Name: Ghorashi
First Name: Halleh
Title: prof. dr.
Birthdate/place of birth: 07/30/1962, Tehran (Iran)
Gender: Vrouw
Languages: Perzisch, Nederlands, Engels
Address: De Vrije Universiteit
Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Sociology
Postal address: De Boelelaan 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam
Tel. nr.: 020- 5986778 (werk)
e-mail:
Nationality: Iranian-Dutch
About Halleh
Halleh Ghorashi is Full Professor of Diversity and Integration in the Department of Sociology at the VU (Vrije Universiteit) Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She has done research on the struggles of refugees in their path of inclusion for the past 25 years. She is the author and co-author of several books and has published many articles on topics such as identity, diasporic positioning and cultural diversity both inside and outside organizations. Her most recent international book publications are the edited volumes: Contested Belonging: Spaces, Practices, Biographies (together with K. Davis & P. Smets, eds., Emerald 2018) and Scholarly Engagement and Decolonisation: Views from South Africa, The Netherlands and the United States (together with M. Crul, L. Dick & A. Valenzuela, eds. Sun Media 2020). In 2017, she received this prestigious VICI grant on Engaged Scholarship and Narratives of Change from NWO. In 2018, she is appointed as a Crown Member of the SER (Dutch Social Economic Council) and in 2020 as a member of KNAW (The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences).
Prizes and awards
2021 Amsterdam Impact Award 2021for research about refugees and diversity.
2020 Appointed as member of KNAW (The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences).
2018, 2019 & 2020 On the Volkskrant (Dutch newspaper) list of top 200 influential people in the Netherlands.
2019 FSW (Faculty of Social Sciences) Research Prize, VU Amsterdam.
2018 Appointed as Crown member of SER (Socio-Economic Council).
2018 5-year NWO-VICI grant for research on the contributions and challenges of engaged scholarship on the long-term inclusion of refugees in a comparative perspective (the Netherlands, South Africa, and U.S.).
2018 One of the three nominees for the best PhD supervisor award. Faculty of Social Sciences, VU Amsterdam.
2011 Best PhD supervisor award (chosen by PhD students). Faculty of Social Sciences, VU Amsterdam.
2010 Appointed as member of Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (KHMW).
2008 Winner of the Triomfprijs—for societal contributions to the empowerment of black, migrant and refugee women in the Netherlands
2005 Winner of the VU-Best Teacher’s Award. Nominated as the best teacher of the faculty of social sciences and chosen by VU students as the best teacher at VU Amsterdam.
Boards and committees
2021 - Member of Advisory Board SER topvrouwen
2020 - Member of the board of Stichting Leerstoel Uytenbogaer
2018 - Board member of the Oranje Fonds
2013 - Supervisory board (RvT). Movisie
2006 - Advisory committee. Opvang en Integratie. VluchtelingenWerk Nederland
Last update January 2022