Derya Ozkul

Exclusion by design: digital identification and the hostile environment for migrants - ESRC Digital Good Network How has the digitalisation of immigration status affected migrants in the UK? This report presents findings from the Digitising identity: navigating the digital immigration system […]

A new report presents findings from 'Digitising identity: navigating the digital immigration system and migrant experiences' and makes recommendations to the Home Office.

@deryaozkul.bsky.social @migrantvoice.bsky.social @openrightsgroup.org

digitalgood.net/dg-outputs/e...

Thank you for sharing this, dear Dan!

As @migrantvoice.bsky.social has shown today, a digital immigration system leads to exclusion of individuals, that actually risks increasing the number of people forced to work in an undocumented capacity. It isn't "progressive" to continue targeting migrants.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Picture of the panel for the report launch

We are thrilled to be launching our new report, Exclusion by Design: Digital Identification and the Hostile Environment for Migrants, with Derya Ozkul (University of Warwick) and Marie Godin (University of Leicester) and @openrightsgroup.org

www.migrantvoice.org/img/upload/C...

The 'Exclusion by Design' report is the outcome of a year long project by @deryaozkul.bsky.social from the @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social and Marie Godin from the @uniofleicester.bsky.social, along with @sarahalsherif.bsky.social from @openrightsgroup.org and we are grateful to have been a part of it.

I have so much respect for @deryaozkul.bsky.social and Marie Godin for putting this report together, and I feel very lucky to have been a small part of it. The issues with the digital immigration system are only going to get worse with digital ID. It is so important to focus on those affected.

The 'Exclusion by Design' report was produced by:

@deryaozkul.bsky.social @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social and Marie Godin @uniofleicester.bsky.social / Oxford.

In collaboration with Nazek Ramadan and Anne Stoltenberg
@migrantvoice.bsky.social and @sarahalsherif.bsky.social @openrightsgroup.org

📣 Registration is open for our event Reimagining Digital ID @mediacomgold.bsky.social @goldsmithsuol.bsky.social w/ findings from our www.redid.net project and talks by colleagues working on implications of Digital ID in Global South, migrant & refugee contexts explore.gold/digital-id All welcome! ⬇️

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:

- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

Digital technologies and migration: behind, beyond and around the black box Digital technologies have often been criticised due to their tendency to operate as ‘black boxes’, owing to their complexity and opacity, which pose challenges to understanding their inner mechanis...

“Digital Technologies and Migration: Behind, Beyond and Around the Black Box”, published #OpenAccess in JEMS:

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

edited by:
@mariegodin.bsky.social @deryaozkul.bsky.social @rachelhumphris.bsky.social

@koenleurs.bsky.social @kinanalajak.bsky.social #RianneDekker

New Publication 📘

Happy to share that our special issue, “Digital Technologies and Migration: Behind, Beyond and Around the Black Box”, with Marie Godin and @rachelhumphris.bsky.social has now been published.

🔗 Available open access here: doi.org/10.1080/1369...

SAVE SOCIOLOGY AT MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY We urge Macquarie University management to reverse this decision and preserve the vital disciplines of Sociology and Politics. Sociology has a key place in the social sciences as the broadest and mos...

www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...

📣Warwick Antiracism Archive Launch! Come discover our new resource on knowledge b/w generations of student antiracist activists at Warwick. 20/06 2-4pm in R0.12. Register & details: link.outsavvy.com/antiracism led by
@uncomfiest.bsky.social
w/ support from Anna Numa Hopkins & 6 student researchers.

AFAR researchers inform UN guidelines on digital border governance in 2-day event Researchers from the Algorithmic Fairness for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (AFAR) Project inform UN guidelines in two-day Geneva event.

www.hertie-school.org/en/news/deta...

Now, on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Algorithmic Fairness in Asylum Seekers and Refugees Project in spotlight. @volkswagenstiftung.de

Are you attending the ‪@cpdpconferences.bsky.social conference today? We are the organisers of this year's 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭!
The discussion will be grounded in the #𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗥 project.
𝟭𝟳.𝟮𝟬 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲!
https://tinyurl.com/42ffau5n

✨ Highlights from CPDP 2025 ✨

Spoke at #CPDP2025 on digital rights of asylum seekers & refugees. Shared insights from my work on automated decision-making & strategic litigation in migration governance. Grateful for the vibrant exchange with researchers, NGOs & DPAs. CPDP, you were terrific!

