We are delighted to welcome Professor Luisa Feline Freier to the Latin American Institute at the Freie Universität Berlin, where she joins us as Professor of Politics.

She holds a PhD in Political Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science, an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Universität zu Köln.

Professor Freier is joining us from Lima, Peru, where she has spent 10 years teaching and researching at the Universidad del Pacífico (UP). She is founding director of the IDRC funded Research Chair on Forced Displacement in the Global South at the same university.

Her research focuses on migration and refugee policies in Latin America, south-south migration, and the Venezuelan displacement crisis. In previous work, she has asked what explains the remarkable immigration policy liberalization in Latin America, on the one hand, and restrictive reactions to Venezuelan displacement, on the other. Her research also covers the (self-)categorization of migrants and refugees, as well as socio-political implications of institutional racism and socio-racial hierarchies. Most recently, she co-led a research project on the determinants of forced and voluntary immobility in Latin America and Africa.

At the Latin American Institute, Prof. Freier will continue to promote international scientific exchange and interdisciplinary mixed-methods collaborative research with institutions around the world.

We look forward to the new perspectives and expertise she will bring to our research and wish her much success!