ACMRL is happy to welcome Masja Zweers to our team, ACMRL at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as our newest PhD candidate and lecturer!

Masja holds an LLB in law and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Utrecht University and recently graduated cum laude from the Legal Research Master, also at Utrecht University. In her Master’s thesis, she examined the discriminatory effects of the Dutch integration test abroad in the light of Articles 14 and 8 ECHR, focusing in particular on the candidates and how gender and national origin intersect to create bias in family reunification. During her studies, Masja has already published several articles, including her work on decolonising legal education on Human Rights Here and a detailed analysis of deportation procedures on Verblijfblog. Her research interests include empirical research, gender issues, philosophy and family migration law.

In addition to her academic work, Masja has practical experience, having worked for several years as a student researcher in the Inclusive Education Project together with Dr Brianne McGonigle Leyh and Julie Fraser, where she conducted research on how the history of racialised slavery and colonialism can be taken into account in the Bachelor of Law curriculum. Additionally, she worked for more than a year as a volunteer legal assistant at Stichting VluchtelingenWerk and as an editor at Verblijfblog.

Masja’s PhD research will examine the role of emotions in the assessment of parenthood for the admission and residence of migrant parents, as part of the NWO project Politics of Emotion in Migration Law, led by Prof. Betty de Hart. Her work will analyse how migration officials, judges and other stakeholders shape conceptions of motherhood and fatherhood, exploring the legal and emotional dimensions involved.

We are pleased to have Masja on our team and look forward to her research.