Dr Zana Vathi was invited to give a talk on return migration for a workshop organised in Skopje on the 4th of April 2018, which aimed at informing a Strategy for Reintegration in FYROM, organised by the European Policy Institute. Her talked focused particularly on the vulnerabilities of returnees, emphasising the needs of women and children. The findings of this workshop, including Zana’s recommendations, will be integrated in the lobbying documents and activities of EPI to ensure the rights of returnees are acknowledged at policy level.
Zana has substantial experience in the field of migration research, having been involved in various projects since 2005, first as a researcher based at the University of Sussex, and since 2012 as Edge Hill University faculty. Over this period, she has been conducting policy-oriented research in the Western Balkans sponsored by various major charities such the IOM, Terre des Hommes, GIZ. In 2013, she launched a project on return and reintegration to Albania, titled ‘The Return and (Re)integration of Albanian Migration and Their Children to Albania: Implications for Policy-making’, which was funded by the Edge Hill University RIF. Zana was recently invited to work for a project funded by the World Bank and the EU Commission, which looks at the return and reintegration of migrants in the Western Balkans.