BRUSSELS — Migration Policy Institute Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz has been selected by MPI Europe’s administrative council as incoming director of the respected Brussels-based think tank. Jasmijn Slootjes will become deputy director. The leadership transition takes effect March 15.
Le Coz, who joined MPI Europe in 2017, has deep expertise in EU migration policy and has conducted research across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. She also teaches at Sciences Po.
“Camille’s experience working on European migration policy and extensive field research in and beyond Europe have given her the knowledge, networks and context that are essential to understanding and responding to today’s rapidly evolving trends and policy landscape,” said Cecilia Malmström, a member of the MPI Europe administrative council. “She has a clear vision that will position MPI Europe strategically for the challenges and opportunities ahead in an ever more complex policy arena.”
Le Coz’s expertise spans areas such as development cooperation, return and reintegration, refugee protection, climate mobility and labor migration. She brings together a community of practice on voluntary return and sustainable reintegration, fostering dialogue among policymakers and practitioners from both origin and destination countries.
Slootjes joined MPI Europe in 2021 from the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI) at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was executive director. She works on immigrant integration, as well as labor mobility, evidence-informed policymaking, irregular migration, digitalization and how policy shapes migration flows.
Le Coz and Slootjes have worked closely for years under the leadership of Hanne Beirens, who next month will step down as MPI Europe’s director after more than five years in the position and a decade at the organization, which she joined as associate director in 2015.
“Hanne has been a true institution builder, doubling MPI Europe’s size and setting it on a firm footing that permits the organization to serve an essential, impactful role at a time when smart, evidence-informed policy analysis and research are more necessary than ever,” said Andrew Selee, chair of the MPI Europe administrative council and president of the Migration Policy Institute. “It is a testament to Hanne’s vision, scholarship and management skills that she is leaving the organization to which she has given so much in the hands of a new generation of strong leaders who have worked with her over the past few years.”
Said Malmström, who is also vice chair of MPI’s board of trustees: “The thought leadership MPI Europe has demonstrated during Hanne’s tenure has placed the organization at the heart of migration-related policymaking in Brussels and many of Europe’s capitals. We thank Hanne for her many contributions to MPI Europe and the field, and we look forward to working with Camille and Jasmijn to build upon those successes and take the organization to new heights.”
For more on Le Coz, see: www.migrationpolicy.org/about/staff/camille-le-coz.
And for more on Slootjes, see: www.migrationpolicy.org/about/staff/jasmijn-slootjes.