Responding to Conflict Migration Crises

Editor of Border Security Report and Director of the World Border Security Congress

Dr. Alice Szczepanikova is a Migration and Freedom of Movement Adviser at OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw. Responsible for developing and implementing the migration programme of the Democratization Department, she focuses on supporting migrant and refugee integration at the national and local level and on capacity building for human rights defenders at international borders. Prior to joining ODIHR, Alice worked as a policy analyst in the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Brussels. She developed an innovative learning tool / serious game about migration and integration called Destination Europe. Alice has a PhD in sociology from the University of Warwick.

Donato Colucci is the “Senior Border and Identity Solutions (BIS) Specialist based at the IOM Headquarters in Geneva.
He provides to IOM offices and Governmental counterparts expertise, planning and guidance in the development, coordination, and implementation of capacity building initiatives, in particular on border and identity solutions, border and migration management policies and strategies, including Integrated Border Management and data collection and analysis.
He assists IOM Regional Offices and Governmental counterparts in developing, implementing and monitoring IOM's capacity building strategies as well as training initiatives at national as well at regional level, undertaking, when requested, technical field assessments.
With the IOM IT-Expert, he provides technical support for assessing, budgeting, installing and training on Border Management Information System (BMIS) and trains on various IBM topics including passport examination procedures.
Prior he was “Migration Management Specialist” at the African Capacity Building Centre (ACBC), in Moshi (Tanzania), IOM’s center of excellence for capacity building, before being appointed as “Senior Immigration and Border Management regional Specialist” for North Africa and Middle East first and Asia and the Pacific after.
With the United Nation he was Police Commander of the international airport of Pristine, seconded from the Italian Police Department (Polizia di Stato) to the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). In Italy, he is a Police Officer from the Central Directorate of Immigration and Border Police of the Italian Ministry of Interior, currently on special leave for serving IOM as an expert on migration management issues.
Mr. Colucci completed cum laude a Master of Art Degree in “Strategic Studies and Diplomatic Science” (Italy -Rome) and a Bachelor degree in “Political Science and International Relations” (Italy – Rome)

Admir Skodo is a Senior Policy Analyst at MPI Europe, primarily working on EU asylum and refugee policies. He is focused in particular on policy responses to and public perceptions of refugee crises, border-control measures, the externalization of asylum processing, and root causes of forced migration. Before joining MPI Europe, Dr. Skodo worked on forced migration issues in multiple capacities. He was a consultant for immigration attorneys, including researching country-of-origin information in asylum cases based on a training program that he developed and taught to asylum officers in the Swedish Migration Agency. He was also a researcher at Lund University, where he developed a project using the situation of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in Europe and the United States to illustrate broader historical and contemporary dynamics between asylum, refugee, and foreign policies. Dr. Skodo has developed and taught courses on migration at Stanford University, Lund University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Finally, prior to joining MPI Europe, he was an analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), working on policy issues around public participation in the CPUC’s decision-making processes. Dr. Skodo holds a PhD in history from the European University Institute.