Professor Jenny Phillimore

Jenny Phillimore, Senior Lecturer, IASS

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology
Professor of Migration and Superdiversity

Contact details

Address
School of Social Policy and Society
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Jenny Phillimore is Professor of Migration and Superdiversity. She is a world leading scholar in refugee integration, superdiversity and access to social welfare with a particular focus on public health.  Jenny is also an expert on Community Sponsorship.

She managers teams of researchers focusing on access to health, education, employment, training, and housing integration with a particular focus on integration and organisational change in the UK and EU.

Jenny is a Fellow of the RSA and of the Academy of the Social Sciences. She has advised local, regional, national and European Government. Jenny led the ESRC/Norface funded UPWEB project which is developing a new concept of welfare bricolage to explore how residents in superdiverse areas address health concerns. 

Currently she leads the international SEREDA project which aims to understand the incidence and nature of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) experienced by women, men and child refugees who have fled conflict in the Levant Region.

ORCID profile

Qualifications

  • PhD Urban and Regional Studies, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham (1998)
  • MSc (Distinction), Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham (1995)
  • BSc (Hons) Environmental Science (First Class), Coventry University (1994)

Teaching

Jenny is currently module Co-ordinator for the New Migration and Superdiversity undergraduate module.

Postgraduate supervision

  • South to south refugee humanitarianism (2024) (Kirsty Hearn)
  • Intersectionality Between Threat Assessment and Refugees’ Personal Experiences of Violence (2026) Olivia Petie
  • Superdiversity and child mistreatment PhD (2022) (Rafiyah Khan)
  • Refugee integration a design approach PhD (2022) (Allaa Barri)
  • Critical humanitarianism and the Community Sponsorship Programme PhD (2023) (Natasha Nicholls)
  • Comparing refugee integration outcomes across resettlement programmes PhD (2023) (Gabriella D'Avino)
  • Governance and migration. Danish Research Council Studentship PhD (2011) (Belisa Marochi)
  • Housing needs of Pakistani Muslim women experiencing domestic violence. ESRC/ODPM Case Studentship PhD (2011) (Zahira Latif)
  • Identity and citizenship in second generation Philiponos. Ford Foundation International (2013) (Mark Llangco)
  • Analysing unemployment benefit equality for internal migrant workers PhD (2014) (Ziaolin Yang)
  • Exploring the nature of representation in an era of superdiversity (2016) (Asif Alfridi)
  • Role of media in migration policy making process (2017) (Szymon Parniekwski)
  • Decision-making processes of return migrants participating in voluntary returns programmes (2018) (James Lukano Omuson)
  • Remittance strategies of Malawian migrants in the UK (2019) (Harry Ntata)
  • Palliative care provision for migrant children and their families (2020) (Marie Clancy)
  • Refugee children and integration (2020) (Ozlem Young)
  • Enterprise as a route for refugee integration (2020) (Kristina Stoewe)
  • Resilience and refugee women's experiences of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) (2021) (Sara Alsaraf)
  • Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the refugee crisis (2021) (Sandra Pertek)
  • Restorative justice and sexual and gender based violence in refugee crises (2022) (Sian Thomas)

Research

New migration and superdiversity; migrant integration and settlement; organisational adaptation and migrant welfare needs; small scale refugee, migrant and ethnic third sector activity; innovative qualitative research methods; refugee and migrant health and migrant maternity; community research methodology; sexual and gender based violence (SGBV).

SEREDA

The SEREDA Project is a major new research initiative that is being undertaken across the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden and Turkey by a multi-country research team from the University of Birmingham, University of Melbourne, Uppsala University and Bilkent University.  The Project uses a social constructivist framework to understand the incidence and nature of SGBV experienced by women, men and child refugees who have fled conflict in the Levant Region.  

Find out more about the SEREDA Project

Community Sponsorship

Launched in 2016, Community Sponsorship is a British scheme wherein communities raise funds and establish a core group to support a refugee family to resettle in the UK.   

