Karin Heissler

Research interests: Child protection; transitions to adulthood; mobility and migration; informal economies and urbanization; agency; international development; and public policy.

Bio: Karin Heissler holds a PhD in international development from the University of Oxford and is UNICEF’s regional adviser for child protection in West and Central Africa, where she leads strategy and partnerships across twenty-four countries. She specializes in applied, policy-oriented research.

Research summary: My research will explore girls’ and young women's mobility and migration to urban settings and their encounters with urban informal economies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). I am interested to understand what motivates their decisions to move, how they navigate various barriers, opportunities that arise and the implications of these findings for services and policies in a context of increasing urbanisation. My work with UNICEF concerns marginalisation and discrimination which contributes to increased risk and experiences of individual and collective violence and abuse of children and young people.  I have a DPhil in International Development (University of Oxford).  My dissertation, based on qualitative research, explored aspects related to honour and shame in child labour migration in Bangladesh.

This information is accurate as of the affiliate year indicated. (last updated 12.28.2025)