Check out the "Migration Talks" podcast and their recent episode on the impact of migration narratives on EU policymaking, just in time before the EP elections this month.

In this episode, the "Migration Talks" team explores how migration narratives shape the upcoming European elections and influence policymaking in Brussels. These narratives are central to discussions and policies across Europe, especially as far-right parties amplify them as security threats for electoral gains. What are the prevailing migration narratives within the EU, and how do they impact the policymaking processes of the European Union? These and more questions will be answered by Florian Trauner, Co-director of BIRMM and Omar Ba who is a community organizer, activist and politician. 

You will find the Migration Talks podcast here: Migration Talks: 
https://birmm.research.vub.be/migration-talks-a-podcast-by-birmm

Introducing: Migration Talks - The Impact Of Migration Narratives On EU Policymaking

“Even the market next to the station was called Warsaw Market.”

In this episode you’ll hear Louise Ryan interview Ivanna Kyliushyk about the situation of Ukrainian migrants in Poland, before and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. She talks about how NGOs and local governments have stepped forward to provide aid and the urgent need for a long-term strategy to integrate Ukrainians into the economic and political fabric of Polish society. We also hear a bit about her personal experience as a Ukrainian, migrant, and researcher in Poland.

Ivana Kyliushyk is a political scientist and researcher at the Centre for Research on Social Change and Human Mobility, also referred to as CRASH, at Kozminski University in Poland. 
Her current research is on migrant inclusion and political participation, and focuses on Ukrainian and women’s migration.  


If you enjoy the Migration Podcast, please consider liking and following us. Thank you for listening!

Ep.13 (S4): Ivana Kyliushyk speaks about Ukrainian emigration to Poland

Announcement: The deadline for submitting a paper proposal for IMISCOE’s 2025 conference has been extended to October 8. All information can be found here: https://www.imiscoe.org/events/imiscoe-events/2117-22nd-imiscoe-annual-conference 
**************
In this episode, you’ll hear Asya Pisarevaskaya’s conversation with Mathew Creighton about his recent book “Hidden Hate: The Resilience of Xenophobia.” Mathew talks about how our opinions and behaviours, for example when it comes to race and ethnicity, can vary greatly whether they are being expressed in public or not. In other words, people may have an opinion or belief, but they may show another one, through “masking”.

The research behind the book helps us understand anti-immigrant attitudes in countries including in Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and the US, and how we can go beyond a “majority vs the minority” perspective to better understand the persistent marginalization of minority groups.

Mathew Creighton is associate professor in the School of Sociology at University College Dublin. He is also the national coordinator of the European Social Survey in Ireland and the principal investigator of a Horizon Europe project, EqualStrength, which assesses prejudice in work, childcare, and housing throughout Europe.

If you enjoy the Migration Podcast, please consider “liking” and “following” us. Thank you for listening!


Ep.14 (S4): Mathew Creighton discusses the resilience of xenophobia

While we take a break from our regular programming before our fifth season – we have a special treat for you! We have the honour of offering you an episode from the fantastic podcast "Border & Belonging, a CERC Migration podcast", which is produced by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University.

The episode is about the rise of digital nomads – how do “digital nomads” disrupt definitions and theories we have about migration and the nation state? From Lisbon, to Chang Mai, to Barbados, what are the impacts of this form of human mobility? What insights do we have from research on this phenomenon?

Are you interested in hearing more Borders & Belonging episodes? This is where you can find them: https://www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/borders-and-belonging/#!accordion-1729180383471-season-3 

Follow the Borders & Belonging podcast here:
X: @cercmigration, host: @maggie_perzyna
LI: Borders & Belonging Podcast, host: Maggie Perzyna
FB: https://www.facebook.com/CERCMigrationFB
IG: @cercmigration

Please stay tuned for the Migration Podcast’s next season! We look forward to bringing you a fresh slate of interviews on the latest migration research starting in the next few months.

REPOST Borders and Belonging: The rise of digital nomads

Welcome back! You’re listening to the first episode of the 5th season of IMISCOE’s Migration Podcast. 

If you’re listening for the first time: IMISCOE is the largest European network of scholars in the area of migration and integration, with 69 member institutes and over 1400 scholars from all over the world. And this is the network’s podcast, where we hear migration researchers talk about their latest research and why it matters. 

As in the past seasons, we have an amazing team of interviewers who are migration scholars themselves. And this season, you’ll hear more episodes with them talking to 2 or more researchers who are working on similar themes, together.

The conversation you'll hear is about concepts in migration governance that are often taken for granted – but when you dig a bit deeper, or wider, like the researchers in this episode have done, it’s clear that not everyone has the same idea of what they really mean or their implications in practice. 

