We are incredibly proud to welcome Gabriella Agyei as the 2025–2026 GMD Writing Fellow. This year, we received a number of high-quality theses from students across all GMD tracks, making the selection process challenging. However, the coordinators successfully chose a fellow who exemplifies how self-identity and lived experiences can be transformed into thoughtful, impactful research. Congratulations, Gabriella, and welcome to the GMD family! Read the blog post to learn more about Gabriella's thesis and academic journey.
Gabriella Agyei, an Italian-Ghanaian GMD graduate and researcher, has been selected as the 2025–2026 LDE GMD Writing Fellow. Her academic journey has been closely connected with themes of migration, identity, and the everyday experiences of second-generation individuals. From her undergraduate studies in Bologna to formative experiences in Sweden and a pivotal year in the GMD Master’s program in Rotterdam, Gabriella has consistently followed her curiosity and her connection to questions of self-identity. Her thesis, titled Institutional Trust Among Second-Generation Youth in the Netherlands, investigates how trust, religiosity, and lived experiences shape the sense of belonging for young people with migration backgrounds. Through this fellowship, she looks forward to refining her research into a publishable article as she also begins her PhD in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute.
My name is Gabriella Agyei. I am an Italian-Ghanaian first-year PhD researcher at the European University Institute. My academic choices have largely been shaped by my family’s migration history and my own identity as a second-generation Ghanaian “immigrant” born and raised in Italy. As one can notice, explaining my identity requires the use of many quotation marks and categorisations. And it is exactly because of this personal background, paired with various crucial political and policy developments in the last decades, that I became interested in migration-related topics.
Academic Journey: From Curiosity and Lived Experience to the GMD Master’s
Gabriella’s interest in migration began during her studies in Political, Social and International Sciences at the University of Bologna, where early sociology courses echoed many of the questions she had carried throughout her life. A formative Erasmus exchange in Sweden deepened this curiosity and strengthened her focus on mobility and policymaking. She returned to Italy to complete her cum laude thesis on cultural dissonance between first- and second-generation immigrants, research that encouraged her to approach migration from multiple angles and disciplines.
Seeking a programme that combined migration studies with public policy, law, history, and development, Gabriella found the perfect fit in the GMD Master’s. “It had everything I was searching for,” she says. Supported by the Erasmus Trustfonds Scholarship and The Social Hub Changemakers Scholarship, she studied across Erasmus University Rotterdam, Leiden University, and ISS The Hague. “It was such a rich experience, academically and personally,” she reflects. “I learned so much while living in a city I loved and meeting some of the loveliest people ever.”
Gabriella’s Thesis: Trust, Belonging, and Everyday Realities
Gabriella’s GMD thesis, Institutional Trust Among Second-generations in the Netherlands, explored how second-generation Africans in Rotterdam perceive Dutch institutions and how political instability in their parents’ countries of origin shapes these perceptions.
One of her most notable findings was that trust tended to focus on functionality and reliability, yet rarely extended to feelings of fairness, representation, or transparency. Experiences of discrimination often played a subtle but influential role. “It is a small-scale study,” she explains, “but it sheds light on a topic that is not discussed enough in public policy: what actually shapes institutional trust for second-generation communities.” By highlighting these less visible dimensions of trust, her research contributes to an area that is too often overlooked in policy debates.
What She Hopes to Do With the GMD Fellowship
For Gabriella, the fellowship offers an opportunity to refine and expand her thesis, transforming it into a broader academic contribution with the guidance of her supervisor, Dr. Asya Pisarevskaya. “This is the perfect moment for me to start learning about academic publishing,” she says, “especially now that I am beginning my PhD.”
Her doctoral work adds a new dimension to her long-standing interests by focusing on second-generation religiosity and its role in shaping belonging in contemporary societies. “It ties together everything I have explored so far. Identity, migration, and trust all connect in a new and meaningful way,” she explains.
Looking Ahead
For Gabriella, the GMD Writing Fellowship is more than a milestone. It is the next step in building an academic profile grounded in nuanced understandings of migration, identity, and second-generation experiences. She is enthusiastic about what comes next. “It truly feels like the perfect beginning.”
About the GMD Writing Fellowship: Each year, GMD students and recent graduates with outstanding thesis results are encouraged to apply for the GMD Writing Fellowship. One writing fellow is selected through a process involving all GMD track coordinators. With financial, structural, and networking support, the fellowship enables GMD students or graduates to transform their exceptional MA thesis into an academic article.