Nina Held is a research and teaching fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Sussex currently working on the ERC-funded project SOGICA - Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Claims of Asylum (2016-2020). Before coming to Sussex, Nina worked as the development worker at Trafford Rape Crisis for two years and as the centre coordinator at Freedom from Torture North West for five years. For seven years, she was the chair and a volunteer for the Lesbian Immigration Support Group in Manchester.