WELCOME to our second quarterly newsletter of 2016, keeping you up-to-date on our migration activities, events, and publications at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. | ||
ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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UNU Migration Network On 16 June, the 8th Coordination Meeting of the UNU Migration Network was organised in Maastricht. The meeting brought together focal points from the different UNU institutes working on migration issues with the aim of fostering further collaboration within the UNU on migration issues. Next to the coordination meeting, two seminars were organised. The first seminar, on 15 June, co-presented by Dr. Michaella Vanore (UNU-MERIT) and Dr. Ana Mosneaga (UNU- IAS), considered the elderly in the context of displacement based on a co-authored paper recently published in Forced Migration Review. The second, presented by Dr. Valeria Bello (UNU-GCM), focused on Prejudice and the Securitization of Migration as Global Security Threats, based on the contents of her new book. |
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Call for Papers: Forced Migration, Enterprise, and Development Small Business Economics Journal, a leading journal in the field of entrepreneurship has issued a Call for Papers for a Special Issue on Forced Migration, Enterprise and Development. The special issue will be edited by Sameeksha Desai (Indiana University), Wim Naudé (Maastricht School of Management and Maastricht University/UNU-MERIT) and Nora Stel (Maastricht School of Management and Utrecht University). Conceptual, qualitative, and empirical papers which address any dimension of forced migration and entrepreneurship are welcome. We also encourage submissions about the impact of migration on entrepreneurial activity both in countries of destination and in countries of origin affected by conflict and natural disasters. For more information, click here. |
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NEW PROJECTS |
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Policy and Institutional Coherence for Migration and Development UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance have signed a new contract with the World Bank’s Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD) to continue developing a dashboard of indicators that can be applied by policymakers to assess the levels of coherence of their migration and migration-relevant policies. UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance will now work in close cooperation with the Technical Working Group on Policy and Institutional Coherence for Migration and Development (co-chaired by UNDP and OECD) as well as other research partners from Columbia University to test the dashboard of indicators in a number of different countries. The results of the pilot will be presented at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Bangladesh in December. For more information, please contact Elaine McGregor. |
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Integration Policy in Turkey In light of increasing immigration flows, primarily from Syria, the issue of harmonisation (integration) has gained considerable attention in Turkey. Turkey is currently developing its first comprehensive set of integration policies covering a broad range of policy areas such as labour, education, health, and social policies. Within this context, Dr. Özge Bilgili will engage with the IOM-led Project on Supporting Turkey in Development of National Harmonization (Integration) Policy through a set of academic and policy-oriented research activities building on her previous experience as an analyst for MIPEX. She will select and analyse good practices and tools from other countries to inform Turkey about potential examples that can benefit Turkey. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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PhD Course: New Perspectives on Transnational Living Between 19 and 21 October 2016, a PhD course on transnationalism will be organised by the Standing Committee on Interactions of Migrant Integration and Transnationalism in Europe (IMITE) of the International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe (IMISCOE) network. Jointly financed by the IMISCOE Board of Directors and MACIMIDE, the course will be implemented by IMITE in partnership with FASoS and UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance, both of Maastricht University. During the three days, two main themes will be covered: (1) transnational practices versus transnational living; and (2) transnationalism beyond migrants. A formal announcement and call for papers will be issued on 1 May 2016. For more information, you may contact Dr. Özge Bilgili.
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Migration Seminars In conjunction with MACIMIDE, the Migration and Development research group at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance organises a series of migration-related seminars to provide a platform to discuss the research output of researchers at the School and to invite external speakers to share their work. In the 2015/16 academic year, we hosted 14 academics and practitioners from the migration and development field. These speakers addressed a range of topics within the migration thematic area, including topics such as citizenship premiums, entrepreneurship, populism and migration policy, and unaccompanied children in South and Central America. Many of these seminars have been recorded and are available on our YouTube channel. The series will start again in September 2016. To join our mailing list and receive invitations to future seminars, or to express interest in delivering a seminar, please email Dr. Michaella Vanore. |
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PAST EVENTS |
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The Sustainable Development Goals and Migration On 27 June, Prof. Dr. Hein de Haas, Dr. Simona Vezzoli and Dr. Sonja Fransen organised a panel discussion as part of the ‘Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals’ conference at the University of Amsterdam. The panel included Prof. Dr. Ronald Skeldon, Prof. Dr. Oliver Bakewell (IMI, Oxford), Dr. Ingrid Boas, (Wageningen University), and Bob van Dillen (Cordaid). The discussion focused largely on the limitations of the way in which the migration and development relationship has been understood in the context of the SDGs while acknowledging that some progress has been made in broadening the concept of development to be inclusive and in acknowledging migrants as a group of interest across the goals. Ronald Skeldon repeated an earlier call for a target on reducing the fear that migration causes by 2030. |
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PhD Defence: Andrea Milan On 24 June, GPAC2 fellow, Andrea Milan successfully defended his PhD dissertation entitled ‘Rural livelihoods, location and vulnerable environments: Approaches to migration in mountain areas of Latin America’. Focusing specifically on rainfall variability, food availability, and livelihood security in the rural mountainous Highlands of Guatemala and Peru, Andrea highlighted a number of interesting findings. First, environmental change will increasingly impact migration in the future through its interrelationship with other demographic, economic, political and social factors, especially in the context of rising national inequalities. While this trend is often framed as failed environmental change adaptation, it can be part of robust and successful livelihood risk management strategies. |
