Bio

Karen Liao is a human geographer with an interdisciplinary background and a research focus on migration and development in Asia. At PRIO, she is senior researcher under the MigrationRhythms project, leading the qualitative data collection in Hanoi and Manila.

She completed her PhD in Geography at the National University Singapore in 2022. Her research focused on labour migration governance in the Philippines and the involuntary return and repatriation of migrant workers. She was also Research Associate at the Scalabrini Migration Center, where she worked on projects related to: temporary migration in the Europe-Philippines corridor; youth, employment and migration; Filipino professional and skilled migrants; migrant and multicultural children in Asia.

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Liao, K. A. S. (2024). “The grey window of temporary reintegration: The involuntary return and crisis-induced immobility of Filipino migrant workers,” International Migration Review. DOI: 10.1177/01979183241255666.

Liao, K. A. S. (2023). “Assembling exits and returns: The extraterritorial production of repatriation for Filipino migrant workers,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2278404.

Liao, K. A. S. (2023). “Infrastructuring repatriation: The Philippine sending state and the return of overseas Filipino workers caught in disruptions,” International Migration. DOI: 10.1111/imig.13155

Xiang, B., Allen, W. L., Khosravi, S., Kringerlbach, H. N., Ortiga, Y. Y., Liao, K. A. S., Cuéllar, J. E., Momen, L., Deshingkar, P. and M. Naik. (2022). “Shock im/mobilities during moments of acute uncertainty,” Geopolitics, DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2022.2091314.

Liao, K. A. S. and M. M. B. Asis. (2020). “Back to the Philippines: Connecting Aspiration, Return and Social Remittances in International Student Migration,” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, DOI: 10.1177/0117196820964999.

Liao, K. A. S. (2020). “Operation ‘Bring Them Home’: Learning from the Large-Scale Repatriation of Filipino Migrant Workers in Times of Crisis.” Asian Population Studies, DOI: 10.1080/17441730.2020.1811511.

Liao, K. A. S. (2019). “Mobile Practices and the Production of Professionals on the Move: Filipino Highly Skilled Migrants in Singapore,” Geoforum, 106:214-222.

Liao, K. A. S. (2018). “Les « Pinoys » dans la ville globale : les migrants philippins transnationaux à Singapour” (Pinoys in the Global City: Filipino transnational migrants in Singapore), Migrations Société, 30(17):57-72.

Book chapters

Asis, M. M.B., Battistella, G. and K. A. S. Liao. (2019). “Temporary Migration in the Philippines: Changes and Constants in this Continuing Saga.” In P. Pitkänen, T. Hayakawa, K. Schmidt, M. Aksakal and S.I. Rajan, Temporary Migration, Transformation and Development: Evidence from Europe and Asia. Delhi: Routledge India.

Asis, M. M. B. and K. A. S. Liao. (2017). “Enriching Journeys: Transnational Temporary Migration between the Philippines and Europe.” In Pitkänen P., Korpela M., Aksakal M., Schmidt K. (eds), Characteristics of Temporary Migration in European-Asian Transnational Social Spaces. International Perspectives on Migration, Volume 14. Cham: Springer.

Research reports

Liao, K., Erdal, M. B., Hansen, A., Abraham, A. and M. Fitzmaurice. (2024). Middle Classes, Moving and Staying in Hanoi. PRIO Papers. Oslo. Peace Research Institute Oslo.

Liao, K., Erdal, M. B., Abraham, A. and M. Fitzmaurice. (2024). Middle Classes, Moving and Staying in Metro Manila. PRIO Papers. Oslo: Peace Research Institute Oslo. URL: https://www.prio.org/publications/13966

Battistella, G. and Liao, K. A. S. (2013). Youth Employment and Migration in the Philippines: Brain Drain and Brain Waste. Manila: UNICEF-Philippines.

Liao, Karen (2010). “A Migration and Development Agenda: A Call to Philippine Government Institutions.” Policy Brief prepared for the Scalabrini Migration Center and Migrants’ Associations and Philippine Institutions for Development (MAPID). Quezon City: Scalabrini Migration Center.

Book reviews

Liao, K. A. S. (2020). “Eric Pido, 2017, Migrant Returns, Duke University Press,” Pacific Affairs.

Liao, K. A. S. (2019). “Nancy L. Green, 2019, The Limits of Transnationalism,” International Migration Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/01979 18319882888

Liao, K. A. S. (2019). “Katie Kuschminder, 2017, Reintegration Strategies, Cham: Springer International,” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal. DOI: 10.100 7/978-3-319-55741-0.

Commentary and essays

Liao, K. A. S., Erdal, M. B., et al. (2024). "Facing imbalances in global knowledge co-creation,” PRIO Blogs, 7 March. URL: https://blogs.prio.org/2024/03/facing-asymmetries-in-global-knowledge-co-creation/

Liao, K. A. S. (2022). “COVID-19 and the costs of strandedness for repatriated Filipino migrant workers,” New Mandala. URL: https://www.newmandala.org/covid-19-the-costs-of-strandedness-for-repatriated-filipino-migrant-workers/

Liao, K. A. S. (2020). “Emergency returns: COVID-19 and the repatriation of Filipino migrant workers,” Coronavirus and Mobility Forum, COMPAS Oxford blog, 2 June 2020. URL: https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2020/emergency-returns-covid-19-and-the-repatriation-of-filipino-migrant-workers/.

Creative research output

Asis, M. M. B. and Liao, K. A. S., eds. (2017). Moving Portraits: Life Stories of Children of Migrant and Multicultural Families in Asia. Quezon City: Scalabrini Migration Center.