About
Research Interests
Bio
I study education and international migration, with a focus on how settler colonial states and institutions govern mobility and belonging. My areas of specialization include adult and higher education, Canadian immigration policy, international student mobility, temporary and multi-step migration, refugee resettlement, citizenship education, and newcomer settlement and integration from a critical perspective. My current research is part of the “Migrant Integration in the Mid 21st Century: Bridging Divides” Canada First Research Excellence Fund research program.
As a scholar-practitioner, I also engage in policy-relevant knowledge mobilization and contribute to professional communities of practice. I have over fifteen years of professional work experience in adult and higher education, including as an International Student Advisor, Strategic Initiatives & Special Projects Coordinator, and Curriculum Designer for cultural orientation and citizenship education programs. I am a Public Policy Consultant with the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of British Columbia (AMSSA) and have been a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant since 2014. In 2025, I appeared before the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to provide expert witness testimony for the “International Student Program and Study Permits” study.
Research and Education
Education
University of British Columbia, PhD (Educational Studies)
Simon Fraser University, MA (Geography)
University of Pittsburgh, BA (English Literature and Political Science)
Selected publications
Peer reviewed journal articles
Brunner, L. R., Streitwieser, B., & Bhandari, R. (2026). Classifications and clarifications: Rethinking international student mobility and the voluntariness of migration. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 24(2), 549–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2023.2261416
Brunner, L. R. (2025). International student mobility and the politics of distance education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 56(2), 870-889. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13543
Brunner, L. R., & McCartney, D. M. (2025). Colonial logics as public secrets of international student mobility. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.6047
Brunner, L. R., Shokirova, T., Gamal, M., & Stein, S. (2025). Higher education’s care/control of refugee and displaced students. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 12(2), 11–33. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/2212
Brunner, L. R., Trilokekar, R. D., Morris-Lange, S., Liu, H., Laufer, M., El Masri, A., & Joshi, A. (2025). Magnets, gatekeepers, surveillants, and refiners: The emergence of higher education institutions as migration governance actors in Australia, Canada, and Germany, 1990 to 2019. International Journal of Educational Research, 129, 102490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2024.102490
Brunner, L. R., & Tao, W. W. (2024). Artificial intelligence and automation in the migration governance of international students: An accidental ethnography. Journal of International Students, 14(1), 269-288. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v14i4.5762
Brunner, L. R., Karki, K. K., & Valizadeh, N., Shokirova, T., & Coustere, C. (2024). Unfamiliarities, uncertainties, and ambivalent long-term intentions: Conceptualizing international student-migrant settlement and integration. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 25, 973–996. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-024-01116-1
Brunner, L. R. (2023). Settler nation-building through immigration as a rationale for higher education: A critical discourse analysis. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(5), 1086-1102. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2023.2193732
Brunner, L. R. (2023). Higher education institutions as eyes of the state: Canada’s international student compliance regime. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 21(2), 236-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2022.2037407
Brunner, L. R. (2022). Towards a more just Canadian education-migration system: International student mobility in crisis. Studies in Social Justice, 16(1), 79-102. https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v16i1.2685
Brunner, L. R. (2021). ‘Edugration’ as a wicked problem: Higher education and three-step immigration. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 13(5), 4. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v13i5S.4061
Brunner, L. R. (2017). Higher educational institutions as emerging immigrant selection actors: A history of British Columbia’s retention of international graduates, 2001–2016. Policy Reviews in Higher Education, 1(1), 22-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322969.2016.1243016
Other publications
Brunner, L. R., & Mehta, D. (2026). Pathway promises and policy realities: Lessons from the international student reset of Canada. Migration Policy Practice, XV(1), 43-50. https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0452544
Brunner, L. R. (2025). Canadian international student policy at a crossroads. Policy Brief No. 1, October 2025. Institute for Research on Public Policy. https://centre.irpp.org/research-studies/canadian-international-student-policy-crossroads/
Brunner, L. R., & Cervantes-Macías, M. E. (2025). Reflections on Canada’s first international student cap. Critical Internationalization Studies Review, 4(1), article 2. https://doi.org/10.70531/2832-3211.1043
EDST Activity
Courses taught
EDST 401: Education, School, and Social Institutions
EDST 493: Introduction to the Study of Higher Education
EDST 513: Current Issues in Higher Education
EDST 521: Foundations of Higher Education (Teaching in 2026/2027 Winter Term 1)
EDST 540B: Locating Oneself in Global Learning
With students from my EDST 401 course, awarded the Student Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization Funding Grant (Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia) for the project “Decolonization, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and Teacher Identity: B.Ed. Self-Reflective Writing Project.” Check out our zine here!
Additional
Editorial board member, Comparative and International Education (2025-present)