An interview with: Lynn Hillary

My name is Lynn Hillary and I came to Amsterdam in 2015 to study IMRL. Before that, I had studied public law in Belgium (VUB, Brussels) and had done an exchange program at the University of Copenhagen.

Recently, I have started my Ph.D. research at the Open University of the Netherlands. I’m only two months in so my subject hasn’t yet fully developed – I’m thinking of mutual trust and external European asylum law – but I’m definitely enjoying all the reading and exploring I’m doing now! Before starting my research I worked at the Dutch Council for Refugees for two years, where I gave legal advice on the Dutch asylum procedure and participated in a project on strategic litigation, and at a regional court for a couple of months, where I prepared cases, mostly regarding the Dublin Regulation.

In both my previous jobs and my current research, it is pretty obvious how the master program benefitted me: it provided me with in-depth knowledge on migration law as well as a solid basis to further deepen this knowledge.

The best experience during the IMRL master must have been the discussions with other students. Because we were such a diverse group with different backgrounds, someone would always offer a new perspective.

I find it very difficult to say what my long-term plans are, so for now, I’ll just keep it to finishing my Ph.D. in time!

Probably I’m not best suited to give any advice at all, but if I may say this to the current IMRL students: soak up everything you can because the year passes before you know it.