You’ll hear Liberty Chee speaking to Eleonora Milazzo, who has been working on what exactly “solidarity” means between European Union Member States when it comes to the asylum system. We may have a sense that so far, it’s been “failing”, but what does solidarity really mean in practice?

Ulrike Bialas also joins the conversation, to talk about her research on how age classification determines the lives of young asylum seekers in Germany. How do they experience this legal focus on age, especially when many do not actually have documents that can prove their dates of birth and may not know them, anyways. 

I also found the practical challenges of conducting their research, that both Elenora and Ulrike talk about, particularly interesting. Just a last note: both of them talk about research to do with migration governance in Europe, and both mention “the Dublin System”. In case you need a refresher: the Dublin System is made up of several procedures that determine responsibility for assessing asylum claims in EU Member States.  

Further readings:
Bialas, Ulrike. 2023. Forever 17: Coming of Age in the German Asylum System. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Bialas, Ulrike. 2023. "Ambiguous Ages, Ambivalent Youths: How Asylum Seekers in Germany Navigate Age Categorization." Migration Politics 2, no. 1: 003.

Bialas, Ulrike. 2024. "Who is a minor? Age assessments of refugees in Germany and the classificatory multiplicity of the state." Ethnic and Racial Studies: 1-23.

Bialas, Ulrike, Johanna M. Lukate, and Steven Vertovec. 2024. "Contested categories in the context of international migration: introduction to the special issue." Ethnic and Racial Studies: 1-23.

Milazzo, E. (2024). Refugee Protection and Solidarity. The Duties of EU Member States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/refugee-protection-and-solidarity-9780192885715?cc=be&lang=en&# 


Also have a look at the Migration Research to Policy Co-Lab https://migrationresearchtopolicy.eu/  





Ep.1(S5):Dublin, solidarity and age. How do these factors matter in the EU asylum system?

It’s an exciting time for qualitative research methods these days. Migration scholars are pushing the boundaries of traditional interview techniques, with the aim to amplify the voices of marginalized groups as well as to influence policy and reach wider audiences. In this episode you’ll hear Silindile Mlilo interview two researchers who are using creative and non-traditional research methods.

Isabel Rose Soloaga will talk about the use of participatory research and film through her forthcoming documentary, Growing Up in America: Life After the Taliban. The film is a personal story following two young girls and their family, who were forced to evacuate Kabul after the Taliban rose to power in 2021. Isabel told us: “Everyone has a camera and a platform today through social media, so I think debates on how to use these tools in an ethical way, while inviting people to reach out to their new neighbors -- the key message of my film.”

Ntokozo Yingwana will discuss her use of digital story telling – which I learned is, the growing practice of everyday people using digital tools to tell their stories. In her PhD research project “Queering Sex Work and Mobility in South Africa: How does Migration and mobility Influence Genderded Sexualities in Sex Work? Duh-kozo conducted data collection through a digital storytelling workshop and WhatsApp. She also worked with two of people from her research participant group, who are sex workers, as research assistants.

Isabel Rose Soloaga is a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex School of Law, Politics and Sociology in the UK and an Independent Documentary Filmmaker

Ntokozo Yingwana is a Doctoral researcher at the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University in South Africa.


Are you interested in reading more?
Yingwana, N. (2024). Sex Work in Africa. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95352-2_83-1.  

Yingwana, N. (2022). Queering Sex Work and Mobility. Anti-Trafficking Review, 19, 66–86. https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201222195. 

Vidima, N., Tenga, R., & Yingwana, N. (2022). Reflections on the use of FPAR as a research methodology for sex worker (and key populations) research. Global Public Health, 17(10), 2604–2616. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2022.2110915. 

Life After the Taliban: 
Kabul to California: A Cinematic Exploration of New Beginnings by The Reel Truth https://videoconsortium.org/mag/thereeltruth05 

Watch our short film: 
https://vimeo.com/801454823?share=copy 
After narrowly escaping from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in August 
2021, 21 year old Ali and his family begin a new life in Northern California. 
Growing up in America: Life After the Taliban, is an intimate documentary 
short following one family's journey of building home after war. 
Directed by Isabel Soloaga (https://www.isabelsoloaga.com)
Co-Directed by Najaf Ali Mohammady 
○ Website: https://www.lifeaftertalibandoc.com 
○ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lifeaftertalibdoc 
○ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeaftertalib_doc/ 
○ You can support Isabel's upcoming feature film by donating at 
https://bit.ly/LifeAfterTalib_Doc 






Ep2(S5) How can film and digital storytelling be used in migration research?

