin Ruhs (European University Institute), Prof Iris Goldner Lang (University of Zagreb) and Prof Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen (University of Copenhagen). It is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation in the frame of its "Challenges for Europe" programme. It investigates the use of new technologies in migration and asylum governance, in particular the automation or part-automation of decisions normally taken by humans, as well as more complex machine learning and artificial intelligence systems, and related uses of digital identity mechanisms.

At its heart, AFAR is an exploration of the concept of ‘fairness’ as a legal, normative and socio-political concept. The project explores fairness as a multidimensional concept and considers whether existing legal standards appropriately institutionalise fairness, in particular when decision-making in these fields is increasingly automated. The project includes work packages to map the use of new technologies in migration and asylum in Europe, explore the evolving overlapping legal standards in this domain, consider how fairness perceptions impact practices, and develop proposals to reform practices for fairness.

Selected publications

Books

· Castles, Stephen; Ozkul, Derya; Arias, Magdalena. 2015. Social Transformation and Migration. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

· Ozkul, Derya and Markussen, Hege. 2022. The Alevis in Modern Turkey and the Diaspora: Recognition, Mobilisation and Transformation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Journal Articles

· Ozkul, Derya. 2025. Constructed Objectivity in Asylum Decision-Making through New Technologies. Journal of Migration and Ethnic Studies, 51(14), 3629–3648.

· Godin, Marie; Ozkul, Derya; Humphries, Rachel. 2025. Digital Technologies and Migration: Behind, Beyond and Around the Black Box. Journal of Migration and Ethnic Studies, 51(14), 3571–3589.

· Ozkul, Derya and Welfens, Natalie. 2025. UNHCR-State Relations: Transfer of Authority over Refugee Status Determination. Journal of Refugee Studies, 38(1), 223–239.

· Palmiotto, Francesca and Ozkul, Derya. 2025. Climbing a Wall: Legal Mobilisation and Strategic Litigation Against Automated Systems in Migration and Asylum. German Law Journal, 25(6), 935-955.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2022. Governing Migration and Asylum Amid Covid-19 and Legal Precarity in Turkey, Middle East Law and Governance, 14: 141-154.

· Ozkul, Derya and Jarrous, Rita Ozkul. 2021. How Do Refugees Navigate the Black Boxes of Bureaucracies? Interpretative Labour and Rumours, Third World Quarterly, 42 (10): 2247-2264.

· Williamson, Rebecca; Magdalena Arias Cubas, Derya Ozkul, Cailin Maas, Chulhyo Kim, Elsa Koleth & Stephen Castles. 2021. Migration and Social Transformation through the Lens of Locality, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48 (13): 3041-3059.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2020. Participatory Research: Still a One-Sided Research Agenda? Migration Letters 17 (2), 229-237.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2019. The Making of a Transnational Religion: Alevi Movement in Germany and the World Alevi Union. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 46 (2): 259-273.

· Eder, Mine; Ozkul, Derya. 2016. Precarious lives and Syrian refugees in Turkey, New Perspectives on Turkey 54, 1-8.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2015. Alevi “Openings” and Politicization of the “Alevi Issue” during the AKP rule, Turkish Studies, 16: 80-96.

Book Chapters

· Ozkul, Derya. 2022. ‘The Alevi Movement in Germany and Australia: Towards a Transnational Movement’ in Derya Ozkul and Hege Markussen (eds) The Alevis in Modern Turkey and the Diaspora. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press., pp. 147-165.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2019. ‘Transnationalism’ in Christine Inglis, et al. (eds) Sage Handbook of International Migration. New York: Sage.

· Castles, Stephen; Ozkul, Derya; Arias Cubas, Magdalena. 2015. ‘International migration in an era of neoliberal social transformation’ in Stephen Castles, Derya Ozkul and Magdalena Arias Cubas (eds) Social Transformation and Migration. Basingstoke: Palgrave., pp. 301-312.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2015. ‘Migration flows in Turkey’s neoliberal era: the case of Kumkapı, Istanbul’ in Stephen Castles, Derya Ozkul and Magdalena Arias Cubas (eds) Social Transformation and Migration. Basingstoke: Palgrave., pp. 151-166.

