Staff
Benjamin Etzold
Senior Researcher
bicc - Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies
Benjamin Etzold
Senior Researcher
Biography
Benjamin studied geography, sociology, political science and development studies at the Universities of Stuttgart, Adelaide and Bonn. He worked in the geography department of the University of Bonn from 2007 until 2016, where he also obtained his PhD in 2012 with his research on the livelihoods of street vendors and political contestations in Dhaka, Bangladesh. During that time, he also did consultancy work for the United Nations’ University (UNU-EHS) and CARE, for whom he led a case study on rainfall variability, food security and human mobility in Bangladesh, and spent a few weeks to teach and conduct research at the University of Sussex in the UK. Since he joined bicc, Benjamin temporarily took on teaching positions as guest professor at the geography department of the Free University of Berlin (10/2020-03/2021) and at the geography department of the University of Innsbruck (05-06/2023). Since 2024, he is an affiliated senior researcher with the University of Bonn’s Center of Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS). At bicc, he leads research at the intersection of forced migration and refugee studies as well as peace and conflict studies, and provides advice to governments, public bodies and civil society organisations.
Research profile
Benjamin Etzold is a social geographer and migration scholar with more than 18 years of experience in studying people’s vulnerability and livelihoods and experiences of violence, trajectories of migration and displacement, as well as informal labour relations and patterns of food security. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Bonn (2012). At BICC, he is currently leading a project with the Bonn Center of Dependency and Slavery Studies on the interactions between violence, (im)mobility and labour relations, and is contributing to BMBF-funded collaborative project ‘Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Networking and Knowledge Transfer’ (FFVT). Recently, he completed the study ‘Mobility, Translocality and Gendered Violence – Rohingya Women in the Bangladesh-Myanmar Borderlands’, which was supported by the Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends (XCEPT) research programme, funded by UK International Development (2024-2025). He previously also contributed to the BMZ-funded project ‘Return and Belonging after Conflict-induced Displacement’ (ReMIG), and completed a study on ‘Food Security and Conflict Dynamics in Northern Kenya’ (FooCo, 2022-2023). From 2019-2022, he led the interdisciplinary EU-funded research project ‘Transnational Figurations of Displacement’ (TRAFIG) as scientific coordinator. This project looked into the role of mobility and translocal connectivity for people in protracted displacement situations. Benjamin published two books – ‘The Politics of Street Food. Contested Governance and Vulnerabilities in Dhaka's Field of Street Vending’ (2013) and ‘Illegalisierte Migration in der Flüssigen Moderne. Migration aus Afrika und die europäische Grenzsicherungspolitik`(2009) – and an edited volume – 'Environment, Migration and Adaptation. Evidence and Politics of Climate Change in Bangladesh’ (2015 with B. Mallick). His work has also been published in International Migration; Population, Space and Place; Geographica Helvetica; Erdkunde; Die Erde; Geographische Rundschau; Climate and Development; Migration and Development; Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies; Comparative Population Studies; International Quarterly for Asian Studies; and in multiple books.
- Migration
- (Portracted) Displacement
- Transnationalism and translocality
- Livelihoods
- Social vulnerability
- Food security
- Labour geography
- Experiences of violence
Project involvement
Past projects
- Forced Displacement—Research and Transfer: Approaches from peace & conflict studies
- Transnational Figurations of Displacement: Connectivity and Mobility as Solutions to Protracted Refugee Situations (TRAFIG)
- Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Networking and Knowledge Transfer
- FooCo - Food Security and Conflict Dynamics in northern Kenya
- Everyday lives of Rohingya refugee women in the Bangladesh–Myanmar borderlands
From Osiris Portfolio