Onoso Imoagene

Program Head of Social Research and Public Policy; Associate Professor of Social Research and Public Policy Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: BSc Sociology University of Ibadan, Nigeria; MPhil Modern Society and Global Transformations University of Cambridge, MA, PhD Sociology Harvard University

Research Areas: International Migration; Race and Ethnicity


Onoso Imoagene is an Associate Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University Abu Dhabi. She graduated with a first-class honors in Sociology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She obtained a Master’s degree in Modern Society and Global Transformations from University of Cambridge, England, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from Harvard University.

Her main research areas are international migration and race and ethnicity, with a specialfocus on first- and second-generation African immigrants in several national diasporas including the British and American Diasporas; Her first book, Beyond Expectations: Second Generation Nigerians in the United States and Britain, published by the University of California Press, is the first book-length comparative study on the adult African second generation in Britain and the United States. Her second book, Structured Luck: Downstream Effects of the U.S. Diversity Visa Program, on the intended and unintended consequences of the US Diversity Visa Program on West African Immigrants published by Russell Sage Foundation came out in 2024.

She has started two new projects; a survey on second generation Africans in the United States and the Africa/China Migration Project, a qualitative study of African women entrepreneurs in China and Chinese migrants in several African countries.

Courses Taught