Newcastle University researcher awarded European Research Council starting grant
NUAcT Fellow in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology Dr Malene H. Jacobsen has received over 1.7 million Euros for her five-year project
17 September 2026
Jacobsen’s project Uncharted Legalities: The Transnational Geographies Refugee Cessation (UNLEGAL) will examine the transnational reverberations and effects of national refugee law and legal practices, using Denmark as a point of departure.
In 2019, Denmark instituted the practice of refugee cessation for all refugees, which enables the state to withdraw its protection of refugees whom it deems to no longer need protection. This historically unprecedented development creates profound and wide-ranging threats to the institution of asylum and refugee protection as we know it. It also has significant consequences for other European states, as refugees are fleeing Denmark and seeking protection elsewhere.
“While scholars have documented how western states are increasingly eroding asylum, we have limited knowledge about how individual states’ receding commitments to refugee protection, like refugee cessation, influence asylum in other national contexts. Being awarded this grant will give me the opportunity to bring together a team of researchers with expertise across disciplines (geography, socio-legal studies, critical cartography) to undertake an innovative programme of research across Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.
UNLEGAL will develop a rich and detailed analysis of how Danish refugee cessation reverberates across borders, affects legal systems in other national contexts, and influences people’s access to protection.”
Dr Malene H. Jacobsen
Congratulations to Dr Malene H. Jacobsen on receiving this award from a highly competitive European Research Council fund.
