Cristina Buza is a PhD candidate in the Governance and Inclusive Development (GID) programme group of the AISSR at the University of Amsterdam. Supervised by Professor Maggi Leung and Dr. Bianca Szytniewski, her dissertation, embedded within the VISION project: Envisioning a Convivial Europe, explores translocality, mobility, and conviviality in peripheralised European regions, focusing on Romanian labour migration to Brandenburg, Germany. Cristina’s work is grounded in ethnographic research. She conducts fieldwork in Brandenburg and rural Romania, listening to and learning from migrants and local residents to understand how migration reshapes communities, everyday practices, and senses of belonging. 

She is broadly interested in transnationalism, sensory ethnography, memory, material culture in migration, labour (im)mobilities, and migrants’ everyday life experiences. Her earlier research, conducted as part of her Master’s thesis at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, examined parcel-sending practices among Moldovan migrants, showing how memories, tastes, and smells shape migration narratives across generations.  

Cristina graduated with an MA in Development Studies from ISS, Erasmus University Rotterdam. She also holds a Bachelor’s in Banking and Finance and a Master’s in Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova.

Research expertise

• Migration and development
• Labour mobility
• Translocal connections
• Peripheralized regions
• Material culture & everyday objects in migration
• Sensory ethnography & memory

Other links

• Programme group Governance and Inclusive Development
• VISION Project & (Linkedin page)

Research methods

• Ethnographic methods, participant observation, and interviews
• Sensory and visual analysis
• Longitudinal, relational approach to migration
• Qualitative analysis using Atlas.ti

Current research projects

VISION Project: Envisioning a Convivial Europe: this project investigates how people in Europe live together and cooperate on issues important to all. First, the researchers focus on the living conditions in regions of Europe that face particular challenges related to ageing, outgoing migration or economic decline. The research is interested in how local inhabitants meet these challenges in their everyday life. Second, the project addresses the situation of people who work across borders. Part of the research is trying to understand how men and women, young and old, experience these challenges differently. In the second step, by looking at the things mentioned above, the researchers want to think of what is needed for Europe to be a place where different people can live together and fulfil their dreams.

This joint research project is led by the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM), Paris Lodron University Salzburg, and the University of Amsterdam. It is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation as part of the „Challenges for Europe“ initiative.