Biography
Melissa Weihmayer is a Researcher with the Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity, the knowledge exchange arm of COMPAS. Drawing on innovation within local and regional UK government, she manages a project to inform central government action for welcoming newcomers.
Melissa studies the governance of international and internal forced migration in diverse contexts. Her research examines the intersection between urban governance and migration challenges, recently looking at how local authorities develop responses to asylum in the UK. She is interested in the governance processes and practices that shape decisions around migration responses at the local level, for example capacity-building initiatives, innovation, use of evidence, and coalition-building and partnerships. In addition to multi-year engagement with London local authorities responding to asylum through the Asylum Welcome programme, she developed in-depth research projects on the multilevel governance of Colombia’s state responses to internal displacement and the building of local social contracts in displacement-affected eastern Ukraine.
Previously, Melissa worked with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees through its interagency project Joint IDP Profiling Service. In her work, she partnered with a variety of UN, humanitarian, development and government stakeholders to build a trusted evidence-base on internal forced migration, especially in Central America and the Middle East.
Melissa completed her PhD in Urban Planning in the Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she is also a Visiting Fellow. She holds an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She is a Research Affiliate of the Internal Displacement Research Programme, and a frequent contributor to the network Researching Internal Displacement.