• Since November 2023, Ph.D. candidate and fellow at SYLFF-Mikrokolleg on Forced Migration
• 2014-2016 master’s degree in social Structure and Social Change, Istanbul University, Turkey
• 2008-2011 bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Jigjiga University, Ethiopia

• Since November 2023, research fellow at the chair of Sociology / Transnationalization, Migration and Work
• October 2019 – 2023, Researcher (and lecturer) at the Institute of Migration Studies, Jigjiga university, Ethiopia
• December 2021 – April 2022, Research fellow at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Forced Migration and Refugees: Networking and Knowledge Transfer Project (FFVT), Germany
• 2018 – 2019, IDP Protection Specialist at Danish Refugee Council, Ethiopia
• 2017 – 2018, Child protection officer at UNICEF, Ethiopia

Journal Articles

• Ikanda, Fred N., Muhumad, Abdirahmen A. & Kuhnt, Jana (2025) Refugee securitization and the challenges of formal integration: case of Somali refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia, Comparative Migration Studies 13(5), doi: 10.1186/s40878-024-00419-7. 
• Muhumad, Abdirahman A., & Thompson, Daniel K. (2024) Decentralization and diaspora capture: transnationalism, autocracy, and hybrid power in federal Ethiopia, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 51(11), 3020–3039, doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2024.2432448. 
• Agblorti, Samuel K. M., Getachew, Abis, Kuhnt, Jana, & Muhumad, Abdirahman A. (2024) Context matters: the implications of the mode of service provision for structural and relational integration of refugees in Ghana and ethiopia, Journal of Refugee Studies 37(1), 134-156, doi: 10.1093/jrs/fead080. 
• Muhumad, Abdirahman A., & Jaji, Rose (2023) Somali Refugees, Informality, and Self-initiative at Local Integration in Ethiopia and Kenya, Journal on Migration and Human Security 11(1), 75-88, doi: 10.1177/23315024231156390. 
• Muhumad, Abdirahman A. (2019). Impediments to Civil Registration: The case of Somali Regional State in Ethiopia, Journal of Social Policy Conferences (77), 287-306, doi: 10.26650/jspc.2019.77.0020. 

Correspondence

• Bangura, Ibrahim, Chakraborty, Ananya, Garcia-Hernandez, Ana, Kaplan, Lennart, Kuhnt, Jana, Muhumad, Abdirahman A., Steinert, Janina, & Tellez, Dayana (2022) Ethical failures in global health research: violations of Sustainable Development Goal 8, decent work for all, The Lancet Global Health, 10(5), e619, doi: 10.1016/s2214-109x(22)00077-8.

Contributions to edited collections

• Muhumad, Abdirahman A., Grävingholt, Jörn & Flaig, Merliln (2023) Äthiopien, In: Jochen Oltmer, Marcel Berlinghoff, Franck Düvell, Ulrike Krause, Andreas Pott (Eds.), Report Globale Flucht 2023, 163-173, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer. ISBN: 978-3-596-70890-1

Research reports and papers

• Muhumad, Abdirahman A. (2025) Aid cuts and the diaspora: strengthening partnerships to bridge the gap, Policy Brief (23/2025), German Institute of Development and Sustainability, doi: 10.23661/ipb23.2025.
• Muhumad, Abdirahman A., Fadal, Mohamed, Hussein, Maissoun, Iyer, Padmini, & Brain Louisa (2022) Bridging the gap: environmental change, mobility and policy in Ethiopia’s Somali Region and Somaliland, EU Trust Fund for Africa (Horn of Africa Window) Research and Evidence Facility. www.blogs.soas.ac.uk/ref-hornresearch/files/2023/02/bridging-the-gap.pdf. 
• Muhumed, Abdirahman A., Stites, Elizabeth, Alexion, Elizabeth & Burns, Delia (2021) Livelihood Components of Durable Solutions for IDPs: Assessment of three cases in Somali Region, Ethiopia. Boston, MA: Feinstein International Center, Tufts University. www.fic.tufts.edu/publication-item/livelihood-components-of-durable-solutions-for-idps/.
• Stites, Elizabeth & Muhumed, Abdirahman A. (2021) Policy brief: livelihoods component of durable solutions for IDPs in Ethiopia, Boston MA: Feinstein International Center, Tufts University. www.fic.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/FIC-PolicyBrief-11.19.21.pdf. 
• Binkert, Eva, Flaig, Merlin, Frucht, Lukas, Grävingholt, Jörn, König, Jannis, Kuhnt, Jana, Lendle, Philipp, Muhumad, Abdirahman A. & Potinus, Katharina (2021) Local governments and sustainable integration of refugees in Ethiopia, Discussion Paper (21/2021), German Development Institute, doi:10.23661/dp21.2021.

Blog posts and analysis

• Abdirahman A., Mohamed Fadal & Hussien Mohamed, (2022, August 3). Closing the environment-migration gap in climate policies and programs in the Horn of Africa. Research and Evidence Facility. www.blogs.soas.ac.uk/ref-hornresearch/2022/08/03/closing-the-environment-migration-in-climate-policy-and-programmes/. 
• Abdirahman A. (2021, 11 June). New faces, old problems: reforms, clans and parties in Ethiopia’s Somali region. Ethiopia Insight 11. www.ethiopia-insight.com/2021/06/11/new-faces-old-problems-reforms-clans-and-parties-in-ethiopias-somali-region/.
• Abdirahman A. (2020, August 7). Impacts of Covid-19 on forced migrants in the Somali region. Addis Standard. www.addisstandard.com/analysis-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-somali-region-the-case-of-forced-migrants/

Migrants’ remittances, that is, the money sent by migrants to their relatives, friends, and families in places of origin, have been extensively studied in the last decades by policy makers, practitioners, and researchers. Remittances have been viewed as a crucial lifeline and an important resource for poverty reduction in migrant-origin countries. Remittances have also been linked to violent conflicts at places of origin. My dissertation aims to investigate the case of the Ethiopian-Somali diaspora, an ethnic Somalis who originated from Ethiopia, specifically from the Eastern Ethiopian region called the Somali Regional State (SRS), and the role that remittances play as informal social protection for their relatives and friends in place of origin. 

Given the high levels of income fluctuation experienced by most households in developing countries and the low capacities of governments to provide functional social protection to all members, the significance of informal social protection mechanisms in these countries cannot be underestimated. Due to their vulnerability to economic and natural disasters and despite the limited capacity and resources of the government, households in poor areas like the Somali region need to have access to social protection mechanisms that provide appropriate welfare levels. The study uses a qualitative approach to examine the role that remittances play as an informal social protection for migrant's families in absence (or meagre availability) of formal social protection mechanisms. This study uses Grounded Theory Methodology as the basis for the research design. To explore this issue, a multi-sited (unliked) sample (Fauser, 2018) of remittance recipients in the Somali region and senders in selected Western countries will be selected using a mix of snowball and purposive sampling.