The DePaul Migration Collaborative (DMC) presents its Practitioner-in-Residence (PIR) Program as part of the reframing refugee protection initiative. This program invites experts on migration, immigration and human rights to collaborate, address migration challenges and inform policies. Participants gain access to DePaul resources and have the opportunity to influence various migration-related discussions. The residency lasts six to eight months and promotes practical solutions for contemporary migration issues.
Austrian Panel with Josh Friedman (2025)
Charlotte Long (2025)
Community Workshop (2024)
Elizabeth Kennedy (2024)
Ellen Miller with Project Advisory Council (2024)
Mursal Fahimi Student Researcher (2025)
Rob Paral (2023)
Meet Our PIRs
2025-2026
"Developing a Replicable Model for Trauma-Informed Assessment: The CIAS Toolkit for Practitioners Serving Asylum Seekers"
Venera Bekteshi, PhD, MSW, MPA, MA is a psychosocial evaluator, researcher and clinician. She was a 2026 DMC PIR, and her research focused on translating her evidence based CIAS (Contextual Influence and Acculturative Stress) framework into a practical assessment toolkit to support legal advocates and social workers in documenting and strengthening asylum narratives with richer contextual evidence while improving holistic care planning. Domains covered in the toolkit include: 1. Intake Triage, 2. Case Roadmap, 3. Prompt Bank, 4. Disclosure Framework, 5. Declaration Review, and 6. Interpreter and Evidence Tools. This credibility-sensitive immigration interviewing toolkit is available on our website in its condensed form and a complete version of the toolkit including the option to request trainings or consultations with Dr. Bekteshi can be accessed via Forward with Dignity. Please note, this toolkit is a structured practice aid for attorneys, accredited representatives, social workers and interdisciplinary teams working on asylum and related immigration matters. This toolkit does not provide legal or clinical advice and cannot be used as a court facing form.
“Nada Para Nosotros sin Nosotros:” Amplifying Migrant Voices
Ellen Miller was a 2024-2025 DMC PIR. During her residency, she conducted community-based research on Chicago's immigration legal services for recent arrivals and compiled her research into a report to shed light on lived experiences of benefiting populations and potential future programmatic decisions. Her work builds on best practices and practical tools for participatory evaluations amongst legal service providers.
Protecting Rights Across Contexts and International Sharing (PRAXIS)
Joshua Friedman was a 2023-2024 DMC PIR. During his residency, Josh conducted research that looks comparatively at refugee integration alongside the rights to adequate food and shelter in Chicago and Vienna. Combining legal and policy review with qualitative research on the experiences of refugees in both locations with food and housing, the research aims to highlight best practice examples and challenges faced in the U.S. and Central Europe.
Filling in the Gaps: The Landscape of Chicago's Informal Faith Networks in Migrant Housing
Charlotte Long was a 2024-2025 DMC PIR. She is a Housing Specialist for migrants and asylum seekers in Chicago and a professor of Gender Justice studies at Roosevelt University. During her residency, she collected qualitative information on faith-based informal housing networks in the Chicagoland area that have worked to house recent migrant arrivals in the past three years. The research is based on existing literature on "Sanctuary" networking, but is also focused on understanding new tools and techniques that informal community groups and religious spaces use to assist houseless immigrants unable to benefit from city services.
Achieving Strategic Forced Migration Policy in Illinois
Rob Paral was a 2023-2024 DMC PIR. He is a demographic and public policy consultant with specialties in immigrant, Latino and Asian populations; community needs for health and human service programs; and Midwestern demographic change. Rob's project focused on developing a report on Illinois capacity to resettle migrants and the state's response to recently arrived forced migrants included achievement and potential avenues for improvement. Within his report, Rob highlights recommendations for future Illinois policy. To accomplish his goal Rob traveled throughout the city of Chicago, Springfield, IL, and El Paso, TX, to interview administrative and legislative budget experts relevant to the report and interviewing immigration attorneys and advocates.
Research That Increases Asylum Access for Salvadorans, Hondurans, and Guatemalans, in the Chicago Area
Elizabeth G. Kennedy, PhD was a 2023-2024 DMC PIR. She is a 2023-2024 Fulbright Scholar to El Salvador and LAPOP's 2023-2024 Honduras expert. Her project focused on preparing expert witness affidavits on the country conditions of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, alongside create training materials and guidance for immigrant advocacy organizations in connection with each of the country condition reports. Her project also prioritized coordinating alongside the DMC to make these expert witness reports available to legal service providers for use in support of asylum applications.
If you are a faculty member at DePaul and would like to request our PIR's to speak in your classroom, please fill out this form and someone from the DMC will reach out to you. If you have questions, contact the DMC.
