Dr Peter William Walsh is Senior Researcher at The Migration Observatory, and Departmental Lecturer in Migration Studies, University of Oxford.
He has authored over forty reports and articles on UK immigration policy, including on family migration, student migration, settlement, irregular migration, detention, deportation, asylum, Afghan refugee resettlement, Ukrainian refugee migration, small boat arrivals, and the Hong Kong route to citizenship.
Peter is the Observatory’s spokesperson on several of these areas, and regularly gives expert interviews to major newspapers, and for national and international radio and television.
Peter’s doctoral thesis, The Legislature in Immigration Policy-Making: A Liberal Constraint?, examines the underappreciated role of the national legislature in shaping the immigration law of liberal democratic states.
His co-edited book, From Financial Crisis to Social Change: Towards Alternative Horizons (2018), argues for the importance of generational experience in reshaping society for the better, and emphasises the critical role of three wellsprings in bringing about progressive social change: social movements and protest; universities; and social theory. Published by Palgrave Macmillan, it is now available in paperback.
Peter received his BA (Social and Political Sciences), MPhil (Modern Society and Global Transformations), and PhD (Sociology) from the University of Cambridge.
Selected recent publications:
Sumption, M. & Walsh, P. W. (in press). “The points system is dead. Long live the points system!” Why immigration policymakers in the UK are never quite happy with their points systems. Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies.
Sumption, M. & Walsh, P. W. (2022). What have we learned about migration from the Census? UK in a Changing Europe.
Walsh, P. W. (2022). Albanian asylum seekers in the UK and EU: A look at recent data. Migration Observatory commentary, COMPAS, University of Oxford.
Sumption, M. & Walsh, P. W. (2022). The Conservative leadership contest: A guide to the policy landscape. UK in a Changing Europe.
Silverman, S. J., Griffiths, M. and Walsh, P. W. (2022). Immigration detention in the UK. Migration Observatory briefing, COMPAS, University of Oxford.
Walsh, P. W. (2022). Deportation and voluntary departure from the UK. Migration Observatory briefing, COMPAS, University of Oxford.
Walsh, P. W. (2021). Student migration to the UK. Migration Observatory briefing, COMPAS, University of Oxford.
Walsh, P. W. & Sumption, M. (2022). Q&A: The UK and the Ukraine refugee situation. Migration Observatory briefing, COMPAS, University of Oxford.
Walsh, P. W. (2022). Asylum and refugee resettlement in the UK. Migration Observatory briefing, COMPAS, University of Oxford.
Walsh, P. W. (2022). Q&A: The UK’s policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Migration Observatory commentary, COMPAS, University of Oxford.
Walsh, P. W. (2022). The Home Office is now publishing stats on irregular migration – here’s what they do (and don’t) tell us. The Conversation.
