Nicole M. Bennett

I am a scholar and practitioner working at the intersection of migration, data governance, and digital technologies, focusing on how emerging systems like artificial intelligence reshape global mobility and humanitarian response. My research examines the political economy and geography of data in refugee and asylum processes, exploring how digital categorization, biometric databases, and algorithmic decision-making influence access to protection and rights. I am particularly interested in how data is shared, governed, and contested across borders, and how these practices reconfigure both physical and digital landscapes of displacement.

I currently serve as a member of the Indiana University Refugee Task Force and as the Assistant Director for Indiana University’s Center for Refugee Studies, where I help coordinate campus-wide initiatives related to displacement, migration, and refugee support. Over the past decade, I’ve worked across global education, international development, and humanitarian policy, designing programs in academia, public scholarship, and digital transformation. My professional experience bridges institutional and international contexts, with a continued emphasis on the practical and ethical dimensions of data use.