Professor Majella Kilkey
PhD, MA, BSSc (Hons)
Department of Sociological Studies
Professor of Social Policy

+44 114 222 6459
Full contact details
Department of Sociological Studies
Elmfield Building
Northumberland Road
Sheffield
S10 2TU
- Profile
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Majella joined the Department of Sociological Studies in 2011, having taught in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Hull since completing her PhD ‘Lone Mothers Between Paid Work and Care: The Policy Regime in 20 Countries’, at the University of York.
Majella’s work is in the field of migration studies, with particular focus on the intersections between migration and families / care / gender / ageing / geopolitical transformations, which she approaches from sociological and social policy perspectives. These interests coalesce in different configurations around three key areas: transnational families, transnational political economy of care and migration and transformations. Majella co-founded and currently co-directs the Migration Research Group in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield.
- Research interests
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Majella’s main current research areas are: migration, (transnational) families and care; migration and gender, including masculinities; family migration policies; the multiple and interconnected ‘crises’ experienced in Europe in recent years, including the economic crisis, the ‘refugee crisis’, Brexit and Covid-19, examining their implications for EU integration, European Free Movement, EU migration governance and migrants’ lived experiences.
Majella currently holds a number of externally funded research grants in those areas.
- EMpowerment and Integration of Migrant Youth (MIMY). Majella leads the University of Sheffield’s team work on this European Commission H2020-funded project (2020-2023) composed of twelve partners. The project aims to improve the situation of migrant youth throughout Europe by understanding what enables and constrains integration. It focuses specifically on the situation of migrant young people from outside of the EU who have experienced different conditions of exclusion, vulnerability and inequality. MIMY puts the experiences of young migrants at the centre of its activities by directly involving them as peer researchers through participatory research.
- Migration, Integration and Governance Research Centre (MIGREC). Majella leads the University of Sheffield’s team work on this European Commission H2020-funded project (2019-2022). MIGREC is a research-capacity building project in the field of Migration Studies at the University of Belgrade. The project focuses on three inter-related challenges for confronting Serbia – migration, demographic ageing and geo-politics.
- Sustainable Care: Connecting People and Systems. Majella is Co-Investigator on this ESRC-funded Large Grant (2017-2021), co-leading the programme’s work on migration, mobility and diversity focusing on three areas: care experiences of aged migrants; migrant care workers; and care experiences of ‘Brits abroad’.
- EMpowerment and Integration of Migrant Youth (MIMY). Majella leads the University of Sheffield’s team work on this European Commission H2020-funded project (2020-2023) composed of twelve partners. The project aims to improve the situation of migrant youth throughout Europe by understanding what enables and constrains integration. It focuses specifically on the situation of migrant young people from outside of the EU who have experienced different conditions of exclusion, vulnerability and inequality. MIMY puts the experiences of young migrants at the centre of its activities by directly involving them as peer researchers through participatory research.
- Publications
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Books
- Introduction. Policy Press.
Edited books
Journal articles
- The interplay between structural and systemic vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic : migrant agricultural workers in informal settlements in Southern Italy. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
- Brexit and beyond: Transforming mobility and immobility. Central and Eastern European Migration Review, 9(1), 5-12. View this article in WRRO
- Introduction to the special issue "Transnational care : Families confronting borders". Journal of Family Research. View this article in WRRO
- Examining transnational care circulation trajectories within immobilizing regimes of migration : implications for proximate care. Journal of Family Research. View this article in WRRO
- EU integration in the (post)-migrant-crisis context: learning new integration modes?. European Review. View this article in WRRO
- The social reproductive worlds of migrants. Journal of Family Studies, 24(1), 1-4. View this article in WRRO
- Marriage Migration Policy in South Korea: Social Investment beyond the Nation State. International Migration, 56(1), 23-38. View this article in WRRO
- Conditioning Family-life at the Intersection of Migration and Welfare: The Implications for ‘Brexit Families’. Journal of Social Policy, 46(4), 797-814. View this article in WRRO
- Social reproduction in Sicily’s agricultural sector: migration status and context of reception. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(15), 2573-2590. View this article in WRRO
- Situating transnational families' care-giving arrangements: the role of institutional contexts. GLOBAL NETWORKS-A JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL AFFAIRS, 14(2), 210-229.
- Migrant Men's Fathering Narratives, Practices and Projects in National and Transnational Spaces: Recent Polish Male Migrants to London. INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 52(1), 178-191.
- Fathers' time-bind and the outsourcing of "male" domestic work in Europe: the cases of the United Kingdom and Germany. Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy, 29(2), 109-121.
- Introduction: Domestic and Care Work at the Intersection of Welfare, Gender and Migration Regimes: Some European Experiences. Social Policy and Society, 9(3), 379-384.
- Domestic-Sector Work in the UK: Locating Men in the Configuration of Gendered Care and Migration Regimes. Social Policy and Society, 9(3), 443-454.
- Disabled men and fathering: Opportunities and constraints. Community, Work and Family, 13(2), 127-146.
- Migration and uneven development within an enlarged european union: Fathering, gender divisions and male migrant domestic services. European Urban and Regional Studies, 17(2), 197-215.
