Professor of Human and Political Geography, School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, Kingston University.
Overview
Professor Brad K Blitz is Professor of Human and Political Geography at Kingston University London and a Research Associate of the Department of International Development, University of Oxford and Human Rights and Social Justice Research Unit at London Metropolitan University.
He is an applied social scientist who received his Ph.D. in International Development and Education from Stanford University where he received a prestigious University Fellowship in addition to awards from the Andrew Mellon Foundation among others.
Currently his research focuses on how people access their rights, both formal and substantive, and includes studies on the human rights of asylum-seekers, refugees, IDP and stateless people; post-conflict integration and political transition; migration and development.
Prior to his current appointment he was Jean Monnet Chair of Political Geography at Oxford Brookes University. He has held previous appointments at both British and American universities in the fields of International and Development Studies, Social Policy and Comparative Politics and also worked for the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has served as a consultant to international and development agencies including DFID, the World Bank, Council of Europe, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the governments of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He is widely published and cited on issues of human rights, social policy, migration, governance and political transition, labour, health and security. Fieldwork and research experience includes studies on Albania, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia Slovenia, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
He regularly advises UK courts on matters of human rights, with respect to immigration and asylum cases and has also been contracted to assist in similar matters in the USA and Australia. His research has been cited in immigration proceedings in the UK, Australia, and USA, and by the UK's Immigration and Nationality Directorate.
In 2007, he founded the International Observatory on Statelessness, a clearinghouse for NGOs, academics, advocacy groups and policy-makers working on issues of statelessness.
Website: http://www.bradblitz.com
Research
Books and Monographs Published, Under Contract and in Progress
Statelessness in the European Union: Displaced, Undocumented and Unwanted, Cambridge University Press, 2010. (Co-authored with Caroline Sawyer, under contract). ISBN 9780521191937.
Statelessness and Citizenship: A Comparative Study on the Benefits of Nationality, Edward Elgar
International Cooperation and the Limits of Educational Integration in the European Union. Doctoral Dissertation, Stanford University, 1997 (World Cat: 81613098).
Refereed Journal Articles Published, Accepted for Publication and in Press
'Stateless by Any Other Name: Unsuccessful Asylum Seekers & Undocumented Migrants in The United Kingdom, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (First author with Miguel Otero-Iglesias) (accepted September 2009, in press).
'Highly Skilled Migration', in the International Studies Encyclopedia, Robert A.Denemark (ed.), Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp.3292-320.
'Putting an End to Statelessness: International Advocacy Campaigns and Policy Development', Forced Migration Review 32 (2009), pp. 25-26.
'Libyan Nationals in The United Kingdom: Geo-Political Considerations and Trends in Asylum and Return' in International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 10/2 (2009), pp. 106-127.
'Post-Socialist Transformation, Penal Reform and Justice Sector Transition in Albania', Journal of South East European and Black Sea Studies, 8/4 (2008), pp. 345-364.
'Democratic Development, Judicial Reform and the Serbian Question in Croatia', Human Rights Review, 9/1(2007), pp. 123-135.
'Decentralisation, Citizenship and Mobility: Residency Restrictions and Skilled Migration in Moscow, Citizenship Studies, 11/4 (2007), pp. 381-402.
'Statelessness and the Social (De)Construction of Citizenship: Political Restructuring and Ethnic Discrimination In Slovenia', Journal of Human Rights, 5/4(2006), pp. 1-27.
'Refugee Returns, Civic Differentiation and Minority Rights in Croatia 1991-2004', Journal of, 18/3 (2005), pp. 362-386. (Nominated for the Lisa Gilad Award for the Refugee Studies best article published by an author under the age of 40 by the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration).
'"Brain Circulation", the Spanish Medical Profession and International Recruitment in the United Kingdom', Journal of European Social Policy, 15/4 (2005), pp. 363-379.
'Non-Voluntary Return? The Politics of Return to Afghanistan', Political Studies, 53/1 (2005), pp.182-200 (First author with Rosemary Sales and Lisa Marzano).
'Refugee Returns in Croatia: Contradictions and Reform', Politics, 23/3 (2003), pp. 181-191.
'From Monnet to Delors: Educational Cooperation in the European Union', Contemporary European History, 12/12 (2003), pp. 197-212.
'Political Integration and Economic Reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina', Forum Bosnae, 11/01 (2001), pp. 215-229.
'Professional Mobility and The Mutual Recognition of Qualifications in The European Union: Two Institutional Approaches,' Comparative Education Review, 43/3 (1999), pp. 311-331.
'The Resistant Guild: Institutional Protectionism and Freedom of Movement in The Italian University System,' Journal of South European Society and Politics, 4/1 (1999), pp. 27-47.
'Cycles of Violence: End-Games and International Mediation in Bosnia and Kosovo' Yale International Forum, (1999 Spring) 1/2, pp. 42-52 (First author with John Tillinghast).
'Destroying Bosnia: A Clash of Values not Civilizations', in Cornell Political Forum, IX/3 (1995), pp. 10-12.
Publishing, 2010. (Co-authored with Maureen Lynch, under contract; ISBN 978 1 84980067 9).
Aliens and Slovenes: Documents and Commentary on the 'Erasure' in Slovenia 1991 - 2008,
International Observatory on Statelessness, 2010. (Co-authored with Neza Kogovšek, under contract; ISBN 978-0-9563275-2-9/978-0-9563275-3-6).
Statelessness and the Benefits of Citizenship: A Comparative Study, Geneva Academy for
International and Humanitarian Law and International Observatory on Statelessness. (Co-authored with Maureen Lynch) (Published July 2009; 126 pages; ISBN 978-0-9563275-0-5/ISBN 978-0-9563275-1-2).
War and Change in the Balkans: Nationalism, Conflict and Cooperation, Cambridge University
Press. (Editor and co-author). (Published October 2006; 302 pages; ISBN-10:0521677734; ISBN-10: 0521860423).
Areas of expertise