Dr Neli Demireva is a lecturer in Sociology at Essex University. Her research interests include migration, inter-ethnic ties, social cohesion, ethnic penalties and multiculturalism. She has extensive experience contributing to project management and other administrative duties. She was responsible for the day-to-day coordination of the Oxford Diversity Project, Ethno-religious Diversity and Social Trust in Residential and Educational settings and its multidisciplinary team including sociologists, social policy researchers, social psychologists, human geographers.

In addition, she has been collaborating on a major international project studying migrant labour market incorporation, supported by the ‘Economic Change, Quality of Life and Social Cohesion’ (Equalsoc) Network of Excellence, and financed by the 5th Framework project. She has published in leading journals in the field: Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration studies; the International Journal of Comparative Sociology and have prepared several policy reports on issues of ethnicity and migration.