Ruben Wissing

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Biography

Ruben is a postdoctoral researcher at the Migration Law Research Group (MigrLaw) of Ghent University, Belgium. In 2022, he completed his PhD on refugee protection in Morocco through a multidisciplinary lens. He holds a degree in Law from the KU Leuven and the Complutense University in Madrid, and a bachelor's in Philosophy.

In his research, Ruben explores the legal, policy, and practical applications of core principles in the international refugee protection regime – such as non-refoulement, solidarity, asylum and human rights. His work emphasizes inter-state and regional dynamics across Europe and Africa, alongside the lived experiences of migrants. His scholarship lies at the intersection of doctrinal refugee and asylum law, human rights analysis, socio-legal research, and critical theoretical perspectives. He is affiliated with the Human Rights Centre (HRC), the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR), the Human Rights Research Network (HRRN) and the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute (GRILI). He is also connected to the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) at the University of London and was a visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) at the University of Oxford.

In addition to his research, Ruben serves as a co-lecturer in Law and Society and in Global Discourse and Narratives of Crime. He practiced as a migration and asylum lawyer and held roles as a legal officer and policy coordinator in various Belgian non-profits. He also worked as an independent consultant for European NGOs and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Notably, Ruben co-founded NANSEN, the Belgian Refugee Council.