In this episode I talk with two researchers about the lives of migrants from Central Asia in Russia, both before, and since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is probably no surprise that this conflict is affecting migrants in Russia, and you’ll hear all about this from the guests in this episode. 
You’ll also hear a bit about the people behind the numbers, when we talk about the millions of migrants from central Asia in Russia, as well as how their lives are shaped by the formal and informal legal constraints in Russian society. Finally, we touch on some intriguing areas of research emerging as a result of the limited access to data in Russia today and that focus on new trends in Central Asian migration.
To discuss all of this, I’m joined by Rustam Urinboyev and Nodira Kholmatova.

Rustam Urinboyev is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology of Law at Lund University in Sweden. His research is on socio-legal approaches to Migration, corruption and informality (among other topics.) He is also the principal investigator of the EU-funded project “MARS: Non-Western Migration Regimes in a Global Perspective”.

Nodira Kholmatova, who works as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Political Science and the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Amsterdam. She is a sociologist and migration researcher who studies social and gender inequalities in return migration and deportation regimes as well as the impact of migration policies on migrants and their families. Her geographic focus is Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and more recently Western Balkans and Southeast Asia. 
Let’s get into it!

Info for episode description:
Rushtam: https://www.soclaw.lu.se/en/rustamjon-urinboyev

1. Urinboyev, R. (2020) Migration and Hybrid Political Regimes: Navigating the Legal Landscape in Russia. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. Available at: https://www.luminosoa.org/site/books/m/10.1525/luminos.96/.
2. Urinboyev, R. and Eraliev, S. (2022) The Political Economy of Non-Western Migration Regimes: Central Asian Migrant Workers in Russia and Turkey. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (International Political Economy Series). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99256-9 (Accessed: 20 May 2022).
3. Urinboyev, R. and Pallot, J. (2024) ‘Ethnic and religious identities in Russian penal institutions: A case study of Uzbek Transnational Muslim prisoners’, Open Research Europe, 3(122), pp. 1–35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.16142.2.
4. Eraliev, S. and Urinboyev, R. (2024) ‘“What have you done, brother Putin?”: Everyday geopolitics and Central Asian labour migration to Russia’, Central Asian Survey, 43(2), pp. 215–234. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2266519.

Nodira: https://www.uva.nl/en/profile/k/h/n.kholmatova/n.kholmatova.html 
Project webpage: https://reintegrateerc.com/nodira-kholmatova/ 
1.Kholmatova, N. (2022). Gender. Introduction: critical appraisal. In R. Isaacs (Ed.), A Critical Reader in Central Asian Studies : 40 Years of Central Asian Survey (pp. 139-143). (Central Asian Studies; Vol. 42). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003200338-8
2. Kholmatova, N. (2021). The precarity of transnational migration and the COVID-19 pandemic: addressing female return migration in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (Policy Brief of the Migration Governance and Agricultural and Rural Change (AGRUMIG) Project]. London, UK: SOAS University of London. 8p. (AGRUMIG Policy Brief Series 3)). European Union Horizon2020 work programme. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131900 
3. Kholmatova, N. (2021). Navigating contradictions : female return migration and social change in Tajikistan, Florence : European University Institute, 2021, EUI, SPS, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/72723 

Ep3(S5) Migration & Russia: Understanding the Broader Context and Impacts of the War in Ukraine

Is migrating a risk factor for one’s mental health? Well, sometimes yes, and sometimes no – it depends on the context and perspective. (Of course, “context and perspective” is the simple way of putting it. You’ll hear about some of the complexity behind this, in this episode!) 

You’ll hear Itzel Eguiluz interview Ietza Bojorquez and Sylvia Dantas about their work with migrants in Mexico and Brazil.

In their short conversation, they get to the heart of why treating mental health in multicultural contexts can be so challenging. We hear about the importance of reflexivity – and specifically how the position and cultural backgrounds of practitioners as well as migrants facing mental health difficulties should be taken into consideration. 

It turns out, that in their work trying to improve mental health support for migrants, both Ietza and Sylvia are working to provide better access to the health care for migrants in general, and they talk about why this is a necessary foundational step. 

Ietza Bojorquez is a professor-researcher at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, Mexico. She is also working on the Observatorio de Salud y Movilidad en México, and has a background in epidemiology. She works on the topics of migrant mental health, including migrants' access to healthcare and addressing mental health issues among migrants. These days her research mainly focuses on migrants in transit through Mexico and Mexican migrants deported from the United States.

