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Andrea Spehar

Senior Lecturer

Department of Political Science
Telephone
+46 31-786 11 92
Mail
andrea.spehar@pol.gu.se
Fax
+46 31-786 45 99
Visiting address
Sprängkullsgatan 19
41123 Göteborg
Room number
C425
Postal address
Box 711
40530 Göteborg

Director

Department of Political Science
Telephone
+46 31-786 11 92
Mail
andrea.spehar@pol.gu.se
Visiting address
Sprängkullsgatan 19
41123 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 711
40530 Göteborg

About Andrea Spehar

Andrea Spehar is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for European Research (CERGU) at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Current research

Andrea Spehar’s research focuses on gender equality policy implementation, migration, and migrant integration, with particular attention to how these fields intersect with broader policy, governance, and administrative contexts. Her work has been published in leading international journals, including Journal of European Public Policy, Review of International Political Economy, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Migration Studies, and Journal of Refugee Studies.

Andrea Spehar is currently Principal Investigator of the research programme Refugee Migration and Cities: Social Institutions, Political Governance and Integration in Jordan, Turkey and Sweden (SIPGI) (2019–2026), funded by the Swedish Research Council. The programme examines how urban municipalities respond to forced migration, focusing on how refugee settlement reshapes not only the social composition of neighbourhoods but also local norms, practices, and patterns of governance. SIPGI provides an international research infrastructure that brings together scholars in migration studies, political science, and anthropology in Sweden and the Middle East. Using mixed and innovative methods — including large-N surveys, elite interviews, urban ethnography, and experiments based on virtual reality (360-degree video) — the project analyses how political and social institutions interact in shaping processes of refugee integration. Hosted at the Centre on Global Migration (CGM), School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, the programme involves collaboration with the Programme on Governance and Local Development (GU), the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University, and the Migration Research Center at Koç University, Istanbul. https://www.gu.se/en/sipgi-researchenvironment

From 2025, Andrea Spehar is a co-researcher in the research and innovation consortium MAGnituDe: Migration, Affective Geopolitics and European Democracy in Times of Military Conflicts (2025–2029). The consortium investigates the consequences of large-scale population displacement following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for European democracy, with a particular focus on affective geopolitics, social cohesion, and democratic resilience. The project is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme and brings together nine partners — seven universities and two non-profit organisations — from Germany, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine. https://magnitude-horizon.eu/

 Since January 2023, Andrea Spehar has also served as Co-Director of the Swedish Research Council’s Graduate School in Migration and Integration. The graduate school provides doctoral students with advanced training, research education, and international networking opportunities, and aims to foster a strong interdisciplinary intellectual environment for PhD research on migration and integration. https://www.gu.se/en/socav/doctoral-studies/the-swedish-research-councils-graduate-school-in-migration-and-integration