Richa

Voter turnout around 60 percent in Nepal’s parliamentary elections Election Commission reports largely peaceful polling; counting to begin once all ballot boxes are collected.

kathmandupost.com/national/202...

No country for women! The front page of today’s Kathmandu Post says it all. 🇳🇵

Nepal votes in election pitting entrenched old guard against a powerful youth movement The general election is the first since gen-Z protests forced Nepal’s then-prime minister to quit

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Happy to announce the 1st ever @isanet.bsky.social conference in South Asia in August 2026. Hosted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, we welcome proposals from scholars based in and/or studying South Asian politics & international relations, but also broader global themes ofc www.isanet.org/Conferences/...

Call for Papers – Complex Migration Pathways: Insights from Asia

Inviting migration researchers! #CFP - Complex Migration Pathways: Insights from Asia

❗Deadline: Feb. 25, 2026

For more details on submission topics and how to submit, visit: www.torontomu.ca/global-migra...

#CallforPapers #MigrationResearch #Migration

How many Americans want their state to secede — and what they would want to happen next.
(@today.yougov.com)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260212-top...

These charts show how Trump is isolating the US on the world stage Analysis shows that the world is moving closer to China, as Trump’s isolationism rears its head at the United Nations

In 2026, the world is now diplomatically closer to Beijing than it has been in recent memory, with significant shifts in alignments taking place during the start of Trump’s second presidential term.
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Call for Papers – Complex Migration Pathways: Insights from Asia

@triandafyllidou.bsky.social and I are putting together an edited Book on Complex Migration Pathways: Insights from Asia, please submit your Chapter proposals (300 words) by February 25th.

www.torontomu.ca/global-migra...

Liam goes home…

www.instagram.com/reel/DUOW4_E...

Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong The pushback against ICE exposed a series of mistaken assumptions.

Stop what you’re doing and read this piece, which is as powerful as you’d expect from @adamserwer.bsky.social witnessing the events of last week on the ground in Minnesota. “The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone.”

Nepal and Saudi Arabia sign labour agreement to protect migrant workers Deal aims to ensure transparent recruitment and safeguard worker rights.

Nepal & Saudi Arabia finally sign a labour agreement, after Nepal's effort for more than a decade. Still they only proceeded with a general labour agreement and not a domestic worker agreement. Saudi Arabia is now the largest destination for Nepali workers
kathmandupost.com/nepali-diasp...

Evolution of the median time under review of articles with female first authors, male first authors, female corresponding authors, and male corresponding authors.

#Women are underrepresented in academia, especially in #STEMM fields, top institutions & in senior positions. Analysis of millions of biomed & life science articles reveal that female-authored articles spend longer under review than comparable male-authored ones @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4658FZN

An aerial view of the Toronto Metropolitan University campus at dusk.

Toronto Metropolitan University invites outstanding researchers based outside Canada to apply for nomination to the Canada Impact+ Research Chairs Program. Applications are due by Feb. 21: www.torontomu.ca/research/abo... @arts-tmu.bsky.social @trsmtorontomet.bsky.social @torontometsci.bsky.social

The Carney doctrine Open comment thread on the PM's Davos speech

This is one of the sharpest analyses of international affairs that I've heard from a Canadian leader - or any national leader - in a long time. And I suspect he wrote the main bits himself. paulwells.substack.com/p/the-carney...

From Transit to Settlement? Mapping Secondary Mobility from Gulf States to Europe and North America and Its Policy Implications Mr. Froilan Malit, Jr. Ph.D. Candidate at SOAS - University of London, Visiting Fellow at the American University in Dubai, Fellow at GLMM Dr. Asma Atique Research Fellow at the Global Migration Institute, Toronto Metropolitan University Dr. Françoise De Bel-Air Senior Fellow at GLMM Michael Ewers Associate Professor of Geography in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Dr. Richa Shivakoti Research Lead on Migration Governance at the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration & Integration and a Researcher with the Bridging Divides program at Toronto Metropolitan University Tuesday, January 20, 2026 5:00-6:30 pm KSA - 3:00-4:30 pm CET

How do migration trajectories from the Gulf States to Europe and North America reshape settlement pathways and policy responses?

Join the conversation with Bridging Divides researcher @richashivakoti.bsky.social and affiliated researcher @aatique.bsky.social.

