Anna Triandafyllidou

Anna Triandafyllidou (born 1968) is a sociologist. She holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair on Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) and is the Scientific Director of the research program Migrant Integration in the Mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies. Her main areas of research and teaching are the governance of cultural diversity, migration, and nationalism from a European and international perspective.^[1]

Anna Triandafyllidou
Triandafyllidou in 2022
Born	1968 (age 56–57) Athens, Greece
Spouse	Evgenios Theodoropoulos
Children	4
Awards	1
Academic background
Education	BA., sociology, 1990, Panteion University PhD, 1995, European University Institute
Thesis	A socio-psychological study of party behaviour (1995)
Academic work
Institutions	Toronto Metropolitan University
Website	annatriandafyllidou.com

Early life and education

Triandafyllidou was born in 1968.^[2] She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Panteion University before enrolling in the European University Institute for her PhD.^[3]

Career

Upon receiving her PhD, Triandafyllidou held faculty and research positions across Europe at the University of Surrey, London School of Economics, CNR in Rome, EUI, and the Democritus University of Thrace. In 2001, she became a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at New York University.^[4] Following this fellowship, Triandafyllidou served as a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges until 2004 when she became a Senior Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy.^[5] She simultaneously served on the editorial board of Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies until 2012 when she succeeded Uma A. Segal as Editor-in-Chief.^[6]

As a result of her research, Triandafyllidou was appointed the Programme Director and Coordinator of the Research Strand ‘Cultural Diversity’ at the Global Governance Programme in 2012.^[7] Later, she was chosen as an evaluator for DG Home policies on migrant integration and was consulted by the European Parliament on high skill migration policy reform.^[4]

In 2019, Triandafyllidou was appointed a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) in Toronto, Ontario.^[8] In 2021, the University of Liège awarded Triandafyllidou an honorary doctorate in recognition of her contribution to migration scholarship.^[9]

In 2023 the Canadian federal government announced^[10] Toronto Metropolitan University was awarded $98.6 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) to lead an innovative new research program Migrant Integration in the Mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides. Anna Triandafyllidou is the Scientific Director of this seven-year interdisciplinary initiative.

In 2024, Metropolis International, one of the world’s largest networks focused on matters relating to migration, settlement and diversity, announced Triandafyllidou to be the organization’s co-chair, along with Paul Spoonley.

Honorary awards and fellowships

EU Fulbright Research Scholar Award, New York University Centre for European Studies, New York, January-June 2001.

PhD Honoris Causa, University of Liege, Belgium, September 2021.

Senior Fellow, Massey College, University of Toronto, Canada, September 2023.

Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STAIS) Fellow, Stellenbosch, South Africa, January-February 2025.