WELCOME to our first quarterly newsletter of 2020, keeping you up-to-date on our migration activities, events, and publications at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. | ||
NEWS FROM OUR NETWORKS |
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Migration Management and the Migration-Development Nexus (MIGNEX) MIGNEX is a five-year research project (2018–2023) with the core ambition of creating new knowledge on migration, development and policy. MIGNEX is the largest-ever European-funded research project on migration, involving researchers from nine institutions in Europe, Africa and Asia. UNU-MERIT and the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University are part of the consortium led by Prof. Jørgen Carling at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in Norway. Stay updated with MIGNEX news by signing up for the MIGNEX newsletter here. From 26-28 November 2019, project team members gathered in Maastricht for the 2019 MIGNEX consortium meeting. Sessions focused on a summary of the first year and a preview of the second year. Besides selecting 25 research areas in 10 countries in Asia and Africa, consortium members discussed research design and strategies for conducting fieldwork. A recap of the meeting including short video interviews is available via this link. |
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Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross-border cooperation and Mobility (ITEM) The Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross-border cooperation and Mobility (ITEM) is an expertise centre at the convergence of research, counselling, knowledge exchange, and training activities in the domain of cross-border mobility and cooperation. Complementary to the Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE), ITEM conducts interdisciplinary research within the scope of cross-border Euregional mobility and cooperation issues, focusing on practical solutions for these. On 13 December 2019, the Province of Limburg in the Netherlands confirmed that it will support ITEM with a grant of 3 million euros over the next five years. According to the province, the institute contributes to the economic strengthening of Limburg and a better business climate in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. "ITEM has […] gained a place in the field of cross-border mobility. Our work is appreciated at local level, but also in The Hague and Brussels," said ITEM Director Prof. Hildegard Schneider. Read more about how ITEM does this in an interview with ITEM Director Prof. Anouk Bollen. |
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ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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New Team Members: Dr. Sonja Fransen, Nava Hinrichs and Soha Youssef The Migration and Development research group at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance welcomes new team members. As of January 2020, Research Fellow Dr. Sonja Fransen will lead several research projects at UNU-MERIT, with a focus on (forced) migration and development. She brings the MISTY (Migration, Transformation and Sustainability) project with her to UNU-MERIT. MISTY aims to provide theoretical and methodological innovations on the links between migration and sustainability. Dr. Fransen is one of the principal investigators in this three-year research project financed by NORFACE and the Belmont Forum, and led by Exeter University. On 1 November 2019, Nava Hinrichs joined the group as Head of Executive Education and Capacity Building in Migration. She will run various training and capacity building programmes, including the Migration Management Diploma Programme (MMDP) for migration professionals. After graduating in August 2019 from UNU-MERIT’s Master’s programme in Public Policy and Human Development with a specialisation in Migration Studies, researcher Soha Youssef is now contributing to several projects. |
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NEW PROJECTS |
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Second Phase of IOM's Connecting Diaspora for Development Project On 6 September, Dr. Katie Kuschminder, Charlotte Mueller and Soha Youssef participated in the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) inception meeting about the second phase of its Connecting Diaspora for Development (CD4D2) project in The Hague. From 2016 to 2019, UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance implemented an evaluation of the first phase of CD4D. In December 2019, the School was commissioned to also conduct the evaluation of the second phase of the project. During the meeting, Dr. Katie Kuschminder and Charlotte Mueller presented the main findings of the 3.5-year evaluation of the first phase and led a workshop for IOM staff on cooperation modalities for the evaluation of CD4D2. Both phases of the project link diaspora members with Dutch residency to institutions in their countries of origin to facilitate capacity development through knowledge transfer. This will take place in phase 2 through short-term assignments with organisations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and Somalia. The project is funded by the Dutch Ministry of |
