MMB Alumni Ambassador 2020-23
Ella studied the MSc in Migration and Mobility Studies (2019-20) at the University of Bristol having been inspired by the ‘Ethics of Migration’ module in the final year of her Philosophy BA. She continued her interest in migration research by starting a 1+3 PhD in September 2021 on the sexual and reproductive rights of undocumented migrants in the UK’s hostile environment. Fully-funded by the South West Doctoral Training Partnership, Ella studies her doctorate at the University of the West of England, with supervision also at the University of Bristol. As part of her research, she will be carrying out ethnographic fieldwork with migrant mother charities, to understand experiences accessing maternity care for migrant women within the NHS. To help future students thinking of doing postgraduate research Ella wrote up her top tips for applying for a PhD in the MMB blog.
Prior to studying the Masters at Bristol Ella worked with organisations supporting migrants globally and for the past few years has worked as a Head Representative for SolidariTee. This has involved speaking at events on migration-related issues, training representatives on the topic of refugeehood, and being an active advocate for refugee rights. In this role Ella also wrote a post for the MMB blog about ‘Filling the legal aid gap’. She also now works for local charity ProjectMAMA, which provides support to refugee mothers in Bristol. Together, this charity work and the Masters course have made her passionate about migration and mobility issues and as an MMB Alumni Ambassador she is keen to support graduates interested in studying this field.
You can listen to Ella talking about the MSc in Migration and Mobility Studies with co-Alumni Ambassador Ignacio Odriozola here.
To contact Ella please email ella.barclay@hotmail.com.