Ahmad Wali Ahmad Yar

Ahmad Wali Ahmad Yar is a postdoctoral researcher at the Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies (BRISPO) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). His research focuses on international migration, migrant integration, migration data, theoretical and data gaps in migration research, EU migration policies, and local-level migrant integration policies. Additionally, Ahmad Wali serves as the president of the Umbrella Refugee Committee in Belgium, representing nine community-based, refugee-led organisations in the country. Ahmad Wali is also the secretary-general of the Network of Afghan Diaspora Organisations in Europe (NADOE). Currently, he conducts research as part of the Horizon 2020 projects Enhanced Migration Measures from a Multidimensional Perspective (HumMingBird) and Measuring Irregular Migration (MIrreM), the SBO project From Camp to Campus, and meaningful refugee participation, in collaboration with a colleague from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Before his current positions, Ahmad Wali worked in the economic policy and GRID units at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels. He holds a PhD in sociology, a master's degree in Political Science from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and a bachelor's degree in International Relations from al-Farabi Kazakh National University. He previously worked as an interpreter for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and as a Public Relations Officer for the Ariana Social Centre in Almaty, Kazakhstan. As a native of Afghanistan, Ahmad Wali possesses a profound personal interest in the history and current affairs of South and Central Asia.