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Worldwide Universities Network Research Development Fund grants Dr. Katie Kuschminder has won a Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) Research Development Fund grant to lead an interdisciplinary international research group on ‘Gendering Migration: Women and Girls Experiences of Gender-based discrimination, abuse and violence across migratory stages’. The research team includes partners from the University of Bristol, the University of Cape Town, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the National Cheng Kung University and The University of Western Australia. Dr. Ortrun Merkle will contribute to this project which aims to bring together an interdisciplinary global platform to advance research and approaches to women’s migration flows, patterns, experiences and vulnerabilities. Dr. Kuschminder will also participate in a second WUN Research Development Fund grant led by Prof. Andreas Neef on ‘Climate-Induced Migration: Global Scope, Regional Impacts and National Policy Frameworks.’ This project will contribute to a better understanding of when, where, how and at what scale climate-induced migration takes place in different world regions. |
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GIZ Project: Labour Migration Governance and Labour Mobility in North Africa UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance were recently commissioned by the German Development Cooperation Office (GIZ) to conduct support research for the project ‘Towards a Holistic Approach to Labour Migration Governance and Labour Mobility in North Africa’ (THAMM). THAMM is co-financed by the European Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and GIZ. The overall objective of the programme is to foster mutually beneficial legal migration and mobility between Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia on the one hand and Europe, especially Germany, on the other. Over the next three years, Prof. Melissa Siegel, Dr. Katrin Marchand, Dr. Lisa Andersson and Soha Youssef will support the project implementation through research on the development impacts of labour migration from the three North African countries to Germany. |
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Maastricht Working on Europe Research Agenda Dr. Katie Kuschminder and Talitha Dubow have received a grant from the Maastricht Working on Europe (MWoE) research agenda to develop a policy brief on refugees and other migrants’ decisions to stay in Turkey or move onwards, a critical topic in the EU since 2015. A central goal of the EU-Turkey statement and the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey providing additional funding to support refugees was to reduce onward movement of refugees and other migrants from Turkey. This policy brief compares two different datasets, from 2015 and 2019, to explore how refugees and other migrants’ decision-making process has/has not changed in Turkey. The findings demonstrate that conditions for refugees and other migrants have deteriorated in Turkey from 2015-2019, despite the large-scale investment in the Facility for Refugees. Due to the barriers to moving onwards from Turkey, there is a large population of refugees in Turkey who still aspire to migrate onwards, but lack the capabilities to do so, and can therefore be considered as a ‘stuck’ population. This policy brief aims to further examine the implications of this situation. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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1st Health and Migration Collaborative Community Symposium On 3 April 2020, the first symposium of the Health and Migration Collaborative Community will take place. The symposium, organised by UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance in collaboration with the Maastricht Centre for Global Health and the Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development, will highlight the complex intersections between migration and health through discussions around both research and practice. The symposium will bring together academics, including students and early career researchers, health professionals, policymakers and representatives of civil society to discuss issues related to migrant health. The event will also mark the official launch of the Health and Migration Collaborative Community website, a growing resource portal that provides short analytical reviews and other support materials for academics, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders interested in issues related to migration and health. |
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Prof. Melissa Siegel to give UM Star Lecture in Brussels On 6 February 2020, the sixth edition of the UM Star Lectures will take place simultaneously in 14 cities across five countries. The series is organised for alumni and students and aims at (re)connecting with UM alumni as well as sharing academic insights and experiences. Prof. Melissa Siegel will give a lecture on ‘Myths and misconceptions around migration’ at the UM Campus in Brussels. During the lecture, Prof. Siegel will discuss some of the most common myths, misconceptions and realities in the area of migration, including where policy often goes wrong. Please find more information about the lecture and a link to register here. |
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Migration Seminars In conjunction with the Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE), the Migration and Development research theme 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 institute and to invite external speakers to share their work. Within this academic year, we have so far hosted three speakers: Marijn Clevers who spoke about EU asylum policy, Raphael Kamp who presented his research on Syrian Unaccompanied Minors’ Journeys to Germany and Initial Experiences Upon Arrival and Dr. Raffaella Greco Tonegutti who gave a presentation of her study about ‘homing’ in the context of asylum seekers in reception centres in Belgium. In February, we will welcome two guest speakers: Prof. Maarten Vink from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University and Stephan Simon from the University of Bamberg. More information about past and future events is available here. To join our mailing list and receive invitations to future seminars, or to express interest in delivering a seminar, please email seminar coordinator Veronika Georgieva. |
