Yacine is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Amsterdam. His doctoral research explores the connections between colonialism, social change, and migration systems. He worked for over five years in the field of migration, collaborating with international organisations such as IOM and UN Algeria. His research focused on topics including return and reintegration, migration policy harmonisation in East Africa and the Horn of Africa (EHoA), and labour migration/recruitement within global systems.

He holds an MA in International Development from University College London. His dissertation, "A Reflexive Sociology of Human Capital Flight in Post-Colonial Algeria," explored how brain drain results from inadequate domestic policy responses combined with globalised aspirations that developing countries struggle to redefine.

Project title -

Open systems, Closed boundaries: Where Do People Migrate, and Why Not Elshwere

Supervisor : Prof. Hein de Haas

Building on the work of scholars such as Akin Mabogunje and Abdelmalek Sayad, his research explores how migration systems are configured through fields of practice where aspirations and capabilities emerge, shaping migration agency. Focusing on Algerian migration, Yacine aims to contribute to migration systems theory by investigating why certain feedback trajectories exert greater influence than others.

His interests also include migration theory, modern social theory, and post-colonial and decolonial literature, for which he expects to integrate migration studies more substantially in the next few years.