The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University is pleased to announce that Claire Adida has been appointed to the position of FSI Senior Fellow, effective July 1, 2025.

At FSI, Adida will work primarily within the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). She will also hold the title of professor of political science (by courtesy), and teach courses in the Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy program.

“Claire is not only a leading scholar on immigration and ethnic politics, she’s a terrific teacher as well,” said FSI Director Michael McFaul. “I’m excited to see how her innovative approach will intersect and impact research throughout the institute, as well as our students in the classroom.”

Prior to joining FSI, Adida was a professor of political science at UC San Diego, as well as a faculty affiliate with the Policy Design and Evaluation Lab, the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, the Stanford Immigration Policy Lab, and the Evidence in Governance and Politics Group.

Adida’s research employs quantitative and field methods to study how countries manage new and existing forms of diversity. She has applied this question to the study of immigrant exclusion and ethnic politics in urban West Africa, France, and the United States. Her current research investigates the conditions that reduce out-group discrimination, and the strategies vulnerable minorities employ to navigate discriminatory environments.

Adida received her PhD in political science from Stanford University in 2010, and was a visiting scholar at CDDRL in 2016.

“I am delighted that Claire is coming back to Stanford and especially to CDDRL, where  Claire began her scholarly career,” said Kathryn Stoner, the Mosbacher Director at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. “We are all thrilled to have her return to the Center as a senior fellow and we look forward to supporting her outstanding scholarship.”

Adida’s articles have been published in the American Political Science Review, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science Advances, the Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Political Science Research & Methods, Economics and Politics, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Population Economics, the Journal of Experimental Political Science, and Public Opinion Quarterly, among others. She has published two books on immigrant integration: Immigrant Exclusion and Insecurity in Africa; Coethnic Strangers (Cambridge University Press, 2014) investigates the integration experiences of Nigerian migrants in Ghana, Benin, and Niger; Why Muslim Integration fails in Christian-Heritage Societies (co-authored with David Laitin and Marie-Anne Valfort, Harvard University Press, 2016) identifies and explains anti-Muslim prejudice in France.

“Claire is one of the leading experts in the world on the politics of immigration and ethnicity,” said Michael Tomz, the William Bennett Munro Professor in Political Science and chair of the Department of Political Science. “Her path-breaking work helps explain why immigrants often struggle to integrate into new societies, and it identifies effective policies to facilitate integration. Claire’s research involves a remarkably wide range of methods, including surveys, experiments, and qualitative fieldwork. Her presence on campus will help cement Stanford’s standing as one of the best places in the world for the study of immigration."

“I am thrilled to return to Stanford and join such an esteemed group of scholars at CDDRL, and FSI more broadly,” said Adida. “I look forward to learning from my new colleagues and students, and have no doubt my research will benefit from many new collaborations.”