Dr. Katharine Jones joined the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations in April 2015 and is an Associate Professor in Global Inequalities and Development Research Group. She is also Co-Director for UKRI GCRF MIDEQ Migration for Equality and Development Research Hub. 

Educated at the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne (1992-5; 1998-9) and Manchester (2007-2012), Katharine has more than 16 years experience of conducting migration-related research in a wide range of institutional settings (government, voluntary sector, international organisations, think tanks, funders). She was previously Director and founder of the Global Migrant Rights’ Research consultancy where she led major international research projects on migration intermediaries and human rights for the ILO Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour, the International Organisation for Migration, and Open Society Foundations amongst others). Prior to this she was Programme Manager (Forced Labour and Anti-Trafficking) at the Institute for Human Rights and Business, Senior Programme Manager (Migration, Young People and the Criminal Justice System) at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, and Senior Research Officer (Migration and Asylum) at the UK Home Office Immigration Research and Statistics Service. She is widely regarded as an expert on labour migration and migration intermediaries and is regularly asked to contribute to international events (with international organisations, think tanks, and international business) on this topic.

Dr. Jones is a Director and Trustee of the Scottish Refugee Council and a trustee of Scottish Detainee Visitors and Bazooka Arts.

My research is inspired by the need to promote the rights of people who migrate, whether for employment or because they have been forced to flee to seek a place of safety. With a background in researching asylum and refugee issues, for the past decade I have focused on tackling the intermediaries which organise the migration process. Specifically I research the rapidly growing networks of recruiters – also known as the migration industry - which profit from facilitating migration of women and men across national borders and placing them in employment. Geographically, I work in South and South East Asia, Europe, and Africa. It is critical to me that my research is applied rather than esoteric and I therefore work with a multitude of different institutional stakeholders, including international organisations, trade unions and INGOs.