Chiamaka Rita Akpuogwu M.A.
I am a lawyer and migration researcher, bringing over a decade of research and professional experience in Nigeria and Europe. This includes research and coordination roles at the University of Stavanger, Norway, and the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, as well as a Climate Mobility Fellowship with the Global Centre for Climate Mobility (GCCM). In practice, I have coordinated legal protection, migration programming, and gender justice initiatives at the Justice, Development and Peace Centre (JDPC) Lagos; contributed to rights-based migration policy with the International Organization for Migration (IOM); and worked directly with migrant communities through capacity-building, counselling, reintegration, and community-based rights initiatives.
Across these efforts, I aim to advance justice-oriented analyses of mobility systems while supporting the dignity, rights, and well-being of marginalised populations.
Working Title: Faith in Crisis: Religion, Mobility Rights, and the Socio-Legal Struggles of African Migrants in Germany
I examine how African Christian communities in Germany act as socio-legal actors, shaping migrants’ experiences of law, belonging, and mobility. My work bridges religion, migration governance, socio-legal studies, and human rights, with a focus on how migrants develop a faith-mediated legal consciousness through practices such as church asylum, informal legal mediation, and other forms of faith-based intervention. I analyse how the weakening of formal rights protections and the invocation of alternative legal frameworks shape migrants’ strategies for legitimacy, belonging, and resistance in restrictive legal landscapes.
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2025
- Right to Stay, Right to Move: Turning the ICJ & IACtHR Climate Opinions into Dignified Climate Mobility Pathways
Panel Presentation, GCCM Pavilion, Blue Zone, COP, Belém, Brazil - Decolonising Climate Futures: From Arctic Realities to Global Solidarity
Panel Presentation, Finland Pavilion, Blue Zone, COP, Belém, Brazil - Resilience for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Amplifying Climate, Peace and Security
Panel Presentation,German Pavilion, Blue Zone, COP, Belém, Brazil - Climate Change and Displacement: Contextualising African Perspectives
Seminar, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany - Youth Voices, Global Futures: Reimagining Advocacy for Climate Mobility through the Climate Mobility Fellowship
Symposium Presentation, Virtual Climate Migrant Symposium, Western Michigan University, USA - Colonial Legacies, Coastal Precarity, and Climate Justice in Badagry, Lagos
Symposium Presentation, Virtual Climate Migrant Symposium, Western Michigan University, USA - Collective Qualitative Analysis in Practice: Using the Gamio Papers as a Case Study
Seminar, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany - Building the Climate Mobility Ecosystem: Forging Coalitions for Action
Panel Presentation, Berlin Climate Mobility Forum, Germany - Strengthening Climate Mobility Literacy
Panel Presentation, New York Climate Mobility Summit, USA - Global South Women and Climate Change: Training and Career Pathways Connected to the European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations (EMMIR)
Conference Co-Presentation, XIII Conferencia Dominicana de Estudios de Género, 2025 - Knowledge Production
Seminar Co-Facilitation, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany - Economic Reintegration of Women Return Migrants in Nigeria
Conference Presentation, “Young Africans on the Move” Conference, Entebbe, Uganda - Collective Qualitative Analysis Research
Virtual Guest Lecture, University of California, Davis, USA
2024
2023