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PAST EVENTS |
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OSCE Event: Advancing Human Capital Development through Migration and Innovation To mark International Migrants Day on 18 December 2019, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), organised an event in Vienna on ‘Advancing Human Capital Development through Migration and Innovation’. Nava Hinrichs was invited to participate in a panel discussion about ‘Harnessing innovation to promote prosperous, diverse and inclusive societies’. The event brought together representatives from international organisations, European Commission officials, policymakers, academics and practitioners. You can find more information about the event and the link between migration and innovation here. |
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First Annual Meeting of the UN Network on Migration On 11 December 2019, Prof. Melissa Siegel travelled to Geneva to represent UNU-MERIT at the First Annual Meeting of the UN Network on Migration. Participants reviewed the network’s progress and working arrangements and explored ways to further enhance collaboration. The meeting was also used to identify emerging challenges and to take decisions on the next steps regarding the network’s work plan and thematic priorities. The UN Network on Migration was established to ensure effective, timely and coordinated system-wide support to UN Member States on migration as they respond to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). By developing a more coherent approach to migration governance and better harnessing its contribution to development, the UN system through the network commits to making a tangible difference to enhancing cooperation on international migration in all its dimensions. |
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Kenya Post Graduate Diploma Programme in Migration Studies During the past months, several members of the Migration and Development research group, including Dr. Lisa Andersson, Nora Ragab, Eleni Diker and Zoë Ogahara, travelled to Kenya to teach in the second semester of the Post Graduate Diploma Programme in Migration Studies for the Kenyan Department of Immigration Service. In addition, Prof. Melissa Siegel and Dr. Katrin Marchand gave a capacity-building course for teachers in the programme. The nine-month programme is funded by the German Development Cooperation Office (GIZ) through the Better Migration Management (BMM) Programme in cooperation with UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance in conjunction with the University of Nairobi. Following the success of the programme, the organisers are excited to welcome the second cohort of participants in January 2020. |
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Expert Roundtable in Geneva Prof Ronald Skeldon and Dr. Katie Kuschminder were invited by the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Policy Hub and IOM’s Director General, H.E. António Vitorino to participate in an expert roundtable in Geneva entitled ‘Understanding yesterday, making sense of today and predicting tomorrow - what can migration data do for policymakers?’. Prof. Skeldon provided opening remarks at the session regarding the role of data in migration today. The core objective of the workshop was to collect migration data experts’ views on how migration data could be better captured and used to inform effective migration policies and good migration governance. Recognising that data is central to providing an evidence-base for migration and is key to the achievement of the Global Compact on Migration, this workshop facilitated critical discussions of what types of data are needed and how they can best be collected and utilised. |
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REMINDER Webinar: Understanding possibilities and limitations of data on intra-EU migration In the framework of the REMINDER H2020 project, Prof. Melissa Siegel and Dr. Katrin Marchand held a webinar about Understanding possibilities and limitations of data on intra-EU migration on 19 November 2019. Based on the outcomes of work package 2 of the REMINDER project, Prof. Siegel and Dr. Marchand presented the main findings on patterns and dynamics of intra-EU migration, discussed opportunities and limitations of existing data sources and introduced a “database of databases” about statistical sources on intra-EU mobility and its functionalities to potential users. The database gives insights into what available statistics can and cannot tell us about the scale and characteristics of EU mobility, while enabling comparisons of different mobility metrics across Member States. You can access more information and related work via this link. The webinar can be watched here. |
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DRC Conference: Diaspora Support to Durable Solutions: Afghans in Europe On 15 November 2019, Prof. Melissa Siegel and researcher Nasrat Sayed participated in the conference ‘Diaspora Support to Durable Solutions: Afghans in Europe’ hosted by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in Copenhagen. The conference was attended by 93 participants from 11 European countries and Afghanistan. Prof. Siegel presented the results of the study ‘Afghan Diaspora in Europe: Mapping engagement in Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom’. The research was commissioned by the DRC and carried out by Prof. Siegel, Dr. Biljana Meshkovska, Nasrat Sayed, Katharina Koch, Iman Rajabzadeh, and Carole Wenger. The objectives of the study were to provide a mapping and overview of Afghan Diaspora Organisations (ADOs) in each of the four focus countries; a capacity and needs assessment of the ADOs; and develop recommendations for further ADOs engagement. The report is based on desk research, four ADO consultation meetings and 103 interviews conducted with Afghan diaspora representatives (members of ADOs and individuals), and other relevant stakeholders. |
