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
In its newest five-year "roadmap" for justice and home affairs policy, the European Union has made migration a priority area. But while the Stockholm program offers plenty of detail on issues like illegal migration and asylum, it offers few specifics as to the final goal. MPI's Elizabeth Collett analyzes the program's action points and looks at challenges facing its implementation.
This report examines the immigration regimes of European nations, particularly those with points systems and “shortage lists,” and highlights the flaws of such systems which base selection on formal indictors of applicants’ educational qualifications, work experience, previous salary, and occupation.
The European Union's recent proposal aims to attract highly skilled migrants by granting them access to all EU labor markets—but with some important limitations. Elizabeth Collett of the European Policy Centre explains the basics of the Blue Card proposal, the questions it raises, and national-level reactions.
Asia’s tsunami will have an enduring impact on diaspora groups and immigration policy, write Frank Laczko and Elizabeth Collett of the IOM.
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?