Sylvia Dantas is a Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at São Paulo Federal University. She is also the vice-coordinator of the research group “Intercultural Dialogues” at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the same university. Sylvia has a PhD in social psychology, and she focuses on intercultural psychology, psychoanalysis and guidance for organizations and individuals, especially when it comes to migration, prejudice, and ethnic and cultural identities. 
 
Thank you for tuning in!

For more information on Ietza's and Sylvia's work, see below;

From Ietza Bojorquez:
Project name and website: https://observatorios.colef.mx/osymm/
1. Bojorquez-Chapela, Ietza, Leyva-Flores, René, Gomez-López, Diana, Vázquez, Esther K, Cortés-Alcalá, Ricardo (2023).  Forced migration and psychological distress among migrants in transit through Mexico. Salud Pública de México. Publicado en línea 15 de diciembre 2023. https://doi.org/10.21149/14829
2. Bojorquez Ietza, Sepúlveda Jaime, Lee Deandra, Strathdee Steffanie (2022). Interrupted transit and common mental disorders among migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 68(5):1018-1025. doi:10.1177/00207640221099419.
3. Bojorquez, Ietza, Odgers-Ortiz, Olga, Olivas-Hernández, Olga (2021). Psychosocial and mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown: A rapid qualitative study in migrant shelters at the Mexico-United States border. Salud Mental, 44(4):167-175. DOI: 10.17711/SM.0185-3325.2021.022
4. Bojorquez, I., Aguilera, R. M., Ramírez, J., Cerecero, D. & Mejía, S. (2015) Common Mental Disorders at the Time of Deportation: A Survey at the Mexico–United States Border. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 17(6):1732-1738. Publicado en línea 14 de agosto de 2014, DOI: 10.1007/s10903-014-0083-y

From Sylvia Dantas
Her new book:
Resignifying Migration and Minorities’ Cultural Contact in Brazil (May 2025), Springer:
Launch event (in Portuguese): June 9, 2025. More information here:
https://www.iea.usp.br/eventos/lancamento-resignifying-migration?fbclid=IwY2xjawKi3DVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF4S3JORkZPQXl3cmtWSWtMAR6QZ_r94cli9D_gY0Zr7Ac2TG4jIutnszLaICgSdR3VGlCciMTRw6Tjs6uvkg_aem_ZsVhM7tTDLj4MvKsoDdiJQ


Ep4(S5) Migration and Mental Health: A Look at Latin America

This episode features a conversation recorded live at the IMISCOE annual conference that was hosted in Paris-Auberville in early July.

Submit proposals for the IMISCOE’s Spring Conference in Liège next March, as well as the next annual conference – which will take place in Girona. Check below for more information!

In this episode, you’ll hear Asya Pisarevskaya speak with Andrea Pettrachin and Karolina Łukasiewicz about how cities (and specifically city governments) across Europe respond to migration.

Andrea talks mostly from the research on small and medium-sized towns and rural areas in Europe, and Karoline brings her experience from cities in Central and Eastern Europe. 
This broad view shows how cities vary greatly when it comes to their approach to migration – besides some being more “progressive”, and others being “conservative”, some cities take proactive steps on their own, going above and beyond (or sometimes contrary to) what national governments dictate. While others refuse to implement measures they are legally required do, all together.

Our guests also touch on the differences between the discourse that cities use about migration (i.e. being a very “open” vs. being a more hostile), and how that is not always aligned with what happens in practice.

For me, it was also interesting to hear how cities have shifted from a more practical approach to migration to a more political one, for better or worse. 

Finally, Karoline and Andrea also share recommended actions that cities can take if they want to have inclusive and effective responses to migration.

Andrea Pettrachin is an Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Padua. He worked on the Horizon 2020 project “WHOLE-COMM: Exploring the Integration of Post-2014 Migrants in Small and Medium-Sized Towns and Rural Areas from a Whole of Community Perspective”

Karolina Łukasiewicz is an Assistant Professor at the Centre of Migration Research (CMR), which is an interdisciplinary inter-faculty research unit of the University of Warsaw. She worked on the projects: “LOCMIG” - Local welfare system response to migrant poverty. Between innovations and inequality and “MigIntegrEast” - Migrant integration governance in CEE cities post 2015 

I hope you enjoy…!