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IOM Lunchtime Seminar with Professor Ronald Skeldon During a Migration Research @ Lunchtime Seminar at the Headquarters of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva on 11 November 2019, Prof. Ronald Skeldon gave a presentation on ‘International Migration, Internal Migration Mobility and Urbanization’. The seminar series is organised by the IOM Migration Research Division. Through these seminars, IOM aims to further glean from rigorous academic research on migration to inform its work, while at the same time strengthening collaboration between the organisation and migration researchers. In his talk, Prof. Skeldon extended his ideas originally published in an IOM Migration Research Series paper entitled ‘International Migration, Internal Migration, Mobility and Urbanization: Towards More Integrated Approaches’ and further explored why migration remains one of the most problematic of the population variables. Watch the full presentation here. |
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TRAINING PROGRAMMES |
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Master of Science in Public Policy and Human Development The Master of Science in Public Policy and Human Development programme is a double-degree programme of University Nations University institute UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University. The programme provides students with a variety of skills, tools and knowledge which enables them to work as policy designers and policy analysts in public and private institutions. The programme offers seven different specialisations including Migration Studies. You can find a portrait of our former student Soha Youssef and her experiences specialising in Migration Studies here. The application deadline for our next intake starting in September 2020 is 15 June for non EU-students and 15 July for EU students. You can find more information on our webpage. This short video film will give you a glimpse into what it is like to study at UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University from a student’s perspective. |
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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. Watch introduction videos for the course on our YouTube channel (internal migration/ forced migration). For further information, please contact Dr. Katrin Marchand. |
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NEW PUBLICATIONS |
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Meshkovska, Biljana, Nasrat Sayed, Katharina Koch, Iman Rajabzadeh, Carole Wenger & Melissa Siegel, 2019, Afghan Diaspora in Europe: Mapping engagement in Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, Study commissioned by Danish Refugee Council, More information Dubow, Talitha, Sarah Roeder, Katrin Marchand & Melissa Siegel, 2019, Evidence of the Determinants of Migration in the EU, H2020 REMINDER Working Paper, More information Kuschminder, Katherine, Talitha Dubow, Ahmet Icduygu, Aysen Ustubici, Eda Kiriscioglu, Godfried Engbersen & Olga Mitrovic, Nov 2019, Decision Making on the Balkan Route and the EU-Turkey Statement, WODC Report, More information Siegel, Melissa, Nov 2019, Throwing development money at the ‘migration problem’ – is it completely misguided?, MIGNEX Insight, More information Bilgili, Özge, Louis Volante, Don A. Klinger & Melissa Siegel, 2019, Confronting the challenge of immigrant and refugee student underachievement: Policies and practices from Canada, New Zealand and the European Union, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2019-048 Marchand, Katrin, Veronika Fajth & Melissa Siegel, 2019, Relevant Data to Understand Migration in the EU, REMINDER Main Report, More information Fajth, Veronika, Özge Bilgili, Craig Loschmann & Melissa Siegel, 2019, How do refugees affect social life in host communities? The case of Congolese refugees in Rwanda, Comparative Migration Studies, 7, More information Kuschminder, Katherine & Anna Triandafyllidou, Oct 2019, Explainer and Video Abstract, More information Kuschminder, Katherine & Anna Triandafyllidou, 2019, Smuggling, Trafficking, and Extortion: New Conceptual and Policy Challenges on the Libyan Route to Europe, Antipode, More information Mueller, Charlotte, Oct 2019, , Migrant Knowledge - Writing knowledge into the history of migration and migration into the history of knowledge. A blog curated by GHI Washington Pacific Regional Office Berkeley, More information Andersson, Lisa & Melissa Siegel, Oct 2019, Empirical assessments of the development impacts of migration, Mignex background paper, More information Siegel, Melissa, Oct 2019, UNU-MERIT blog series, More information Alem, Yonas & Lisa Andersson (eds.), 2019, International Remittances and Private Interhousehold Transfers: Exploring the Links, The European Journal of Development Research, 31, More information |
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Photo Credits: H. Pijpers, S. Brodin, M. Siegel, K. Kuschminder, N. Hinrichs, [16] Jamil Ghafuri, [20] Flickr: Albertogp123 | ||
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