· Castles, Stephen and Ozkul, Derya. 2014. ‘Circular migration: triple win, or a new label for temporary migration?’ in Graziano Battistella (ed) Theoretical Perspectives on Asian Migration. New York: Springer Publishing., pp. 27-49.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2014. ‘Emotive connections: insider research with Turkish/Kurdish Alevi migrants in Germany’ in Lejla Voloder and Liudmila Kirpitchenko (eds) Insider Research on Migration and Mobility. London: Ashgate., pp. 117-132.

· Castles, Stephen; Vasta, Ellie and Ozkul, Derya. 2014. ‘Australia: a Classical Immigration Country in Transition’ in J. Hollifield, et al. (eds) Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press., pp. 128-150.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2012. ‘Ulus-ötesi göç: Uluslararası göç yazınında yeni bir paradigma’ in Suna Gülfer Ihlamur Öner and N. Aslı Şirin Öner (eds) Küreselleşme Çağında Göç: Kavramlar Tartışmalar. Istanbul: Iletisim., pp. 483-500.

· Castles, Stephen; Arias, Magdalena; Kim, Chulhyo and Ozkul, Derya. 2012. ‘Irregular migration: causes, patterns and strategies’ in Irena Omelaniuk (ed) Reflections on Migration and Development, New York: Springer Publishing., pp. 117-151.

Reports and Working Papers

· Ozkul, Derya. 2023. Automating Immigration and Asylum: The Uses of New Technologies in Migration and Asylum Governance in Europe. University of Oxford, Refugee Studies Centre.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2023. Refugee Recognition Regime Country Profile: Lebanon (RefMig Working Paper No. 3/2023), doi: 10.48462/opus4-5006

· Ozkul, Derya; Nalule, Caroline. 2023. Recognising Refugees: A Review of the Literature and Approaches (1990-2020) (RefMig Working Paper No. 1/2023), doi: 10.48462/opus4-4994

· Ozkul, Derya. 2020. Policy Recommendations towards Migrants for the COVID-19 Pandemic, Istanbul: Istanbul Political Research Institute.

· Collins, Jock; Reid, Carol; Groutsis, Dimitria; Ozkul, Derya; Watson, Katherine. 2018. Syrian and Iraqi Refugee Settlement in Australia, Sydney: University Technology of Sydney.

· Castles, Stephen; Vasta, Ellie and Ozkul, Derya. 2012. The internal dynamics of migration processes and their consequences for Australian government migration policies, Sydney: University of Sydney.

· Castles, Stephen; Ozkul, Derya; et al. 2011. Karl Polanyi and Understanding Social Transformation’, Social Transformation and International Migration in the 21st Century. Working Paper No 1, Sydney: University of Sydney.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2011. Circular Migration Schemes: Renewed Interests in Destination Countries, CARIM Best Participant Essays Series 2011/61, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University Institute.

Book Reviews

· Ozkul, Derya. 2022. Asylum Matters: On the Front Line of Administrative Decision-Making, International Journal of Refugee Law, 34 (1): 159–162.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2012. The Politics of European Citizenship, Journal of European Social Policy, 22 (3): 332-333.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2011. Beyond a Border: The Causes and Consequences of Contemporary Immigration, Journal of Sociology, 47 (2): 222-223.

Opinion Pieces and Features

· Ozkul, Derya. 2023. New technologies in migration and asylum governance: who benefits?, Oxford Department of International Development Blog.

· Palmiotto, Francesca; Ozkul, Derya. 2023. “Like Handing My Whole Life Over”: The German Federal Administrative Court’s Landmark Ruling on Mobile Phone Data Extraction in Asylum Procedures, Verfassungsblog.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2023. In memory of Stephen Castles: Studying migration as part of social transformation, International Migration, 61 (1), 307-310.

· Ozkul, Derya. 2020. Refugee recognition: not always sought. Forced Migration Review, 65.

· Costello, Cathryn; Nalule, Caroline; Ozkul, Derya. 2020. Recognising refugees: understanding the real routes to recognition. Forced Migration Review, 65.

· Fakhoury, Tamirace; Ozkul, Derya. 2019. Syrian refugees’ return from Lebanon, Forced Migration Review, 62.

 

See ResearchGate for downloadable articles and Google Scholar for a full list of publications.