Biography
Thomas Swerts is an Assistant Professor in Urban Sociology at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Before joining EUR in 2018, he was a post-doctoral researcher and visiting professor at the Universiteit Antwerpen, the Université de Liège and the KU Leuven. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago.
At the Erasmus University Rotterdam, he is a member of the Team Policy, Politics and Society led by Prof. dr. Peter Scholten and he serves as the coordinator of the Sociology Master Track Urban Issues and Policy (Grootstedelijke Vraagstukken en Beleid; https://www.eur.nl/master/grootstedelijke-vraagstukken-en-beleid).
He is an affiliated researcher at the LDE Center of Governance of Migration and Diversity and the LDE Center for BOLD Cities, where he currently co-coordinates a Team Science Project on Urban Digital Twins (TWIRL; https://www.centre-for-bold-cities.nl/projects/urban-digital-twins). He is a member of the Educational Committee Sociology and also teaches courses in the Bachelor in Sociology and the Master in Governance of Migration and Diversity (GMD).
His research focuses on the nexus between urban studies and migration studies. His book project, 'Citizen X: Becoming Undocumented Activists On Both Sides Of The Atlantic’, is a transatlantic ethnographic study that compares the processes and practices through which undocumented youth in Chicago and the sans-papiers in Brussels became political activists. As a researcher, he is primarily specialized in ethnographic methods, participatory action research and in-depth interviewing.
For his recently awarded NWO Vidi Project URBIMM (URBan migration infrastructures for Irregular Migrant Mobility, 2024-2029), he and his research team will investigate how migration infrastructures locally facilitate the arrival, transit, settlement and exit of undocumented migrants in European cities (see https://www.nwo.nl/onderzoeksprogrammas/nwo-talentprogramma/projecten-v…).
He has previously been awarded grants by the SSRC, NSF and the Mellon Foundation. He has published in academic journals like Global Networks, Mobilization, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Antipode, Social Inclusion and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (https://eur.academia.edu/ThomasSwerts). He has also contributed to edited volumes on citizenship studies, immigrant rights mobilization, research ethics and relational poverty politics.
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
- swerts@essb.eur.nl
More information
Work
- Lalaine Siruno, Thomas Swerts & Arjen Leerkes (2022) - Personal Recognition Strategies of Undocumented Migrant Domestic Workers in The Netherlands - Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, 22 (3), 632-645 - doi: 10.1080/15562948.2022.2077503 - [link]
- Inês Cabral & Thomas Swerts (2021) - Governing precarious immigrant workers in rural localities: Emerging local migration regimes in Portugal - Politics and Governance, 9 (4), 185-195 - doi: 10.17645/pag.v9i4.4506 - [link]
- Thomas Swerts & S Oosterlynck (2021) - In search of recognition: the political ambiguities of undocumented migrants’ active citizenship - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47 (3), 668-685 - doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1772044 - [link]
- Thomas Swerts & WJ Nicholls (2020) - Undocumented immigrant activism and the political: disrupting the order or reproducing the status quo? - Antipode, 53 (2), 319-330 - doi: 10.1111/anti.12678 - [link]
- Thomas Swerts (2020) - Politics disrupted? Collective intentionality, inaugural performativity, and institutional receptivity in undocumented migrant struggles - Antipode, 53 (2), 355-378 - doi: 10.1111/anti.12662 - [link]
- Thomas Swerts (2020) - Power and empowerment
- Thomas Swerts (2019) - Actie-Onderzoek: CollectActif.
- S Oosterlynck, E Hertogen, Thomas Swerts & P Debruyne (2019) - Citizens and civil society organisations in a changing world: a literature survey. - [link]
- Sébastien Lambert & Thomas Swerts (2019) - 'From sanctuary to welcoming cities': Negotiating the social inclusion of undocumented migrants in Liège, Belgium - Social Inclusion, 7 (4), 90-99 - doi: 10.17645/si.v7i4.2326 - [link]
- Thomas Swerts & S Oosterlynck (2019) - Molenbeek (On)besproken: Dynamiek van het verenigingsleven in een achtergestelde en gestigmatiseerde buurt. - [link]
4.1 The city as a marketplace
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- FSWS-612
4.2 Migration in a Globalized world
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- FSWGMD0046
2.2 Sociologische Vraagstukken 4
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ESSB-S2030
3.3 Onderzoek in de Praktijk
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- ESSB-S3030