Find out more about the Community Sponsorship Scheme

Other activities

  • Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences and British Sociological Association
  • Fellow of the RSA
  • Member if the European Migration Network
  • Member if the Runnymede Trust Academic Network

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Phillimore, J, Reyes Soto, M, D'Avino, G & Nicholls, N 2025, 'Community Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways: Global Movements for Resettling Refugees Driven by Local Actors', Journal of International Migration and Integration. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-025-01310-9

Petie, O, Phillimore, J & Allsopp, J 2025, 'Exploring hospitality, hostility and (un)home in accommodation for asylum seekers in the UK', Hospitality & Society, vol. 15, no. 1-2, pp. 23-44. https://doi.org/10.1386/hosp_00088_1

Clancy, M, Bradbury-Jones, C, Phillimore, J & Taylor, J 2025, 'Exploring the experiences of children’s palliative care for forced migrant families in the United Kingdom: an interpretative phenomenological study', Frontiers in pediatrics, vol. 12, 1494938. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2024.1494938

Elgenius, G & Phillimore, J 2025, 'Founding and sustaining grassroots actions in superdiverse neighbourhoods facing socioeconomic challenges: narratives of emergent processes, actions and resources', Frontiers in Political Science, vol. 6, 1324444. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2024.1324444

Phillimore, J, Block, K, Bradby, H, Darkal, H, Goodson, L, Papoutsi, A & Vaughan, C 2025, '“I Will Experience This Trauma Over and Over Again”: Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Forced Migration and Structural Violence', Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605251338785

Phillimore, J, Fu, L, Jones, L, Lessard-Phillips, L & Tatem, B 2025, '"They just left me": People seeking asylum, mental and physical health, and structural violence in the UK's institutional accommodation', Frontiers in public health, vol. 13, 1454548. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1454548

Phillimore, J, Goodson, L, Hourani, J & Pertek, S 2024, 'Encounters with kindness: everyday and extraordinary kind interventions in the lives of forced migrant survivors of SGBV', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2347515

Phillimore, J 2024, 'From mere life to a good life: shifting integration policy from outcomes to capabilities', Refugee Survey Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdae014

Phillimore, J, Morrice, L & Strang, A 2024, 'Walking a tightrope between policy and scholarship: reflections on integration principles in a hostile environment', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2368855

Hassan, S, Phillimore, J & D'Avino, G 2024, 'You are safe here: Community Sponsorship policy and refugee integration in ‎the UK', Social Policy and Society. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746424000241

Hübner, W, Phillimore, J, Bradby, H & Brand, T 2023, 'Assessing the contribution of migration related policies to equity in access to healthcare in European countries. A multilevel analysis', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 321, 115766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115766

Borkowska, M, Kawalerowicz, J, Elgenius, G & Phillimore, J 2023, 'Civil Society, Neighbourhood Diversity and Deprivation in UK and Sweden', Voluntas. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-023-00609-4

Phillimore, J, D'Avino, G, Strain-Fajth, V, Papoutsi, A & Ziss, P 2023, 'Family reunion policy for resettled refugees: Governance, challenges and impacts', Frontiers in Human Dynamics, vol. 5, 1075306. https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2023.1075306

Pertek, S, Block, K, Goodson, L, Hassan, P, Hourani, J & Phillimore, J 2023, 'Gender-based violence, religion and forced displacement: Protective and risk factors', Frontiers in Human Dynamics, vol. 5, 1058822. https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2023.1058822

Other report

Phillimore, J, Reyes Soto, M, Nicholls, N & D'Avino, G 2025, Shaping the future of community sponsorship in the UK and beyond: expanding pathways for refugee resettlement. University of Birmingham.

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

New migration; superdiversity; integration; cohesion; asylum seekers; refugees; migrant welfare; refugee and migrant health and maternity; sexual and gender based violence (SGBV).

Alternative contact number available for this expert: contact the press office

Expertise

Communities and Cohesion

Professor Phillimore is interested in a number of fields including new migration and superdiversity; migrant integration and settlement; organisational adaptation and migrant welfare needs; small scale refugee, migrant and ethnic third sector activity; and innovative qualitative research methods.  She also looks at refugee and migrant health and migrant maternity.

Policy experience

Jenny has advised Governments around the world on refugee integration.  She is a co-author of the UK’s Integration Indicators.