Lena Laube is a senior researcher at the University of Bonn and conducts research on (forced) migration from an international political sociology perspective. She focuses on the topics of externalization of European border policy, international visa policy, global inequality, sea rescue, and migration diplomacy. In 2022, she co-founded the Bonn Platform for Forced Migration Studies. She is actively involved in the German Network for Forced Migration Studies as a co-spokesperson for the working group “Democracy and Forced Migration” and has been a board member since 2024.
Lena Laube

Key expertise
- border studies
- European Union policy
- visa policy
- externalization
- sea rescue
- civil society engagement
Current affiliation
- FIW – Forum Internationale Wissenschaft, University of Bonn
Regional expertise
- Central Europe
- Western Europe
Memberships
- Netzwerk Fluchtforschung
Professional career
Since 2013 Senior Researcher and Scientific Manager of the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW), University of Bonn
2007 - 2013 Research Assistant in the project at the Collaborative Research Centre 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel”, University of Bremen (PI: Prof. Dr. Steffen Mau)
2012 Completion of doctoral studies at the University of Bremen, earning a Dr. rer. pol./PhD degree with a dissertation on the externalization of border control
2007 Diploma in Sociology, University of Bremen
Profile according to FFVT taxonomy
Scientific topics
- National Refugee And Asylum Policies
- Migration Routes, Refugees’ Journeys
- Civil Society Engagement
- Borders
Research fields
- Governance Research
- Human Rights Research
- Migration Research
Relevant publications
- Laube, L. & Ullrich, M. (2023). Search and rescue NGOs as a focal point in debates on the reception of refugees in the EU: Research essay on an Italian and German case study. Culture, Practice & Europeanization, 8(2), 166–182.
- Gebhardt, M., Kersting, D., Riemann, M., Becker, M., Laube, L., Ullrich, M., Younso, C. (2022). Fluchtforschung als Demokratieforschung: Ein Dialog zwischen politischer Philosophie und empirischen Sozialwissenschaften. Zeitschrift für Flüchtlingsforschung, 6(2), 284–302.
- Laube, L. (2021). Diplomatic Side-Effects of the EU’s Externalization of Border Control and the Emerging Role of “Transit States” in Migration Diplomacy. Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung, 46(3), 78–105.
- Laube, L. (2019). The relational dimension of externalizing border control: selective visa policies in migration and border diplomacy. Comparative Migration Studies, 7(1), 1–22.
- Mau, S., Gülzau, F., Laube, L., Zaun, N. (2015). The Global Mobility Divide: How Visa Policies Have Evolved over Time. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(8), 1192–1213.