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Kushan Azadah is a political scientist and migration scholar whose research examines refugee governance, migration policy, and the politics of belonging in Canada. His work considers how state institutions, civil society actors, and political narratives shape access to protection, legal status, and membership, with particular attention to forced migration, Afghan displacement, precarious immigration status, advocacy, and the relationship between migration governance and settler colonialism.

Kushan completed his PhD in Political Science at York University in 2026, specializing in International Relations and Gender Politics. His doctoral research traces Canada’s governance of Afghan displacement from the Cold War to the present, examining how changing geopolitical conditions, legal and institutional arrangements, and forms of civil society advocacy have shaped the possibilities and limits of refugee protection. His broader research examines the politics of deservingness, migration and refugee policy, and struggles over inclusion and belonging in Canada.

At ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥, Kushan has contributed to research on changing migration policy and discourse through the Contemporary Paradoxes and Struggles of Migration and Belonging in Canada project and the Narratives of Racism and Anti-Racism Mobilization project within the Bridging Divides research program. His recent work has examined Afghan refugee governance and veterans’ advocacy, as well as political and policy struggles surrounding the regularization of undocumented migrants and access to permanent status in Canada.

Kushan also holds an MA in Social Justice and Equity Studies from Brock University. His interdisciplinary research interests developed through earlier work on migration, settler and Indigenous relations, social justice, and global social movements.

Carlaw, J., & Azadah, K. (2026).  Third World Quarterly.

Azadah, K. (2026).  PUBLIC, 37(73), 160–162.

Azadah, K. (2026).  (PDF file) Canadian Veterans’ Advocacy and the Governance of Afghan Refugees. Global Migration Institute Working Paper Series, no. 2026/03.

Carlaw, J., & Azadah, K. (2024).  (PDF file) Pathways to Permanence and Immigration Levels: A Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (CPDA) of Struggles and Limits to Societal Membership for Migrants Amidst and Emerging from COVID-19 (2020–2022) in Canada. TMCIS/CERC Working Paper Series, no. 2024/07.

Azadah, K. (2022).  Refugee Watch, 60, 45–61.