Latvia, Russia

Dr Aleksandra Ancite-Jepifánova holds a PhD in law from Queen Mary University of London and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Rule of Law Clinic at Central European University’s Democracy Institute. She has taught courses, given guest lectures and held fellowships at numerous institutions, including London School of Economics (LSE), Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin), Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Centre of Law and Society at Cardiff University. She is also a Research Affiliate with the Refugee Law Initiative, University of London.

Her research interests lie broadly in European and comparative migration, asylum and nationality law, particularly focusing on family reunification and access to international protection. She has published extensively in these areas, including a monograph The Concept of Marriages of Convenience in EU Free Movement Law: EU and UK Perspectives (Brill, 2024). 

Her current project focuses on the situation at the EU’s external border with Belarus and Russia, particularly where it concerns access to the asylum procedure, the concept of ‘migrant instrumentalisation’ and compliance with the Rule of Law. Her study approaches the issue from a comparative socio-legal perspective and builds on extensive fieldwork in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. She is also interested in the implications of EU migration and asylum regimes for Iraqi nationals, particularly the position of Yazidi protection seekers in Germany.