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Bride Trafficking Unveiled with Laura Barry On 14 June, UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance organised a documentary screening and Q&A session with Laura Barry, an Irish solicitor and journalist working to combat human trafficking. The documentary investigates the global bride trafficking industry, focusing on Thai brides migrating to the UK and Ireland, and finding that women become commodities for profit and sex. Following the documentary, the audience engaged in a discussion with Ms. Barry. The discussion revolved around ways to better integrate brides into the host society (i.e. language, integration and information courses) without inadvertently causing discrimination. Laura Barry visited Maastricht to support the ongoing research project “Mail-Order Brides in Europe” commissioned by the European Parliament. |
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The Role of Maastricht University in the Current Refugee Crisis On 6 June, PhD fellow, Ayla Bonfiglio, participated in a debate organised by Maastricht University's Honours+ Programme on what could (or should) Maastricht University's role be in the current refugee crisis. The debate was moderated by Prof. Dr. Harm Hospers, Vice Rector for Education. During the debate, Ayla argued that UM has a necessary and multifaceted role to play. First, it has the responsibility to teach its students and its community about refugee issues. Second, the university must find ways to enrol refugees as students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. This may involve developing bridging programmes to help would-be students meet the standards of admission. Third, it should integrate qualified refugees as researchers and lecturers at the university, who would contribute their diverse skills and experiences and no doubt enhance the learning environment at Maastricht University. |
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Thematic meeting on return, readmission and reintegration (Rabat Process) Between 31 May and 1 June, Dr. Özge Bilgili attended the Thematic Meeting on Return, Readmission and Reintegration organised by ICMPD as part of the Rabat Process. In her presentation on durable return and reintegration, she sought to answer the underlying question of ‘how can policy enable return or promote sustainable return and reintegration?’. Based on the UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance project ‘The Comparative Research on Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration’ Özge highlighted the importance of defining and systematically measuring sustainable return and identifying the factors that determine successful reintegration. |
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DAMR Spring 2016 Event: (Un)controlled migration: Border control and its implications In the context of new patterns of migration and continuing refugee flows towards Europe, policies of control are increasingly proposed and implemented in Europe and beyond. On 27 May, the Dutch Association for Migration Research (DAMR) organised an event on ‘(Un)controlled Migration: Border Control and its Implications’ in cooperation with the WODC at the Ministry of Security and Justice in the Hague. The meeting chaired by Dr. Özge Bilgili provided an opportunity for constructive discussion between researchers and policymakers. |
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Panel Discussion on Refugees in the Netherlands On 21 April, several staff from UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance participated in a panel discussion hosted by Amnesty International Maastricht Students (AIMS) association on ‘Refugees and Working in the Netherlands.’ At this event, panelists discussed the Dutch asylum system and how it could/should better facilitate work placements among asylum seekers. Panelists from UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance included Prof. Dr. Khalid Koser, Dr. Thomas Ziesemer, Dr. Serdar Turkeli, and Dr. Michaella Vanore. |
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TRAINING PROGRAMMES |
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Migration Management Diploma Programme: Applications Open On 24 June, we bade farewell to our fourth cohort of students from the Migration Management Diploma Programme (MMDP) during an emotional closing ceremony. After three months of intensive training on different aspects of migration policymaking, the students returned to their respective countries equipped with new knowledge and insights as well as an extensive network of contacts. The MMDP trains government officials with three or more years of working experience on a migration management topic and is supported by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). If you are interested in receiving further information about the programme, please email or visit our website. |
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Online Courses For those who are interested but do not have the time to take a full-time course in migration studies, UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance offer a number of specially designed online courses to suit the needs of busy professionals. We currently offer three courses that can be started at any time: 1) Introduction to Migration Studies; 2) Migration and Remittance Effects; and 3) Comparative Migration Policy. Keep an eye on our website for the launch of a new online course in 2016 on Internal Migration by Prof. Ronald Skeldon and on Forced Migration later in the year. Watch introduction videos for the course on our YouTube channel (internal migration/ forced migration). For further information please contact Katrin Marchand. |
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NEW PUBLICATIONS |
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Bilgili, Özge & Katrin Marchand, 2016, Domain 3: Protection and Migration, Thematic Input Paper - Agadir Regional Thematic Exchange Meeting. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation: Bern, Switzerland, More information Hercog, Metka & Mindel van de Laar, 2016, Motivations and Constraints of Moving Abroad for Indian Students, Int. Migration & Integration, DOI 10.1007/s12134-016-0499-4, More information Cebotari, Victor, Valentina Mazzucato & Melissa Siegel, 2016, Child development and migrant transnationalism: the health of children who stay behind in Ghana and Nigeria, Journal of Development Studies, DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2016.1187723, More information Meshkovska, Biljana, Nikola Mickovski, Arjan E. R. Bos & Melissa Siegel, 2016, Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation in Europe: Prosecution, trials and their impact, Anti-Trafficking Review, issue 6, 2016, pp. 71–90 Milan, Andrea, 2016, Rural livelihoods, location and vulnerable environments: Approaches to migration in mountain areas of Latin America, PhD dissertation Maastricht University, More information Waidler, Jennifer, Jessica Sabine Hagen-Zanker, Franziska Gassmann & Melissa Siegel, 2016, Do remittances and social assistance have different impacts on expenditure patterns of recipient households? The Moldovan Case, Migration and Development, DOI:10.1080/21632324.2016.1159887, More information Mahé, Clotilde & Wim Naudé, 2016, Migration, occupation and education: Evidence from Ghana, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2016-018 |
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Photo Credits: H. Pijpers, S. Brodin, E. McGregor, O. Bilgili, Joey Roberts, Flickr: Albertogp123 |
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