1/2 🧵

From Transit to Settlement? Mapping Secondary Mobility from Gulf States to Europe and North America and Its Policy Implications Mr. Froilan Malit, Jr. Ph.D. Candidate at SOAS - University of London, Visiting Fellow at the American University in Dubai, Fellow at GLMM Dr. Asma Atique Research Fellow at the Global Migration Institute, Toronto Metropolitan University Dr. Françoise De Bel-Air Senior Fellow at GLMM Michael Ewers Associate Professor of Geography in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Dr. Richa Shivakoti Research Lead on Migration Governance at the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration & Integration and a Researcher with the Bridging Divides program at Toronto Metropolitan University Tuesday, January 20, 2026 5:00-6:30 pm KSA - 3:00-4:30 pm CET

How do migration trajectories from the Gulf States to Europe and North America reshape settlement pathways and policy responses?

Join the conversation with Bridging Divides researcher @richashivakoti.bsky.social and affiliated researcher Asma Atique.

1/2 🧵

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick ‪@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social‬ WILD news. The Trump administration is indefinitely suspending ALL visa processing (unclear if just immigrant visas or also nonimmigrant visas) for 75 countries, including ones not on the travel ban list such as Brazil and Thailand, allegedly to add intense new "public charge" screening rules.

‪Aaron Reichlin-Melnick‬ ‪@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social‬ · 2h Yep. People who currently have visas will still be able to attend, but depending on how long this indefinite suspension goes on (presuming it also applies to nonimmigrant visas), it could severely reduce attendance. The goal is very clear; they want to severely reduce legal immigration. Period. ‪Leslie‬ ‪@leslieandrews.bsky.social‬ · 2h All of this certainly does not bode well for attendance at the Olympics or World Cup events. Who at this point would make plans to come here except of course, the obvious.

Deleted these two posts because we now have confirmation from the State Department that this suspension is limited ONLY to immigrant visas — visas which let someone enter the United States with permanent residence status and on a path to a green card. There is NOT a suspension on nonimmigrant visas.

New research by @richashivakoti.bsky.social and Hari KC questions Nepal's paternalistic migration policies. Are "protective" measures actually restricting women's agency? Authors contrast state discourse with the lived experiences of women migrants.

🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Mapping the Global North bias in forced migration studies: three decades of publication and citation trends Abstract. Academic literature on forced displacement has been criticized for disproportionately focusing on the Global North, despite the significant conce

"Mapping the Global North bias in forced migration studies: three decades of publication and citation trends." Open access at academic.oup.com/jrs/advance-...

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

New working paper

‘The 0.001%’: a quick visual breakdown of the world’s wealthiest people About 56,000 people control three times as much wealth as half of humanity. Here’s one way to illustrate that

The ultra-rich 0.001% (tiny number of 56,000) control three times the wealth of the poorest half of humanity
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/de...

Register for the GLMM and KAS Webinar on “Stepwise Migration to the Gulf States and Onwards: Highly Skilled Workers in the Global Competition for Talents” on 9 December 2025, 5:00-6:30 pm KSA – 3:00-4:30 pm CET

... reconciling their expectations of Canada as a "dream country" with the difficult realities of settling as newcomers.

🔗 www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/...

Nepali Canadians represent a growing but understudied immigrant community in Canada. New #WorkingPaper from @richashivakoti.bsky.social and Deepa Nagari reveals that while they arrive through diverse pathways seeking better opportunities, many face challenges...

Age of the ‘scam state’: how an illicit, multibillion-dollar industry has taken root in south-east Asia Like the narco-state, a ‘scam state’ refers to countries where an illicit industry has dug its tentacles deep into institutions and transformed the economy

By late 2024, cyber scamming operations in Mekong countries were generating an estimated $44bn (£33.4bn) a year, equivalent to about 40% of the combined formal economy. That figure is considered conservative, and on the rise.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

#NewPublication Deepa Nagari and I have published a new Working Paper "Nepali immigrants in Canada: Complex pathways and experiences". It's a part of the large MEMO Partnership Grant. Thanks to all who agreed to be interviewed. @cercmigration.bsky.social
www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/...

🎓 CERC Migration's Winter School brought together early-career researchers for an intensive week of #qualitativeresearch training in migration studies.

Participants gained hands-on experience in interviewing, data analysis, and ethical research practices.

🔗 www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migrati...

Just out Wellstead, Adam and Howlett, Michael, "Capacity for What? Elon Musk's DOGE, Public Value Destruction and the Darkside of Policy Capacity" (November 26, 2025). Available at SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=581... or dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...

Canadian citizenship can now be passed down to people born abroad, beyond the first generation, if the parents spent a cumulative three years in Canada before the child's birth. Still contestation around "intercountry adoptees" when it comes to passing down citizenship.