I am Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the Department of Government, University of Essex. My research examines how states, international organisations, and bilateral agreements govern migration — and through what mechanisms these instruments shape the decisions of migrants, refugees, and the communities that host them. I study these questions using field and survey experiments and quasi-experimental designs, with empirical work spanning Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
My work has appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, and International Studies Quarterly, among other journals.
My research has been supported by the International Organisation for Migration (funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office), the Economic and Social Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the University of Essex. I am currently Principal Investigator on the NAMAD evaluation — an IOM and FCDO-funded assessment of livelihood interventions in Egypt and Algeria.
I was born in Argentina and grew up across Mexico, the United States, Germany, and Denmark before moving to the UK in 2010 to pursue graduate studies. My interest in migration is partly rooted in this experience — moving between countries and navigating different institutional contexts shapes how I think about the conditions under which people decide to stay or go.
Miranda Simon 
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