Dr Natalie Dietrich Jones' principal research interests include geographies of the border, intra-regional migration in the Caribbean, the governance of migration and vulnerable migrant experiences. She has undertaken research on undocumented migration within the CARICOM Community, including research into socio-economic exclusion of migrants.
Dr Dietrich Jones is currently Principal Investigator of the Kingston component of a multi-city project entitled ‘South-South Migration and Migrant Food Insecurity: Interactions, Impacts and Remedies’, or ‘Mifood’. The Mifood study is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council based in Canada. She has worked as a consultant supporting regional and international organizations to address research and capacity development deficits on issues related to migrants, refugees and displaced persons, including the International Labour Organization Sub-regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean and the German Agency for International Cooperation. Most recently, she has supported a project to build the capacity of border officials to facilitate the movement of persons during times of disaster in the Eastern Caribbean, funded by the European Union and coordinated by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. She has also undertaken research on local support to the needs of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Aruba, Curaçao, Guyana and Trinidad. This was part of a wider project on Venezuelan migration in the Americas, led by the Organization of American States and the International Organization for Migration, with funding support from the Pan American Development Foundation.
Dr Dietrich Jones is Lecturer and Course Coordinator of 'Small States' Development Challenges and Opportunities', a core course in the MSc Development Studies Programme offered at SALISES. For the past three years she has also delivered a workshop on Migration in the Caribbean for consular officers in the course 'Advances in Consular Affairs in the Modern Diplomatic Mission' offered by the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean (The UWI, St. Augustine). Her recent media interviews include a discussion around options for the government of Antigua and Barbuda in response to a possible event of smuggling of West Africans https://fb.watch/iEYBibIc6o/