Ester Serra-Mingot is a PhD student at the Globalisation, Transnationalism and Development Research Programme at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in Maastricht University. Her research is focused on the transnational social protection of Sudanese migrants in Europe and their families back home. Ester completed her BA degree in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Alicante (Spain), and after working several years as an interpreter, language teacher and tour guide in the Middle East, she conducted an MA in International Relations, Safety and Development at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), with focus in Middle Eastern politics and the role of women in the Egyptian Arab Spring. In 2013 she finished a joint Master in Migrations and Intercultural Relations at Oldenburg University (Germany), Stavanger University (Norway) and Ahfad University (Sudan). She wrote her Master thesis on the challenges of South Sudanese women living in Khartoum after the separation.