Working at the intersection of international political sociology, refugee and migration studies and critical security studies, Corey’s research focuses primarily on the international politics of migration governance and border control. More recently, his research has focused on the global far-right, particularly conspiracy theories about migration and borders, and the neoreactionary (NRx) movement.

With expertise in human smuggling, irregular migration, asylum, climate-induced displacement, and global migration governance, Corey has received over £1,838,154 in external research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the New Frontiers Research Fund, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Norwegian Research Council and more. His book manuscript, Displacement as Method: Anti-Smuggling Policy, Forced Migration, and the Global Politics of Irregular Mobility is currently under review.

His research has appeared in leading journals in international relations, including Review of International Studies, Geopolitics, Third World Quarterly, International Political Sociology, Security Dialogue, Millennium: Journal of International Studies and in several scholarly volumes. Corey’s writing has also appeared in media outlets such as The New Humanitarian, The Toronto Star and The Conversation.

Before coming to Glasgow in 2023, Corey was a Lecturer in International Relations at Durham University. Previously, Corey held teaching positions at the University of Toronto and York University and conducted research in the field of humanitarian evaluation. At Humanitarian Outcomes, Corey co-authored the Joint Evaluation of the Protection of the Rights of Refugees During the COVID-19 Pandemic, conducted under the auspices of UNHCR, the OECD and other actors as a part of the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition.

Corey holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and a Graduate Diploma in Refugee and Migration Studies from York University. Corey's Ph.D. research was funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program (CGS) Doctoral Scholarships and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS).

Empirical research interests:

• human smuggling
• border externalization
• asylum
• climate-induced displacement
• securitization of migration
• global migration governance
• global far-right
• conspiracy theory
• neoreaction and alt-right

Theoretical reseach interests:

• critical international relations
• international political sociology
• critical migration and refugee studies
• critical border studies
• critical security studies
• political geography
• climate mobilities
• science and technology studies
• actor-network theory
• post-structuralism
• deconstruction
• accelerationism
• historical materialism

Research groups

• International Relations

List by: Type | Date

Prior publications

2026 - SSHRC Grant, Co-Applicant (£112,150), under embargo 

2024 - ‘Climate Change Adaptation, Dispossession and Displacement: Co-constructing Solutions with Coastal Vulnerable Groups in Africa and Asia.’ (£1,838,174), Co-Principal Investigator

• Three-year international grant with partners in UK, Norway, Canada, Philippines, Bangladesh, and Ghana, awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Norwegian Research Council and New Frontiers in Research Fund/Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

2023 - ‘Resettlement as Climate Change Adaptation? Exploring the longer-term impacts of post-disaster resettlements in rural coastal and island communities in Eastern Samar, the Philippines,’ Partnership Engage Grant (£14,993), Co-Principal Investigator

• Awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

I am interested in supervising Ph.D. students on the following:

• human smuggling
• border externalization
• asylum
• climate-induced displacement
• securitization of migration
• global migration governance
• global far-right
• conspiracy theory
• neoreaction and alt-right

• Minassian, Manon
  Transnational Care in the Wake of Armed Resistance: the Case of Western Sahara’s Refugees

Politics of Borders (POLITIC418)

This course examines the politics of borders from a critical, interdisciplinary, and historical perspective. It explores how border politics manifests across various issue areas, including debates about migration, refugees, sovereignty, economy, security, technology, indigeneity, climate change, and colonialism.

The course aims to provide students with the conceptual vocabulary and empirical knowledge necessary to critically analyze border politics. Drawing on insights from International Relations, Critical Border Studies, Migration Studies, and Political Geography, it equips participants with a conceptual toolkit for analyzing borders and understanding the dynamics of their production, maintenance, extension, contestation, and dissolution within key issues of global politics—including territory, sovereignty, security, the economy, climate change, nationalism, and colonialism.