Prof. Leander Kandilige

Email: leanderkandilige@gmail.com/ lkandilige@ug.edu.gh

Prof. Leander Kandilige is an Associate Professor of Migration Studies at the Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana. He teaches across the Centre’s MA, MPhil, and PhD programmes, including Migration and Population Dynamics, Migration, Globalisation and Development, Labour Migrations in Africa, Theories and Typologies of Migration, and Migration and Development. He also mentors and supervises several MA/MPhil and PhD students working on diverse themes within migration research at the Centre and from other institutions.

He holds a D.Phil. (PhD) in Migration Studies from the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford (2014), an MSt. in Forced Migration from the University of Oxford (2009), an MA in International Affairs from the University of Ghana (2006), a Postgraduate Certificate in Managing Voluntary Organisations from the University of Southampton (2007), and a BA (First Class Honours) in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Ghana (2004).

Prof. Kandilige has held several international academic fellowships and research appointments. These include a Visiting Scholarship at Leiden University, the Netherlands (21 September–20 November 2025); an Erasmus Fellowship at Radboud University, the Netherlands (2024–2025); a Fellowship at the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA), University of Ghana (February–March 2019); and a BANGA-Africa Fellowship at the University of Oxford (August–October 2017). He also serves as a Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, and has been involved in global collaborative research networks for more than a decade.

His research areas span migration and development, migration policy processes, return migration and reintegration, labour migration, diaspora engagement, migration inequalities, and global migration governance. Over the years, he has initiated, led, or contributed to several major international research projects. These include studies on global migration networks and integration (2025–2029); EU migration management in Africa and the Middle East (2020–2024); culture and sustainable peace (2020–2023); South–South migration and development (2019–2024); social transformation and policy advocacy (2019–2025); migration governance and development linkages (2018–2023); domestic worker migration to the Middle East (2018); migration intermediaries and the migration industry (2015–2018); and immigrant labour contributions to Ghana’s economy (2016), among others. He has also been involved in multiple policy-oriented research collaborations with institutions such as ICMPD, IOM, ILO/OECD, and UKRI.

Prof. Kandilige’s work contributes to strengthening the evidence base for migration governance at national, regional, and global levels. His scholarship continues to influence academic discourse, training, and policymaking in migration studies, while advancing the Centre’s mandate to generate high-impact research on migration and development.

Research Focus
•    Migration and development
•    Migration policy development
•    Migration, poverty and inequalities
•    Labour migration
•    Return migration and reintegration

Publications
Prof. Kandilige has authored and co-authored several journal articles, book chapters, policy reports, and working papers on migration governance, labour migration, diaspora engagement, return migration, integration, and inequalities. His publications appear in leading international outlets covering African migration dynamics, global migration policy, and transnational mobility.

A full list of publications is available on his Google Scholar profile below.
Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QgUh900AAAAJ&hl=en