Lalaine Siruno is a Researcher at Maastricht University and UNU-MERIT.
Lalaine Siruno is a postdoctoral researcher at the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT) and Maastricht University, where she works on public policy, migration studies, development economics and applied ethics. Since 2022, she has been actively involved in the Horizon Europe Measuring Irregular Migration and Related Policies (MIrreM) project. Her recently approved PhD dissertation focuses on the human development strategies of irregularised migrant domestic workers in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. She has published in several migration journals on the topic, also covering experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. While also trained in quantitative methodologies, Lalaine is primarily a qualitative researcher, and she has over a decade of experience conducting FGDs and interviews with different stakeholders, for example, migrants, recruiters, employers, local and national authorities, civil society organisations, and EU officials. At UNU-MERIT, she has also co-authored reports for projects commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). She also teaches and supervises students in the MSc in Public Policy and Human Development, and in short courses for government officials and practitioners in the various migration management programmes offered by the Capacity Development Office. She is also currently the assistant coordinator of the Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE). Lalaine has a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy (magna cum laude) from the University of the Philippines – Diliman, a double master of arts in Applied Ethics from Linköping University and Utrecht University, and a master of science in the Governance of Migration and Diversity (Sociology track) from Erasmus University Rotterdam.