This book has its roots in an International Leverhulme Network Grant on External Border Control (IN-2013–041) that pulled together three research groups from Oxford, Oslo and Monash Universities. Over a three-year period, scholars from these three institutions participated in a variety of online and real-world activities. The chapters in this book offer a glimpse into the range and vitality of the work conducted in each institution. In their focus on methodological strategies and research experiences, they illuminate the messiness of research and invite the reader to reflect on some of the complexities of researching borders and migration control within criminology and criminal justice. From the challenges of gaining and maintaining research access to heartfelt explorations of the emotional burdens of working in this field, the chapters draw in the reader with their honest and open style. It is not common to admit to difficulties and challenges in research. Notwithstanding considerable debate by feminists and critical race scholars about positionality and reflexivity, the pressures of academic life continue to demand that ideas are presented as though they flow effortlessly; research findings stand alone – the process itself is glossed over. In such an approach to knowledge, not only is the labour of producing it diminished, but its political and ethical nature is denied.