Projects per year
Personal profile
SUMMARY of research interests (100 words)
I am a political anthropologist interested in borders, citizenship and non-citizenship, human rights and new security technologies. I study the politics of borders in Europe, in particular the contestations over security, entitlements to public services and the rights of migrants and asylum seekers. My 2020-21 project, the Wellcome Trust-funded Doctors within Borders was an international networking initative to bring together researchers, activists and healthcare professionals interested in the healtcare entitlements of migrants, asylum seekers and other patients who have unsettled legal or social status. Building on the outcomes of the project I am now developing further reserach on healthcare for people on the move. My other recent projects include work on rejecting refugees in Poland and on border surveillance on the Mediterranean Sea. I developed my initial conceptualization of borders in my ethnography Building Fortress Europe. The Polish-Ukrainian Frontier published by University of Pennsylvania Press in 2012. It was based ethnographic fieldwork in Poland and Ukraine to understand the human consequences of the transformation of the border between those two countries into an external border of the European Union. I remain interested in Eastern and Central European politics, particularly in the debates around liberal democracy, illiberalism, border and immigration politics, EU, misinformation and conspiracy theories, especially where they concern immigration.
Office Hours
By appointment
Current Teaching
Contribution to POLI.100
PPR.366 Conspiracy Theories in Politics and Society (not offered in 2025/26)
PPR.341 Contemporary Issues in Human Rights (not offered in 2025/26)
PPR.391g The Politics of Global Borders (not offered in 2025-26)
Contact me
I prefer to be contacted by email.
I do not use social media.
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Human rights and boundaries
Wheatley, S. (Principal Investigator), Follis, K. (Team Member), Rieder, C. (Team Member), Summers, J. (Team Member) & Vermeylen, S. (Team Member)
1/03/13 → …
Project: Research
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Doctors within borders: caring for mobile populations in contemporary health systems
Follis, K. (Principal Investigator) & Follis, L. (Co-Investigator)
1/11/19 → 30/09/21
Project: Research
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DwB: Doctors within Borders: Networking Initiative on Mobile Populations in Contemporary Health Systems
Follis, K. (Principal Investigator), Follis, L. (Co-Investigator) & Burns, N. (Co-Investigator)
1/10/19 → 30/09/21
Project: Research
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Trafficking: Study on the gender dimension of trafficking in human beings
Walby, S. (Principal Investigator), Rashid, A. (Co-Investigator), Follis, K. (Co-Investigator) & Francis, B. (Co-Investigator)
31/12/14 → 30/09/15
Project: Research
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MUMBA: Multi-faceted Metrics for ICS Business Risk Analysis
Rashid, A. (Principal Investigator), Busby, J. (Co-Investigator), Follis, K. (Co-Investigator), Hutchison, D. (Co-Investigator) & Hutchison, D. (Co-Investigator)
1/10/14 → 31/12/17
Project: Research
Research output
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Infrastructures of health and border control: Ukrainian refugees seeking healthcare in Poland
Follis, K., 9/09/2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open Access -
Introduction: Mobile Patients and Sedentary Health Systems
Follis, K., Burns, N. & Follis, L., 9/05/2025, Migrant and Refugee Access to Health Systems : Challenging (Im)mobilities in Healthcare. Follis, L., Follis, K. & Burns, N. (eds.). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, p. 1-16 16 p.Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter
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Kosmopolitka: an orphaned subject between home and abroad
Follis, K., 25/02/2025, Anti-Atlas : Critical Area Studies from the East of the West. Beasley-Murray , T. B., Bracewell, W. & Murawski, M. (eds.). London: UCL Press, p. 251-256 5 p. (FRINGE ).Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter
Open Access -
Migrant and Refugee Access to Health Systems: Challenging (Im)mobilities in Healthcare
Follis, L. (Editor), Follis, K. (Editor) & Burns, N. (Editor), 9/05/2025, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 236 p.Research output: Book/Report/Proceedings › Anthology
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Whose border, which crisis? Illiberalism and the (re)nationalization of Poland’s eastern frontier, 2015-2022
Follis, K., 31/10/2025, Handbook of European Borderlands. Scott, J. W. & Wilson, T. M. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 357-371 15 p. (Routledge International Handbooks).Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
Activities
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2023 ASEEES Convention
Follis, K. (Speaker)
30/11/2023 → 3/12/2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference - Academic
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European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) (External organisation)
Follis, K. (Member)
28/09/2023 → 27/09/2027Activity: Membership types › Membership of network
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American Society for Eastern European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) (External organisation)
Follis, K. (Member)
9/08/2023Activity: Membership types › Member of an organisation
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Multidisciplinary Workshop on Contemporary Poland
Follis, K. (Speaker)
21/05/2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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24th International Conference of Europeanists "Sustainability and Transformation"
Follis, K. (Speaker)
12/07/2017Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Press/Media
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Gender dimension of trafficking in human beings
Rashid, A., May-Chahal, C., Armstrong, J., Towers, J., Balderston, S., Francis, B., Walby, S. & Follis, K.
22/03/16
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Gender dimension of trafficking in human beings
Rashid, A., May-Chahal, C., Walby, S., Armstrong, J., Towers, J., Balderston, S., Francis, B. & Follis, K.
22/03/16
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research