- Men and domestic labor: A missing link in the global care chain. Men and Masculinities, 13(1), 126-149.
- Gendered Divisions in Domestic Work Time: The rise of the (migrant) handyman phenomenon. Time & Society, 19(2), 239-264.
- Contextualizing rationality: Mature student carers and higher education in England. Feminist Economics, 15(1), 85-111.
- The widening participation agenda: The marginal place of care. Gender and Education, 20(6), 623-637.
- New Labour and Reconciling Work and Family Life: Making It Fathers' Business?. Social Policy and Society, 5(02), 167-175.
- Unsettling Events: Understanding Migrants’ Responses to Geopolitical Transformative Episodes through a Life-Course Lens. International Migration Review, 019791832090550-019791832090550. View this article in WRRO
Chapters
- View this article in WRRO
- Conclusions, Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility (pp. 337-350). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Introduction: Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility: Introducing a Global and Family Life-Course Perspective, Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility (pp. 1-18). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Marriage Migration Policy as a Social Reproduction System: The South Korean Experience, Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility (pp. 137-161). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- View this article in WRRO
- View this article in WRRO
- Researching Men in the Relationship between Gender, Migration and Domestic Work, Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 35-64). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Gender, Migration and Domestic Work: An Introduction, Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 1-19). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Gender Identity and Work: Migrant Domestic Work and Masculinity, Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 149-177). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Connecting Men in the International Division of Domestic Work: The New ‘Father Time-Bind’, Global Divisions between Men and Gender Inequalities, Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 94-121). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Migrants and Male Domestic Work in the UK: The Rise of the ‘Polish Handyman’, Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 65-93). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Globalization, Migration and Domestic Work: Gendering the Debate, Gender, Migration and Domestic Work (pp. 20-34). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Introduction, Social Policy Review 24 (pp. 1-12).
- Transnational families in the era of global mobility (pp. 431-443). Edward Elgar Publishing
- Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care Routledge
Book reviews
- Welfare and families in Europe. JOURNAL OF SOCIAL POLICY, 35, 325-326.
- The gender division of welfare. The impact of the British and German welfare states. JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY, 11(3), 281-281.
- FAREWELL TO THE FAMILY - PUBLIC-POLICY AND FAMILY BREAKDOWN IN BRITAIN AND THE USA - MORGAN,P. JOURNAL OF SOCIAL POLICY, 24, 467-469.
Reports
- View this article in WRRO
Website content
- Research group
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Majella is Co-Director of the Migration Research Group in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. The MRG has over 100 members from across the Faculty. Its approach is informed by a broad understanding of migration encompassing motives for migration, effects on sending and destination countries, as well as the broad range of impacts (legal, social, economic and political) and experiences of migration in various geographical regions.
- Grants
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2020-23 European Commission H2020
Co-I on the EMpowerment and Integration of Migrant Youth (MIMY) project, leading the University of Sheffield team (Award = €2,999,998; PI = Prof Birte Nienaber, University of Luxembourg)
2019-22 European Commission H2020
Co-I on the Migration, Integration and Governance Research Centre (MIGREC) capacity-building project (Award = €799,919; PI = Prof Natalija Perisic, University of Belgrade).
2019-20 Worldwide Universities Network
PI on the research collaboration Migrants’ decision-making in the context of shifting migration regimes (Award = £31,640).
2017-21 Economic and Social Research Council
Co-I on the Sustainable Care Programme, co-leading the work package - Care ‘in’ and ‘out of’ place: towards sustainable well-being in mobile and diverse contexts. (Award = £2.54 million; PI = Prof Sue Yeandle).
2017-19 Noble Foundation
Co-I on the project Modern Poland: Migration and Transformations (Award = £29,760; PI = Prof Louise Ryan).
2016-19 European Commission
University of Sheffield PI on the MIGRATE Jean Monnet project (Award = €374,371 Euro; Project Co-ordinator = SEERC, Thessaloniki).
2016 British Medical Association
PI on the project Analysis of the BMA Cohort Study of 2006 Medical Graduates (Award = £38,720)
2016 World Universities Network
Co-I on the project Hidden Voices: Exploring the health experiences of children who migrate (Award = £20,000; PI = Dr Jill Thompson).
2013-14 White Rose University Consortium
PI on the Research Network Migration and Economic Crisis: the experiences of Brits at home and abroad (Award = £10724)
2008-9 Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
PI on the project Situating men within global care chains: the migrant handyman phenomenon (Award = £98,000)
2005-7 Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Co-I on the Seminar Series Gender, work and life in the new global economy (Award = £15,000; PI = Prof. Diane Perrons).
- Teaching activities
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Majella current convenes the department’s postgraduate taught programme dissertation modules.
- Postgraduate Supervision
Majella has supervised ten PhD students to completion. Topics previously and currently supervised include: transnational care networks, young unaccompanied asylum seekers and transitions to adulthood, Roma and experiences of European citizenship, women’s experiences of trafficking, UK asylum and refugee policy, migrant care workers in Saudi Arabia and diaspora engagement. Majella is interested in supervising PhDs relating to the research areas listed on her Research page.