Ashenafi Tirfie Tizzy is an Associate Research Fellow at UNU-CRIS
Ashenafi has been with UNU-CRIS since August 2025, researching the interplay of forced return, reintegration, and remigration. He was a voluntary postdoc student and a member of the Center for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR) at Ghent University.
Previously, Ashenafi was a PhD fellow at Ghent University, where he examined the return and reintegration of forced returnees in rural areas. His research, supervised by Ine Lietaert (Ghent University and UNU-CRIS) and Ilse Derluyn (Ghent University), explored questions such as: how can reintegration in Ethiopia be conceptualised? To what extent do forced returnees reintegrate into the social and economic structures of their communities? What are the key factors influencing reintegration in rural Ethiopia? How do household heads experience food security dynamics following the forced return of their family members? What role do community organisations play in social reintegration in rural areas? Ashenafi split his time between Ghent University, Wollo University, and UNU-CRIS. His research was supported by the Special Research Fund of Ghent University (BOF).
Previously, he was a staff member at Wollo University in Ethiopia, where he held positions including assistant lecturer, lecturer, and head of the Department of Sociology.