Dr Monish Bhatia
Lecturer, Programme Lead Sociology with Criminology

Profile

Biography

Monish Bhatia is a sociologist/critical criminologist working in the areas of migration, state, racism and violence. In particular, he is interested in the rapid convergence of the criminal-legal and immigration arenas, the use of surveillance and crime control technologies in migration, and its impact on various migrant groups.

After completing his studies in social sciences at the University of Huddersfield (PhD, 2014; also worked as a sessional lecturer between 2009 and 2013), he obtained a position as Lecturer in Criminology at the Abertay University, Dundee (2014-2017). He later worked at the Birbeck, University of London, School of Law, as a Lecturer in Criminology (2017-2023). In April 2023, Monish joined the Department of Sociology, University of York. He coordinates the Race Matters Network (part of the British Society of Criminology) and hosts an international seminar series called Race and Justice. 

He has also been the secretary of the European Group of Deviance and Social Control (2012-2015), and Editor of the Justice, Power and Resistance Journal (2018-2020). Monish currently serves as the Associate Editor for the Criminology and Criminal Justice Journal, and Editorial Board member for the Critical Criminology Journal (part of the American Society of Criminology).

Beyond academia, Monish has and continues to work with various third-sector and grassroots organisations, and activist and campaigning groups, and has been part of the Scottish Refugee Council board, Trustee for Right to Remain, and Treasurer for the Scottish Detainee Visitors Group. He has also been a consultant for the British-Romanian protest theatre called Bezna – particularly for their widely acclaimed plays called Illegalised and How to Break Free from Detention. Very recently, Monish collaborated with a charity organisation called the Migrant Rights Network on a report around immigration raids.

Departmental roles

• Programme Lead Sociology with Criminology
• Staff Race Equality Forum Steering Group Committee Member (SREF)

Research

Overview

Research interests

• Migration
• Asylum-Seeking
• State
• Racism
• Violence

Research publications

Monish he has widely written around state racism and violence directed at people seeking asylum and forced migrants. Some of his key publications include:

• Bhatia, M. (2020). The Permission to be Cruel: Street-Level Bureaucrats and Harms Against People Seeking Asylum. Critical Criminology, 28, 277-292. [This article was given the British Criminology Society’s Hate Crime Network Award].
• Bhatia, M. (2020). Crimmigration, Imprisonment and Racist Violence: Narratives of People Seeking Asylum in Great Britain. Journal of Sociology, 56(1), 36-52.
• Bhatia, M. (2021). Racial Surveillance and the Mental Health Impacts of Electronic Monitoring on Migrants. Race & Class, 62(3), 18-36.
• Bhatia, M. (2023). Reproductive Injustice in Britain: Punishing Illegalized Migrant Women From the Global South and Separating Families. Identities, 30(4), 471-489.

In the past, he was awarded the Carnegie Trust (Scotland) grant to investigate the destitution and homelessness amongst people seeking asylum and illegalised migrants (2014-2015). And Abertay University Sociology Department funding to research the deportation process and aftermath of deportation (2015-2018).

Monish has currently been awarded the British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship to investigate the use of reporting and electronic monitoring of migrants. 

Supervision

Monish invites PhD applications in any of the following (broad) areas:

• Refugee, asylum and forced migration
• Sociology of race and racism
• Policing, surveillance and control
• Immigration and border controls (including the Global South)

Publications

Selected publications

Monish's work has been featured in various national and international media outlets. 

• .Coda 21 September 2023. Without Space to Detain Migrants, the UK Tags Them. 
• .Coda, 18 August 2022. ‘Crazy invasive technology’: UK faces legal challenge for GPS tagging of migrants. 
• The Guardian, 5 August 2022. Facial recognition smartwatches to be used to monitor foreign national offenders in UK. [also quoted in LBC, and German, Polish and Turkish news outlets]
• The Independent, 17 June 2022. Refugees to be electronically tagged and prosecuted if they don’t comply under ‘Draconian’ Home Office plan.
• The Washington Post, 20 June 2022. Britain to tag some migrants with electronic monitoring devices. 
• The Big Issue (North), 6 January 2020. No Sanctuary for Migrants.
• Sunday Herald, 5 April 2015. Refugee Detention Centres are Harming Women. 
• The Dundee Courier, 10 June 2015. The Refugee Film Festival Opening in Dundee. 
• Scottish Television, 22 October 2014. Abertay Lecturer to Discuss Gender Issues and Asylum Law. 

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Crime, Control and Globalisation (module convenor)
• Racial State
• Influencers and Ideas in Crimiology
• Understanding Contemporary Crime