Owen holds a BSc Degree in Sociology, MSc in Sociology and Social Anthropology and MPhil Applied Social Sciences as well as a recently awarded Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) at the University of Zimbabwe. For his DPhil he was studying the security challenges that of irregular informal settlement-based Zimbabwean migrants often encounter and grapple with in urban South Africa. He is a research fellow in the Andrew Mellon and African Research Universities Alliance project Mobility and Sociality in Africa’s Emerging Urban, a cohort of PhD candidates drawn from across Africa to study themes in of mobility in Africa’s emerging urban. As a budding academic Owen has a keen interest in collaborative cross-disciplinary research and publication. He has previously researched on issues of informality, institutional change and natural resources management as well as migration and remittances in the southern districts of Zimbabwe