Dr Meloni's research focuses on contemporary processes of migration and social exclusion. She is particularly interested in the interface between migration, age, race, and policy, and in the impact of legal status on the experiences of belonging and access to social services of migrants.

She has a background in anthropology and over 15 years of experience conducting ethnographic research in migration contexts. She is currently leading a collaborative pilot project that examines the extent and impact of data-sharing practices used for immigration enforcement in healthcare, education and policing.

In Canada, she examined the influence of undocumented status on young people’s social belonging and access to education. She also conducted participatory research with unaccompanied young people in the UK, as part of the project “Becoming Adult: Conceptions of futures and wellbeing among migrant young people in the UK,” funded by ESRC.