New project: The Business of Bordering

In September I will be starting a new project, funded by the ESRC. This project, supported by a £713,000 grant, focuses on the border security economy. That is, the wide range of companies, contracted directly or indirectly by governments, to contribute to border control. This includes the provision of technologies such as IT platforms, scanners,…

Parliamentary launch of the Channel Crossings Final Report

In October we had the last event of the Channel Crossings project, the launch of our final report in parliament. Channel Crossings has been a 3 year ESRC funded investigation into the UK response to small boat Channel crossings. We have analysed 345 policy and political texts, interviewed politicians and policymakers, done policy time-lining going…

Are humanitarian visas the answer to finally solving small boat Channel crossings?

I was asked to speak to this question at a recent event organised by Patricia Nabuco-Martuscelli, and here’s how I answered.  The UK’s preferred mode of refugee reception has always been to offer safe passage and settlement to particular nationalities during particular conflicts on a case by case basis. These have usually been short term schemes -think of…

How much is the UK government spending on contracts in the border industry?

This article, with the Chanel Crossings team, was originally published in Open Democracy in April 2025. The UK government says smugglers profit off human desperation in the English Channel. But we, a team of researchers, believe they’re not the only ones. Our work has found that private companies have received more than £3.5bn of public…

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