Dr Mikal Woldu is a social anthropologist whose research focuses on migration, diaspora politics, and refugee wellbeing. She is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health, where she works on the Marginalised Communities programme. Her research examines how community networks and everyday social practices support mental health and wellbeing among marginalised groups living in hostile and exclusionary contexts.

Mikal holds a PhD from SOAS University of London. Her doctoral research, A Cross-National and Intergenerational Analysis of Eritrean Transnational Engagement in London and Milan, offers a comparative analysis of refugee settlement, identity formation, and political engagement across generations. The project traced the relationship between changing migration regimes and evolving diaspora practices, with particular attention to the role of Refugee Community Organisations operating within increasingly restrictive policy environments.

Prior to joining King’s, Mikal was a postdoctoral researcher at SOAS on a UKRI-funded project examining the experiences of Second-Generation Africans in the UK, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Kenya through the lens of Pan-Africanism. Her broader work is grounded in collaborative, community-engaged methods informed by experience in youth mental health services and long-standing partnerships with refugee and diaspora organisations.

Research

• Mental health
• Refugee wellbeing
• African migration and diaspora
• Intergenerational transnational/diasporic engagement
• Participatory and community-engaged research

Teaching

Undergraduate

• 6SSHM004 War, Mental Health, and Social Ruptures