Richa Shivakoti

Richa Shivakoti is the Research Lead on Migration Governance at CERC Migration. Her research focus is on the governance of labour migration within Asia, particularly between the labour-sending states of South Asia and South East Asia and the labour receiving states in the Middle East. Her current research questions the sustainability of the circular temporary migration governance regimes in Asia. She is the Primary Investigator for a SSHRC Insight Development Grant and works with partners in Nepal and the Philippines to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on temporary migrant workers.

She is an Associate Editor for the Comparative Migration Studies journal and is on the Editorial Advisory Panel for Public Administration and Development.

Richa has a PhD in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore and a dual Masters in Public Affairs and Political Science from Indiana University, Bloomington. Previously, she was a research officer at Carleton University, a postdoctoral fellow at Maastricht University and the United Nations University in the Netherlands, and a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University. Richa has taught in various capacities in universities in Canada, USA, Singapore and Nepal. She has also worked for and consulted with various international organizations such as the International Organization for Migration, the International Labour Organization, the ASEAN Secretariat, the Open Society Foundations and the International Rescue Committee.

With Saguin, K. (2023). Keeping up with the migrant workers: The role of embassies in transnational administration of labor migration policy. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 1-18.

With Joseph, J., Henderson, S., Withers, M. (2022). Regulation through responsibilisation: Gendered exit policies and precarious migration from India and Sri Lanka. (external link)  International Migration.

(2022). Temporary labour migration in South Asia: Nepal and its fragmented labour migration sector. (external link)  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-19.

With Milner, J. (2021). Beyond the partnership debate: localizing knowledge production in refugee and forced migration studies (external link) . Journal of Refugee Studies. 

With Withers, M. & Henderson, S. (2021) International Migration, Remittances and COVID-19: Economic Implications and Policy Options for South Asia. (external link)  Journal of Asian Public Policy.

With Henderson, S., & Withers, M. (2021). The migration ban policy cycle: a comparative analysis of restrictions on the emigration of women domestic workers. (external link)  Comparative Migration Studies, 9(1), 1-18.

With Howlett, M.P., Fernandez. V., & Nair, S. (2021) Governing International Regime Complexes through Multi-level Governance Mechanisms: Lessons from water, forestry and migration policy, (external link)  International Journal of Water Resources Development. 

(2019) When Disaster hits Home: A look at Nepali migrants response to the 2015 Earthquake, (external link)  Migration and Development, 8:3.

(2018) Improving International Policy-Making in the Absence of Treaty Regimes: The International Forestry, Migration and Water Policy Cases, (external link)  (with Michael P. Howlett) International Journal of Public Policy, 14:5/6, 303-319. 

(2017) ASEAN’s Role in the Rohingya Refugee Crisis, (external link)  Forced Migration Review. 

(2024)  (excel file) Circular labour migration governance (external link)  in Asia In A. Triandafyllidou (Ed) The Handbook of Migration and Globalization, Edward Elgar Publishing.

With Howlett, M. (2022). Agenda-Setting Tools in Theory and Practice. In The Routledge Handbook of Policy Tools (external link)  (pp. 113-124). Routledge.

(2020) Asian Migration Governance (external link) . In K. Marchand, G. Rayp & I. Ruyssen (Eds.), Regional Integration and Migration in the Global South, Springer United Nations University Series on Regionalism. 

(2020) Protectionist or Discriminatory Policies? The case of Nepal’s policy banning female migrant workers. (external link)  In D. Joshi & C. Brassard (Eds.), Urban Spaces and Gender in Asia, Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. 

(2024/10)  (PDF file) The Governance of Temporary Labour Migration in Asia.

(2019) With Melde, S., Milan, A., Roy, S.Y., Martineau, D., Laczko, F. Migration Governance Indicators: A Global Perspective, (external link)  International Organization for Migration.

(2020) Can Nepal cope with the return of migrant workers? (external link)  Blog on Pandemic Borders, Open Democracy

(2020) with S. Henderson and M. Withers. A Critical Analysis of the Migration Ban Lifecycle for Women Domestic Workers in the Indo-Pacific Region (external link)  The Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement