Chantal’s research on migration and development processes is rooted in collaborative work with communities and stakeholders in the Global South and North.
Chantal has an MA (Cantab) in Modern and Medieval Languages from Newnham College, University of Cambridge. She was awarded Distinction for the MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and has a PhD in Chilean migration and development from The Open University.
Chantal’s background is in the international not-for-profit sector where she has conceptualised and led development and research projects for NGOs, multilateral development organisations and governments. Her expertise includes migration, refugees, inequality and health. Chantal has collaborated on international and UK-based social and community development programmes with stakeholders at local, national and international scales. Skilled at building relationships and developing strategic partnerships, she utilises her language and communications expertise to work effectively with people within different communities.
Chantal’s research examines processes of change within and beyond communities affected by migration flows with a focus on reducing inequalities. She is interested in temporalities of migration, forced migrations and legacies of political and social conflict, different understandings of development and development processes, as well as the politics of belonging. Her recent research explores health and wellbeing for migrant populations and draws upon innovative creative, participatory methodologies.
At ARU, Chantal leads the Contemporary Global Challenges theme of the Centre for Social Justice, Communities and Participation. She also co-leads the Inter-University Migration Network.
Chantal welcomes enquiries from prospective research students in the areas of her research interests as outlined above.
Current doctoral supervision:
Radley, C., Greenfields, M., Kofman, E., & Searl, G., 2025. From Babel to Bridge: The Challenges of Research Co‐Production in Multilingual Spaces. Social Inclusion, 14, Article 10870. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.10870.
Radley, C., 2025. The transformation of UK Chilean diaspora space: new Chilean migrants and encounters across time. Global Networks, 25(1), p.e12486.
Kostka, J., Greenfields, M., Felja, D., Boyce, M., Radley, C. and Coker, S., 2024. Navigating the labyrinth: exploring the experiences of Roma families with child protection services. Critical and Radical Social Work, pp.1-18.
Radley, C., Greenfields., M., Coker., Mei Pola, Y. and Searl, G., 2024. Building a Pathway to Participation. Understanding the barriers to health research participation for refugees and asylum seekers.
Boyce., M, Coker., S., Felja, D., Greenfields, M., Kostka, J. and Radley, C., 2024. Come to us in a peaceful way: Improving experiences of Roma families with Children’s Services in England.
Gillin, N., Caddick, N., Smith, D., Radley, C., Fossey, M., 2023. Understanding and improving non-UK service and transition in the British armed forces.
Smith, D., Dagilyte, E., Greenfields, M., Radley, C., Ghosh, G., and Dadswell, A., 2023. EU Older Migrants: Pilot Project Stakeholder Report. https://hdl.handle.net/10779/aru.23783805.v1.
Harnessing community assets to tackle health inequalities for refugees, asylum seekers and migrant populations. 2nd World Congress on Migration, Ethnicity, Race & Health, 2-5 September 2025, Nova University, Lisbon.
Long-term legacies of exile. Society of Latin American Studies conference, University of Bristol, 10-11 April 2025.
Kitchen Conversations: a Ukrainian participatory project. Inter-University Migration Network Conference, Middlesex University, 22-23 May 2024.
UK based Chilean Exiles and the New Chilean Migrants. Resistance, Rights and Refuge: Britain and Chile 50 Years after the Chilean Coup Conference, London School of Economics, 20-22 October 2023.
The Chilean Diaspora and Development. American Association of Geographers Conference 2023, Denver, USA, 24 April 2023.
Older EU Migrants and Access to Public Services and Support Post-Brexit. PISTE Conference, Thessaloniki 12-14 March, 2023.
‘In conversation with Olia Hercules’ – Ukrainian chef and author. December 2025.