Miss Maite Ibanez Bollerhoff

I am an ESRC funded Doctoral Researcher working to better understand the experiences of refugee women with refugee support organisations in German towns.

My research seeks to investigate which understandings of integration underpin the ways in which CSOs support and work with refugee women. Specifically, it aims to analyse whether these align with or contest national approaches to integration, thus exploring to what extent CSOs have autonomy to implement their understanding of integration. Beyond producing insights into CSOs’ understanding and practices of integration, this research also examines how these are perceived, experienced, and navigated by refugee women. The research design consists of a qualitative mixed methods engagement with CSOs and the refugee women that they work with. This will enable an in-depth investigation of how CSOs’ understanding of integration translates into their everyday practices of integration. Thus, the research will advance the knowledge both of refugee women’s active role and agency in navigating support and in shaping CSOs’ approaches and ways of working at a local level.