2025 Migration and Technology Monitor Fellows
Third time’s the charm! We are so happy to welcome our third cohort of Migration and Technology Monitor Fellows!
After a thorough review of the 510 applications we received from all around the world, the 2024 cohort of fellows chose their next five colleagues through a series of meetings, shortlists, and interviews of the final ten candidates. The selection process was especially competitive this year, with so many incredible projects that people shared with us. We are thrilled to grow our community, work with, and learn from colleagues with lived experience of migration from all over the world, as they interrogate technology, surveillance, and migration.
Our fellowship program creates opportunities for people-on-the-move and those living under occupation to meaningfully contribute to research, storytelling, policy, and advocacy conversations from the start, and not as an afterthought. Among our aims is a collaborative, intellectual, and advocacy community where we prioritize opportunities for participatory work, including the ability to pitch unique and relevant projects by affected communities themselves.
Read our 2025 press release to learn more about our selection process and ethos behind our fellowship and community building.
Joining the community are:
Sophia Amimo is the founder of Domestic Workers Returnees of Kenya, an organization assisting migrant workers who return to Kenya after facing exploitation in the Middle East and other regions. As a returnee herself, Sophia observed how digital technologies are increasingly used to surveil, manipulate, and take advantage of migrant workers, often with little regard for their dignity and rights. In her project, Sophia will engage in storytelling, investigative reporting, and grassroots outreach to highlight the lived experiences of returnee workers and expose the hidden technological barriers they encounter.
Aqila Abdelkarim is a medical and mental health professional with a vision to enhance and simplify access to mental health services across East Africa. Beyond her clinical expertise, she passionately advocates for the transformative power of art, promoting self-expression through creativity as an essential tool for emotional well-being. Her project seeks to find technical solutions for gaps in mental health care, support refugees and people-on-the-move, challenge stigma, and introduce fresh, engaging approaches to healing and mental wellness.
Nuria Arias is from Honduras, a mother of three, and currently lives in Minnesota. In 2018, she applied for asylum in the United States and her case is still pending, which makes her life an everyday struggle. She hopes to be free of these systematic chains soon.
Ever Martinez is from Latin America, a dedicated listener who loves creating things. For their MTM fellowship, together with Pueblos de Lucha y Esperanza, Nuria and Ever are working on a graphic novel about their experiences with carceral technologies in US immigration detention.
*For ongoing security reasons, we are not sharing Nuria and Ever’s faces but instead using renderings from their upcoming project*
Abid is a multidisciplinary researcher focused on social justice, technology, and inclusive development in Jammu and Kashmir. With a Bachelor’s in Media Studies and a Master’s in Social Work, he has advanced disability inclusion, climate action, and digital rights through roles at various organizations. His work bridges grassroots narratives and policy, recognized by grants and fellowships across Asia. Abid's project will explore the intersection of technology, surveillance and advocating for ethical frameworks that protect digital dignity.
Issa Amro is a human rights defender based in Hebron, Occupied West Bank. Issa is the co-founder of the direct action group Youth Against Settlements. Issa has received widespread international recognition for his work to encourage peaceful resistance against Israeli occupation, won the Right Livelihood Award 2024 and is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025. As a 2025/26 MTM fellow, Issa will continue to map technologies of occupation in Hebron.
Want to connect with our fellows? Please email press@migrationtechmonitor.com