Geographies of displacement in the Syrian conflict

Leïla Vignal is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Rennes-2, France. She works on the Middle East, in particular on the transformations of urban societies in the context of globalisation. She has done extensive field work in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. She was recently the Principal Investigator of a research programme bringing together 15 scholars looking at transnational spaces, networks and practices in the Middle East. Within this programme she also developed expertise on the Gulf states.

She lived and worked in Damascus and her research and personal knowledge of the country have led her to engage in the study of the geographies of the current Syrian crisis. As a Marie Curie Fellow of the Refugee Studies Centre (2015-2017), she will now develop research on the territorial, social, economic and human changes in Syria, and beyond.

Leila Vignal also worked at the European Commission for three years, in the private office of the Commissioner for trade, and she retains professional interest for Euro-mediterranean issues.