Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen is professor with special responsibilities in migration and refugee law at the University of Copenhagen. In addition, he is honorary professor at Aarhus University. He received his PhD (in international law) from Aarhus University, MSc (in refugee studies) from the University of Oxford and MA (in political science) from the University of Copenhagen.
His research focuses on Nordic and international refugee and migration law, mobility regulation, and the relationship between international law and politics. He is author or editor of several books, including Access to Asylum: International Refugee Law and the Globalisation of Migration Control (Cambridge University Press, 2011), which received the 2013 KG Idman Award for best publication in international law, Tracing the Roles of Soft Law in Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2016); The Power of Legality: International Law and its Practices (Cambridge University Press 2016); Human Rights and the Dark Side of Globalisation (Routledge, 2016) Protecting the Rights of Others (DJØF, 2013), The Migration Industry: The Commercialisation of International Migration (Routledge, 2013), and Sovereignty Games: Instrumentalizing State Sovereignty in Europe and Beyond (Palgrave, 2008). He is also series editor of the Routledge Studies in Human Rights and part of the editorial board for Cambridge Asylum and Migration Studies.
Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen is a regular commentator on asylum and immigration matters in Nordic and international media. He has consulted for a number of international organisations, governments and NGOs, and previously served as member of the Danish Refugee Appeals Board.
Thomas directs the Nordic Asylum Law & Data Lab and serves as PI on several current research projects funded by NordForsk, Volkswagen Stifftung, Villum Foundation, Wallenberg Foundation and UCPH-DATA+.