After studying Philosophy and Modern Languages in 1984 I started working with an organisation of (undocumented) migrant domestic workers in London. I conducted research on the issue for a campaign booklet and realised that this was an important sector of work for undocumented migrants across the European Union. I obtained a grant from the European Commission to explore this, and decided to do the research as a PhD project under the supervision of Dr Annie Phizacklea at the University of Warwick - and then University of Leicester. That was my segue into University life.

I worked with the ESRC funded Transnational Communities Programme, and later the ESRC Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), both led by Professor Stephen Vertovec. I stayed at COMPAS at the University of Oxford for 12 years, first leading a research strand and then as Research Director. I joined the University of Bristol in 2017 as Professor of Migration Mobilities and Citizenship, and in 2018 took over the leadership of the University's Specialist Research Institute, Migration Mobilities Bristol (MMB).