This news story was originally published by The Manchester Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence.
We are delighted to announce the winner of the second Manchester Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (MJMCE) Doctoral Thesis Prize, which recognises and celebrates excellent research produced by doctoral researchers on matters related to European history, politics, culture and languages. The winner of the 2024/25 prize is Dr Sarah Elmammeri for her thesis titled ‘Trapped between Borders: Constructing a Multiperspective Approach to Bordering Practices in the EU between the International, Regional and National Layers’. Dr Elmammeri completed a PhD in Politics at the University of Liverpool in 2024.
The judges found this project to be especially notable for the urgency and relevance of the topic, the empirical depth and richness of the material, and the sophisticated analysis through which it contributes to critical border studies and postcolonial understandings of the so-called European refugee ‘crisis’.
In accepting the award, Dr Elmammeri said: “My doctoral thesis investigates the multiplicity of bordering practices in the aftermath of the 2015–2016 so-called refugee ‘crisis’. The research employs a multi-layered analytical framework to examine bordering processes across three levels: international, regional, and national, using European Commission policy documents alongside 21 semistructured interviews conducted in English and Arabic with NGO workers, asylum seekers, refugees, and volunteers in the UK. At the time of the research, the UK was still part of the European Union and was treated as an EU member state. It also served as a destination country for many of the participants involved.
The thesis highlights the need to conceptualise borders not only as territorial demarcations, but as complex and dynamic systems shaped by both physical and non-physical, visible and invisible forces. These systems are constructed and maintained by both political and non-political actors and often reflect colonial legacies and hierarchies. By tracing the lived experiences of asylum seekers and refugees, the thesis proposes a holistic perspective on how bordering practices are produced through policy and challenged through the knowledge and experiences of my participants.
This project emerged from a combination of personal experience and academic inquiry. As someone who has personally encountered the complexities and limitations imposed by borders, I have long been interested in how these borders are constructed, experienced, and challenged.
The 2015–2016 so-called refugee ‘crisis’ and the EU’s political reaction to it sparked my academic curiosity about how borders operate through colonial hierarchies.” Considering the very high standard of the nominations received, the judging committee also decided to award an honourable mention to Dr Kris Kaleta (MMU) for his thesis ‘Beyond the Freedom Line: Analysing Libertarian Digital Community in Poland’.