Info on IMISCOE’s Spring Conference in Liège, and the next annual conference:

IMISCOE Spring Conference in Liège, Belgium (Submission deadline: September 5, 2025):
https://www.imiscoe.org/events/imiscoe-events/2393-2026-imiscoe-spring-conference
 
IMISCOE Annual Conference in Girona, Spain/Online (Submission deadline: September 25, 2025)
https://www.imiscoe.org/events/imiscoe-events/2418-23rd-imiscoe-annual-conference-2026

For more information on Karoline's and Andrea's work, see below;

From Karoline:
LOCMIG Project: https://www.migracje.uw.edu.pl/projects/local-welfare-system-response-to-migrant-poverty-between-innovations-and-inequality/
MigIntegrEast: https://www.migracje.uw.edu.pl/projects/9569/
1. Łukasiewicz K., Pachocka M. Nowosielski M. Eds. (forthcoming) Migration Governance In Central And Eastern European Cities Post-2015, IMISCOE Springer book Series.  
2. Łukasiewicz, Karolina, Ewa Cichocka, Kamil Matuszczyk, 2024, A missed opportunity: Local welfare systems' responses to marginalized migration in the COVID-19 context, Cities. The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.104880 

From Andrea:
WHOLE COMM Project: https://whole-comm.eu/
1. Pettrachin, Andrea (2024) ‘The Multi-Layered Governance of Migration in Italy. Policy Actors, Networks, and the Shaping of the Refugee 'Crisis’’. Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN: 978-3-031-57831
2. Caponio, Tiziana and Andrea Pettrachin (2023). ‘Neither Multilevel Governance Nor Battleground. Understanding the Politics of Immigrant Integration Governance in Small European Localities’. Governance, 1-24, doi: 10.1111/gove.12833. ISSN: 1468-0491

Ep5(S5) How European Cities Respond to Migration

Today you’ll hear Liberty Chee speak with two scholars whose research focuses on musicians who have been displaced from their homelands. 

Rose Campion looks at what the music industry can teach us about migration policy. Her ethnographic research explores how forced migrants from all over the world build their careers as professional musicians in Germany. She talks about how they try to ‘make it’, and how these experiences complicate the perception that “music is a universal language that brings everyone together”.

We also have Louis Brehony, who, starting as a musician and fan, found his way to Palestinian music and the people who make this art both in the MENA region and around the world. He has now researched the topic academically for over a decade. He speaks about how concepts from Palestinian culture translate into music – and how “traditional” sounds and newer evolutions of style are marked by place and migration.

Rose Campion is a PhD student at the University of Oxford's Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (“COMPAS”) in the UK. She studies the creative and social impacts of music-making by forced migrants.

And

Louis Brehony is an activist, musician, educator, and independent scholar who is an expert on Palestinian music. He received his PhD from Kings College London and his book "Palestinian Music in Exile: Voices of resistance" is based on 10 years of fieldwork and focuses on Palestinians dispersed in the MENA region. He is also a member of the Gazelleband. 

The music at the end of the episode is the track “Salla Fina al-Lahz”, from the Gazelleband’s EP “Rihla #2”. It was composed by Sayyid Dawish and performed by Gazelleband: https://gazelleband.com/home 

Further reading provided by the interviewees:
1. Campion, Rose and Sheyda Ghavami. (2024). Kurdische Musikerinnen in Deutschland: Ein Song-und Storybook. Landesmusikrat NRW.
2. Louis Brehony, Palestinian Music in Exile: Voices of Resistance, AUC Press, 2023.
3. Ghassan Kanafani, Selected Political Writings, Pluto Press, 2024.
4. Louis Brehony, “Music and the Gaza Genocide,” Journal of Performance Studies, Summer2025.
5. Louis Brehony, “Exile Songwriters of the Palestinian Revolution (and the Problem with Sugar Man),” Arab Studies Quarterly, Winter 2023.

Louis would like to thank Reem Anbar (oud player with Gazelleband) and Tahrir Hamdi (Co-editor of Ghassan Kanafani: Selected Political Writings) for their contributions to the work he speaks about in this episode.



Ep6(S5) Making Resonance: Forced Migrants and Music Across Borders

The field of migration and mobility studies is vast and has grown exponentially over the past decades. To make sense of the movement of people, this podcast explores migration and mobility research globally. Providing a platform for migration scholars to speak about their projects, ideas and insights, The IMISCOE Migration Podcast aims to publicize what happens inside universities around the world. This is a podcast by the research community for everyone interested in knowing more about academic research on migration. 

Download or subscribe to hear about new books, or listen to one of our episodes in which we speak to scholars about ideas that changed how we think about migration. 

Team for season 5:
Production: 
Kate Dearden 

Team & Programming Coordinators: 
Milena Belloni, Roos Derrix, Mark Marvin Kadigo

Financial Administration & Engagement: 
Asya Pisarevskaya

Interviews: 
Amanda Paz Alencar, Liberty Chee, Silindile Mlilo, Itzel Eguiluz, Samanwita Paul

Introducing: Migration Talks - The Impact Of Migration Narratives On EU Policymaking

The Migration Podcast