Shepherd Mutsvara
Guest Professor
Shepherd Mutsvara is an interdisciplinary scholar with a socio-legal research skill set. His research sits at the intersection of international refugee law, political science and migration governance, with additional work on transitional justice developed through his research in Uganda and his lived experience as a Zimbabwean. He began his professional career as a teacher in Zimbabwe and subsequently trained as a legal scholar, earning a Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) from the University of South Africa (UNISA), followed by a Master of Laws (LL.M) in Public International Law from the University of London. He subsequently obtained a PhD in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of the National Education Commission in Krakow (UKEN), Poland, in 2024.
He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Münster, within the COFUND-‘Migration, Diaspora, Citizenship,’ programme where he works on the project “Tackling Emerging Forms of Forced Displacement: Could a Framework Convention be the Catalyst in Broadening the Refugee Definition?” (TEFFD-Framework). The project assesses the feasibility of a Framework Convention/Protocol to broaden refugee protection beyond the 1951 Refugee Convention definition and critically engages international refugee law and policy at a time of weakening global consensus on humanitarian obligations.
Shepherd Mutsvara is a member of the Editorial Team of the International Encyclopaedia of Laws — Migration Law (Kluwer Law Online), under the supervision of Prof. Ellen Desmet, Ghent University. He is an Editorial Board Member of Externalizing Asylum: A Compendium of Scientific Knowledge and a Research Affiliate of the Refugee Law Initiative, University of London, where he has been a member of the Working Group on Externalization since October 2019. He has been a member of the German Network for Forced Migration Studies (Netzwerk Fluchtforschung) since March 2026.
He also served as an Online Mentor in the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law’s Displaced Scholars Peer Mentoring Program at UNSW Sydney, Australia (May–October 2024), providing academic and professional mentorship to early-career scholars with lived experience of displacement working in refugee and forced migration studies.
- NOVA School of Law, Lisbon, Portugal — Lecturer in Transitional Justice (2026–2027), Master’s in Law programme, within the specialisations in International and European Law and Social Law and Innovation.
- Ghent University, Belgium — Guest Lecturer, Global Minds interdisciplinary course, module “Migration & Mobility Justice”: “Emerging Forms of Displacement: A Lived Experience Perspective” (2026).
- University of the National Education Commission in Krakow (UKEN), Poland — Facilitated Anti-Discrimination Workshop: An Intersectional Approach for 2nd Year PhD Candidates (Winter Semester 2024/2025).
- University of the National Education Commission in Krakow (UKEN), Poland — Taught European Migration Law and Policy to 3rd Year BA students in Political Science and International Relations (2022–2023).
- University of the National Education Commission in Krakow (UKEN), Poland — Taught Politics of Globalization and Sub-Saharan Africa: Politics, Conflict and Change (2022).
- Management College of Southern Africa (MANCOSA), East London Campus, South Africa — Part-time Lecturer in Labour Law and Academic Writing (2017–2019).
Book Chapters
- Mutsvara, S. (2024). “Border Identity: Impact of Evolving Ethnicities on Refugee Policy and Protection in Uganda.” In Kowalkowski, S., Kaźmierczak, D., Paul, S. (Eds.), Civil Protection Systems and Disaster Governance. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-60167-5_7.
- Mutsvara, S. (2023). “Reflexive Narrative on Identity and Exclusion of the Zimbabwean Child in the Diaspora: The Odd-Looking Fellow.” In Arun, S., et al. (Eds.), Global Migration and Diversity of Educational Experiences in the Global South and North. Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003343141.
- Mutsvara, S., & Kugonza, G. (2022). “Refugee Camps in East Africa: A Curse of Lost Heritage and Cultural Identity of the Banyarwanda in Uganda.” In Żukowski, A. (Ed.), Współczesne wyzwania Afryki, pp. 135–157.
Journal Articles
- Mutsvara, S. (2022). “When the periphery comes to the centre: Mapping out the securitarian approach to migration in Poland.” Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis. Studia de Securitate, 12(2). DOI: 10.24917/26578549.12.2.11.
- Kugonza, G., & Mutsvara, S. (2022). “Psychosocial Support and Protection for Refugee and Host Communities in Uganda: A Needs Assessment.” Afrika Focus, 35(1), 5–18. DOI: 10.1163/2031356X-35010002.
- Mutsvara, S. (2021). “SEL Concept: A discursive review on texts describing social and emotional learning skills.” Academia Letters, Article 1287. DOI: 10.20935/AL1287.
Policy Papers & Briefs
- Kapogianni, V., Mutsvara, S., & Xanthopoulou, E. (2025). “Border Externalisation: Pullback and Pushback Practices.” Refugee Law Initiative Policy Brief No. 2 (M. Gkliati & S. Phillips, Eds.).
- Mutsvara, S. (2025). Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants — “Externalization of Migration and Its Impact on the Human Rights of Migrants”. OHCHR, 4 de agosto de 2025.
- “Is It Time to Recognize Climate Refugees?” IMPAKTER, 31 de dezembro de 2025.
- “How a framework convention could address climate and socio-economic displacement.” IMPAKTER, 18 de dezembro de 2025.
- “Political Rhetoric Linking Migration to Coronavirus Stokes Up Xenophobia.” Guardian Liberty Voice, 7 de abril de 2020.
- “US Migrant Crisis Is a Curse of Burden Shifting.” Guardian Liberty Voice, 2019.
Preprint
- Mutsvara, S., & Kugonza, G. (2021). “The curse of the Andaman Sea Crisis: Policy implications for Africa on Mixed Migration Flows.” OSF Preprints. https://osf.io/preprints/osf/ebt9z_v1
Work in Progress
- Bar, J., & Mutsvara, S. (no prelo). Faces of Zimbabwe’s internal conflict: rationale, course and breakthrough chances. The Jagiellonian University Press.
- Harvesting Labour: Participatory Action Research with Immigrants in Poland. Investigação-Ação Participativa realizada com imigrantes na INPOST (Cracóvia) e na BLUEAMBER Blueberry Plantation (Szczecin), 01/08/2023–24/09/2024 (421 dias).
- Refugee definition
- Refugee Policy and Responsibility-Sharing in Africa
- EU Migration Governance
- Memory Politics
- Decolonial Dialogues