Hanne Beirens

Biography

Dr. Hanne Beirens joined the Egmont Institute in September 2026 as Senior Associate Fellow in the European Affairs programme. She is a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges), where she designed and teaches a Master’s degree module on migration and international protection. She is also a Lecturer at the Academy of the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA), which recently launched the first European Executive Master’s in Asylum and Reception Management. Alongside her teaching, she works freelance, conducting research and offering policy advice. She has an international media presence and is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches, or write essays, that peer into the future.

Until 2025, Hanne was Director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe, a think tank renowned for its quality analysis of asylum and migration trends and policies and the trust it has earned with policymakers in the field. Previously, she was Lead Managing Consultant at ICF Consulting, where she managed large-scale, transnational projects for EU institutions, and earlier a researcher at the universities of Oxford, Warwick and Birmingham. She has also worked for UNHCR and as an independent consultant for the International Labour Organization and the Quaker United Nations Office.

Hanne holds an MA in Race and Ethnic Studies and a PhD in Sociology, both from the University of Warwick (UK).