Migration studies is a broad-based course of study that evaluates the process of human migration in a global context. The field of migration studies is gaining in popularity as policymakers worldwide struggle to make difficult decisions in an increasingly contentious political and social climate.

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the western most point of Eurasia, Europe is usually divided from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting the Black and Aegean Seas.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.