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In the month of March a new member joined the team of Migration and Societal Change. We are very happy to introduce Jonathan Bening who will work in the position of project coordinator for the Focus Area. If you want to know more about Jonathan, you can read a short introduction by him below!

"Hi, my name is Jonathan Bening. In March I started my position as the new project coordinator for the Migration & Societal Change focus area. I am excited to work in this field again and to help organize and stimulate projects within the focus area. My interest in the field was sparked when a war in Syria led to an increase of refugees which resulted in a political shift. At the time I was following the psychology bachelor at Leiden ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ, and I was motivated to learn more about the social, psychological, and political mechanisms of migration. Hence, after graduating from my bachelor I went on to follow the Migration, Ethnic Relations, Multiculturalism program at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ. In the program I gained an interdisciplinary perspective on how migration can affect individuals and societies.

After my master’s I did a variety of things, some of which were more distant to the academic world. I volunteered and worked for projects that aim to help refugees, gave statistics tutoring and even founded a catering company with a few friends of mine. Now, I am happy to be back at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and excited to work in an area that I think is interesting and highly relevant."