Samir Khalil

Samir Khalil is a sociologist in the Department of Integration. His empirical research focuses on the identification of causal mechanisms in integration research using (panel) survey data, administrative microdata or digital-trace data. At the DeZIM Institute, he is currently working on topics related to the optimization of the regional distribution of refugees, the identification of biased policing using data on traffic violations and the effects of civil aid associations at the local level using association and labor market data. Mr. Khalil's work has been published in numerous international journals, including the European Sociological Review (ESR), Frontiers in Sociology and European Societies.

Between 2021 and 2025, Mr. Khalil was a PhD student and research assistant at the University of Potsdam at the Chair of Applied Social Research and Public Policy (Prof. Jasper Tjaden). In his dissertation, he dealt with different mechanisms in the integration of refugees at the regional level, including the questions of how the regional distribution of refugees affects their language acquisition; how the length of stay in shared accommodation affects different dimensions of integration or how digital municipal information services for refugees are used. He taught in master's programs at the WiSo faculty on the use of web scraping techniques in R.

Research focus

• Regional mechanisms in the integration of refugees
• Distribution mechanisms of refugees
• Intergroup contacts
• Indicator-based integration monitoring
• Methodology and data: Causal inference, panel survey data, administrative microdata, digital trace data, web scraping techniques