Protecting the Digital Rights of Asylum Seekers and Refugees As displaced populations increasingly interact with technologies, effective digital rights protection is more urgent than ever. This panel discusses the role data protection law plays in safeguarding the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. It examines the legal and practical challenges that arise in ensuring privacy, consent, and fairness for these vulnerable individuals. Our panel aims to foster a collaborative dialogue between academia (particularly researchers of the AFAR project), NGOs, and data protection authorities to close gaps between law and practice and to empower displaced individuals to exercise their digital rights. To create a dynamic session, we will invite stakeholders from the fields of Data Privacy and New Technologies to attend our panel as guests. These stakeholders will be engaged during the Q&A session to provide additional perspectives and foster a vibrant, interdisciplinary exchange of ideas. Questions to be answered: - What specific challenges do asylum seekers and refugees face in enforcing their digital rights? - How can data protection officers (DPOs) and related professionals make use of emerging regulations like the AI Act to safeguard privacy and fairness for asylum seekers and refugees? - What role does collaboration among data protection authorities, NGOs, and academia play in protecting digital rights for displaced populations? - How can digital rights frameworks for asylum seekers and refugees be strengthened to address the challenges posed by surveillance and automation? Organised by Centre for Fundamental Rights - Hertie School with Cathryn Costello (moderator), FRANCESCA PALMIOTTO, Derya Ozkul, Joanna Parkin, Eleftherios Chelioudakis More information: https://cpdp.be/2851

Protecting the Digital Rights of Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Organised by @hertiecfr.bsky.social with @profccostello.bsky.social (moderator), @francescapalmiotto.bsky.social, @deryaozkul.bsky.social, Joanna Parkin, Eleftherios Chelioudakis

More information: cpdp.be/2851
#CPDP.ai #CPDP2025 #asylum

Join us in person (Ramphal Building, central campus) on Wednesday 26th of Feb at 11am.

🚨 New article from our AFAR project w
@francescapalmiotto.bsky.social

We explore strategic litigation against newtech in Europe and the various obstacles that must be overcome to reach the litigation stage.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@sociowarwick.bsky.social @refugeestudies.bsky.social

The sudden end of CBP One leaves thousands of asylum seekers in limbo at the U.S. and Mexico border — Migration and Technology Monitor Veronica Martinez, MTM 2023 Fellow CIUDAD JUAREZ: With the return of Donald Trump to the White House this past Monday came an array of executive orders setting up the immigration agenda of the Re...

“when you terminate the app you also eliminate the actual route to access asylum” www.migrationtechmonitor.com/blog/the-sud...

Digital driving licences to be introduced this year The government says technology should

So the digital driving licences will not be mandatory but digital immigration status will be mandatory for all migrants in the UK www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The EU's #AIAct experts consultation on the definition of an AI system and on prohibited AI practices closed on Dec 11. But loopholes still threaten #FundamentalRights. The #AIActCivilSociety and the #ProtectNotSurveil coalitions call for guidelines that prioritize human rights & justice.

📌 Save the Date!

Join us on 26 February 2025 for a talk by @rachelhumphris.bsky.social, who will be discussing her forthcoming book, "Making Sanctuary Cities" @sociowarwick.bsky.social

This seminar will take place at 11 AM in room RO.14 of the Ramphal Building.

Use expired ID to get to UK, says minister in charge of flawed eVisas People will be allowed to use expired identity documents amid ‘real fear’ of another Windrush-style scandal

"Use expired ID to get to UK"

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

It’s the right decision, but it’s difficult to understand why it was made in December, just weeks before many were set to travel.

How are migrants expected to convince airlines and border officials to process expired cards?

Revealed: bias found in AI system used to detect UK benefits fraud Exclusive: Age, disability, marital status and nationality influence decisions to investigate claims, prompting fears of ‘hurt first, fix later’ approach

“An internal assessment of a machine-learning programme used to vet thousands of claims for universal credit payments across England found it incorrectly selected people from some groups more than others when recommending whom to investigate for possible fraud.” www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

Asymmetrical Sympathies: the Global North’s Response to Protection Seekers The welcoming response of European countries towards Ukrainian refugees from 2022 onwards has been marked by its strength and rapidity. This recent example recalls other moments of openness from past ...

Asymmetrical Sympathies: the Global North’s Response to Protection Seekers

podcasts.ox.ac.uk/asymmetrical...

Special thanks to @RefMig project @ProfCCostello and the participants of the BEYOND workshop organised by @myrmek.bsky.social for their many fruitful comments on our work. Maybe of interest to @labdelaaty.bsky.social @sociowarwick.bsky.social @odid-qeh.bsky.social @refugeestudies.bsky.social

In summary, our findings reveal that the power relations between UNHCR and the Turkish state are not merely one-sided; rather, they are co-constituted through continuous negotiations and interactions.

Drawing on constructionist theories and practice theory, we analyse how the handover process is influenced by the interplay between UNHCR’s advocacy of RSD norms and the Turkish state’s interpretation and adaptation of those practices.