About
I’m a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Sociology department at the University of Essex.
I completed my PhD in the department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and spent a year at the European University Institute as a Max Weber Fellow. My PhD investigates how the function of citizenship is changing in response to migration, both for immigrants and for the majority population. Most recently, I have contributed new evidence on public attitudes on territorial birthright citizenship reform for Italy. In my new Leverhulme funded project I examine if and why higher education makes societies more positive about immigrants. As part of this research, I have also developed new approaches to measuring immigration attitudes, including introducing the concept of ambivalence. Finally, I’m Co-PI of a La Caixa grant looking at drivers of occupational devaluation.
Publications:
Donnaloja, V (2025). “Education Expansion and Attitudes Toward Immigrants Across Generations in the UK”. International Migration Review, online.
Donnaloja, V. and Borkowska, M (2025). “The enduring effect of higher education on attitudes towards immigrants: a family approach”. British Journal of Sociology, 76(5), 965-974.
Donnaloja, V. (2025) “Citizens in the making: analysing Italy’s first attempt to define what makes a citizen in the context of immigration”. LSE Social Policy Working paper Series.
Donnaloja, V. and Vink, M. (2024) “Like parent, like child: how attitudes towards immigrants spill over to the political inclusion of their children”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50(14), 3435-3452.
Donnaloja, V., McAvay, H. (2022) “The Multidimensionality of National Belonging: Patterns and Implications for Immigrants’ Naturalisation Intentions”. Social Science Research, 106: 102708.
Donnaloja, V. (2022) British nationals’ preferences over who gets to be a citizen according to a choice-based conjoint experiment. European Sociological Review, 38(2), 202-218.
Donnaloja, V. (2020) British and Disengaged: national identification and political engagement before and after naturalisation. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:13, 2723-2741.