Elizabeth Collett
Global Fellow
Special Adviser for Policy and Strategy to the IOM Director General
Elizabeth Collett is Special Adviser for Policy and Strategy to the Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Previously, she was Founding Director of MPI Europe in Brussels and was Senior Advisor to MPI's Transatlantic Council on Migration.
She has more than 20 years of experience in the migration policy sector, and has produced dozens of working papers, policy briefs, and memos focused on the future of European Union immigration and asylum policy, as well as national-level migration policy developments. She has consulted for numerous government ministries and nongovernmental organizations, including foundations, nonprofits, and UN agencies.
Prior to joining MPI, Ms. Collett was a Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank, and was responsible for its migration program, which covered all aspects of European migration and integration policy. She has also worked in IOM's Migration Research and Policy Department in Geneva and for the Institute for the Study of International Migration in Washington, DC. She also served as a Research Associate at the Centre for Migration Policy and Society, Oxford University (2011-13).
She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute and the Strategic Council of the European Policy Centre.
Ms. Collett holds a master's degree in foreign service (with distinction) from Georgetown University, where she specialized in foreign policy and earned a certificate in refugee and humanitarian studies, and a bachelor's degree in law from Oxford University.
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Recent Activity
A number of interlocking concerns have emerged in recent months regarding the rights of mobile EU citizens, fueled in part by euroskeptic parties (such as the UK Independence Party), and more hard-line anti-immigration parties such as the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands.
This year has seen greater focus by policymakers in countries around the world on the balance between two enduring, complex migration management imperatives: maintaining secure and credible borders while separating out unauthorized immigrants from the most vulnerable populations in need of humanitarian protection, particularly those seeking refuge from conflict and persecution.
Europe Pushes to Outsource Asylum, Again
Turkey-Style Deals Will Not Solve the Next EU Migration Crisis
Borderline Irrelevant: Why Reforming the Dublin Regulation Misses the Point
A Game of Chess, Not Tennis: Unraveling the Rights and Status of “Brexpats”
New EU Partnerships in North Africa: Potential to Backfire?
The Paradox of the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal
The Asylum Crisis in Europe: Designed Dysfunction
The EU’s Strategic Guidelines on Migration: Uncontentious Consensus, But Missed Opportunity
An EU Commissioner for Migration? The Devil is in the Details
Valuing Citizenship: A Commodity or an Identity?