Research
 

Dissemination

The Team will attach central importance to its dissemination strategy, targeting the academic community, students, and the migration policy community. Dissemination will be achieved through the following media:

Web-site

• At the outset of the project, the Team will establish a site containing a full description of the project goals, structure, the empirical sub-projects, and Team members. The site will be up-dated regularly to keep visitors informed of research progress, publications and events.

• Team members will be able to disseminate working papers and Policy Briefs through the already established HWWA Migration Portal (see B.2).

Publications

• The Team aims to produce an edited book, which will be a collection of contributions focusing on inter-disciplinary theoretical and methodological issues in the analysis of migrant networks, and empirical research findings. It is foreseen that a number of the contributions will be based on papers presented at the two workshops hosted by HWWA (see below). In addition, the Team Leader plans to write a separate book on the socio-political context of knowledge transfer in migration policy.

• The Team will aim to publish a number of articles in top international journals. We expect to publish at least 6 high quality articles in the course of the project, under individual and joint authorship. The aim will be to publish at least one article for, respectively, sections A. and C., and for each of the three sub-projects under B.

• In order to provide more rapid access to research findings, the Team will publish a number of working papers, as HWWA Discussion Papers. The papers will describe work in progress, or policy issues raised by the research. We will aim to produce at least 4 working papers, including one on each of the sub-projects, and one on section C.

• Given the relevance of the project for European migration policy, it is vital that our publications also target the policy community. This will be achieved through a special series of 3-5 page Policy Briefs. These will clarify the implications of our empirical and theoretical findings for European migration policy. We will aim to produce 8-10 of these Policy Briefs, targeting the widest possible audience.

Events and Teaching

• We intend to host two work-shops in the course of the project. The first will be at the beginning of the second year of the project, and will provide an opportunity for discussion and peer review of methodological approaches and initial findings from the sub-projects on "mobility" and "settlement". The second will be at the end of the third year, providing an opportunity to review and disseminate findings and insights from the sub-projects.

• In the fourth year of the project, we aim to host an international conference in Berlin or London on policy challenges posed by migrant networks. This will be a 2.5-day conference bringing together international experts, officials and policy-makers. We aim to secure funding for this conference from the US-German Marshal Fund, and possibly co-organise it with UC Davis.

• In Autumn 2003 the Migration Research Group at HWWA will be initiating a monthly inter-disciplinary seminar on migration research issues, open to interested academics and students. This will provide an additional forum for discussion and peer review of our research.

• