Anja Simonsen

Anja Simonsen

Associate Professor


Educational Background

  • Ph.d. Fellow, part of the projects 'Invisible Lives - an ethnography of undocumented migration', Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, 2013 - 2017
  • Cand.scient.anth with a specialization in Global Studies and Development, Department of Anthropology at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, 2011
  • Bachelor Degree, Department of Anthropology at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, 2009
  • One semester at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), The University of London, 2008 (fall).
  • One Semester at The Studies of Minorities, The University of Copenhagen, 2009 (spring).

Employment

  • Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, August 2023 - present
  • Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, March 2019 - July 2023
  • Postdoc., Project: Biometric Border Worlds, Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, March 2017 - March 2019
  • Research Assistant, Project: Biometric Border Worlds, Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, December 2016 - March 2017
  • Campaign Coordinator at ‘Landsindsamlingen 2012’, The Danish Refugee Council, May - November 2012 
  • Student Assistant at the Master for Health Anthropology, Aarhus University, July 2009 - July 2010

Coordination, Supervision, and Communication Experience

  • Board member of the newly established UCPH Migration and Refugee Research Platform, 2021 - present
  • Co-coordinator of the Culture, Mobility, and Power Research Group, the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, June 2020 - present
  • Core member of the Techne Research Group, the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, 2020 - present
  • Coordinator of the research group Migration and Social Mobility, the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, January 2018 – February 2019, Spring 2015, Fall 2014.
  • UCPH Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Program (certified participation), finalized November 2018

Teaching and Supervision Experience

Teaching experience:

  • Planning, teaching and examining: E-tivities, course-coordinator, Fall 2023
  • Contemporary crisis: A political matter of concern, course-coordinator and co-teacher in collaboration with five colleagues, Spring 2023
  • Applied Anthropology in collaboration with Associate Professor Simon Lex and Assistant Professor Matti Weisdorf, Spring 2023
  • Global (Dis)connections in collaboration with Associate Professor Atreyee Sen, spring 2021/2022/2023
  • ‘Anthropology as social science’ fall 2020/2022/2023
  • The Anthropology of Migration, introductory course, Autumn 2013, 2014, 2017, Spring 2021/2022
  • Advanced course: the Anthropology of Migration: Mobility as social, economic and cultural resource, Fall 2016 in collaboration with Professor Karen Fog Olwig
  • Anthropological Fieldwork and its many forms: Experiences from the field, Fall 2014.

Supervision experience:

  • BA students, Fall 2020, Spring/Fall 2021, Spring/Fall 2022, Spring/Fall 2023 - Master thesis, Global Development, Fall 2023: 3, Spring 2023 2 students, MA students 4 - Spring 2021, Global Development 2 studentsMA students 3 - Fall 2017, Master thesis 2, Global Development 2 students.
  • Supervisor, 1 Phd student, the department of Anthropology, the University of Copenhagen, Feburary 2024- current
  • Co-supervisor, 1 PhD student, the department of Anthropology, the University of Copenhagen, May 2022 – December 2023

Research Affiliations

  • INTI International University, Malaysia, Nilai, Research Fellow, 15 Oct. 2023 – 31 Dec. 2025
  • COMPAS, University of Oxford, England, Dec. 2021 – 20 Oct. 2023
  • Research Stay, Universita Degli Studi Di Milano, Department of Philosophy, Milan, Italy, Mar.–Apr. 2018
  • Research stay, the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, England, Oct.-Nov. 2015

Fieldwork Experience

  • Postdoc Project: The Criminalisation of Humanitarianism: From Volunteers to Human Smugglers in Italy: Italy, 8 months
  • Postdoc Project: The Biometric Border World: 4 months, Italy, 2017, 2018
  • PhD: 1 year – 2013/2014, Somaliland (4 months), Turkey (4 months), Greece (4 months)
  • Master thesis: 10 months – Aug. 2010/May 2011, the Somali regional state of Ethiopia

Latest Public and Academic Presentations

  • Book launch of my monograph, the Department of Anthropology, the University of Copenhagen 6th October 2023
  • Book launch of my monograph and movie screening, Cinemateket, Copenhagen 1 September 2023
  • Book launch of my monograph, the Department of COMPAS, the University of Oxford, 12th June 2023
  • Presented virtually at the American Anthropological Associations’ conference with the paper: "If I die, at least I die while
  • trying": Migration routes, crisis and decision making on the Mediterranean Sea” 11 Dec. 2022.
  • Arranged the workshop: the Criminalisation of Solidarity – A trialogue Examining Smuggling, Law and Humanitarianism, in collaboration with Postdoc. Matthew Porges and PhD fellow Ruta Nimkar, COMPAS, the University of Oxford, 23 May 2022. I was convener and moderator.
  • 9 June 2022: Presenting my project and preliminary findings from the Carlsberg funded project: ‘The Criminalisation of Humanitarianism: From Volunteers to Human Smugglers in Italy’, for Work in Progress Seminar series (WIPS) at COMPAS, the University of Oxford.
     

 

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