Vidya Ramachandran
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Research Consultant
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
London
11.2023 - Current
- Researcher for action research project identifying and addressing structural barriers and inequities in relation to lived experience leadership in UK migration sector.
- Worked alongside a collective of experts by lived experience to develop research design.
- Built relationships with migrant communities across the UK and designed and conducted empirical research through creative workshops and interviews in Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, London and Manchester.
- Currently analysing findings, drafting final report, and planning dissemination strategies to inform funding approaches for lived experience leadership.
Doctoral researcher
University of Oxford
Oxford
10.2021 - 09.2026
- Conducted 12+ months of research with migrant women who experienced gender-based violence, legal and non-profit practitioners and government officials in southern India (Telangana and Tamil Nadu), the United Kingdom and United States.
- Additionally conducted a pilot study on deportation and ´assisted voluntary return and reintegration´ programmes in Punjab. Interviewed returned and deported migrants and representatives of reintegration organizations in Punjab and New Delhi.
Senior Fellow
JUSTICE
London
10.2024 - 10.2025
- Conducted comparative research and advocacy across four ad-hoc UK immigration schemes: the Windrush Compensation Scheme, the European Union Settlement Scheme, the Afghan Citizens´ Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Project.
- Collaborated on a report on applicants´ need for funded legal advice to access the Windrush Compensation Scheme, published in June 2025.
- Collaborated on developing and implementing local and national advocacy strategies concerning various human rights issues.
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
University College London
London
10.2024 - 01.2025
- Teaching assistant on undergraduate course, ´Migration and Health´. Preparing and leading weekly seminars on migration studies and marking assessments.
Research Assistant
University of Oxford, Faculty of Law
Oxford
12.2021 - 09.2023
- December 2021-June 2022: Research assistant to Professor Carolyn Hoyle for 'The Politics of Capital Punishment in the Middle East' project. I conducted a literature review on topics such as Asian women domestic workers´ experiences of abuse by employers, labour migration pathways from South Asia to the Gulf, and migrant workers´ experiences of incarceration:https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azac100
- June-September 2023: Research assistant to Professor Shazia Choudhry. I transcribed 46 hours of audio recordings from research interviews and focus groups for the Oak Foundation-funded project, 'Family Justice Responses to Allegations of Domestic Abuse'.
Legal Counsellor Trainee
Equal Rights Beyond Borders
Kos
01.2021 - 07.2021
- Funded by an Erasmus grant, I worked full-time to provide frontline legal advice and information to people seeking asylum in Kos, Greece.
- The role also involved building working relationships with stakeholders such as the UNHCR, police and the Greek Asylum Service.
- I worked on an empirical research project on EU-Turkey externalization policy, and spearheaded a project on immigration detention in Kos.
Research Consultant
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
07.2020 - 12.2020
- Conducted independent research through desk-based methods and remotely conducted semi-structured interviews, producing reports that analysed impacts of COVID-19 on governance and mobility experiences in Australia and New Zealand.
Domestic Violence Advocate
Southall Black Sisters
London
10.2017 - 07.2019
- I worked full-time as a frontline caseworker for a UK NGO that works with Black, Asian and minority ethnic survivors of gender-based violence, providing holistic support around housing, immigration, family and criminal law, and psychosocial needs. I specialised in working with survivors with insecure immigration status and Tamil-speaking survivors from Sri Lanka and India. I also supported the organization's policy, advocacy and strategic litigation work.
Intern
Australian Human Rights Commission
Sydney
03.2015 - 06.2015
- As an undergraduate intern, I completed desk research into human rights challenges faced by Indigenous Australians, and assisted with writing the 2015 Social Justice and Native Title Report.
Education
DPhil - Socio-Legal Studies
University of Oxford
Oxford12-2026
MSc - Migration Studies
University of Oxford
Oxford12-2020
Graduate Diploma - Legal Practice
College of Law
Sydney01-2020
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and Bachelor of Laws - Development Studies, Asian Studies, Law
University of New South Wales
Sydney01-2017
Selected publications and outreach
- Final report, Collaborative Inquiry on Lived Experience Leadership in the UK migration sector, Paul Hamlyn Foundation (forthcoming, March 2027)
- ´People Need Legal Help´ report, JUSTICE, June 2025. Available at: bit.ly/4vknouL
- ´Beyond Abandonment: tracing women´s experiences of domestic violence-induced return to India´, presented at the International Association for Forced Migration Studies conference, January 2025, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- Talk on ´lived experience leadership in the UK migration sector´, ´Rethinking Leadership in the Migration Sector´ event, Migration Exchange, October 2024, London
- ´Detained and Forgotten at the Gates of the EU: Detention of Migrants on the Island of Kos´, Equal Rights Beyond Borders, November 2021. Available at: bit.ly/4xyCYnM
- ´Consequences of the EU-Turkey Statement: The Situation of Syrian Asylum Seekers on the Greek Aegean Islands´, Equal Rights Beyond Borders, July 2021. Available at: bit.ly/4uK6h4f
- Presentation on MSc research within ´The ´Others´ amongst ´Us´: Immigrants, Inclusion and the Law´ panel, Nordic Migration Research Conference, January 2021, remote
- Talk on ´Domestic Violence During the Lockdown´, COVID Flash Talks Series, June 2020, Centre for Migration, Policy and Society, University of Oxford.
Timeline
Senior Fellow
JUSTICE
10.2024 - 10.2025
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
University College London
10.2024 - 01.2025
Research Consultant
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
11.2023 - Current
Research Assistant
University of Oxford, Faculty of Law
12.2021 - 09.2023
Doctoral researcher
University of Oxford
10.2021 - 09.2026
Legal Counsellor Trainee
Equal Rights Beyond Borders
01.2021 - 07.2021
Research Consultant
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
07.2020 - 12.2020
Domestic Violence Advocate
Southall Black Sisters
10.2017 - 07.2019
Intern
Australian Human Rights Commission
03.2015 - 06.2015
DPhil - Socio-Legal Studies
University of Oxford
MSc - Migration Studies
University of Oxford
Graduate Diploma - Legal Practice
College of Law
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and Bachelor of Laws - Development Studies, Asian Studies, Law
University of New South Wales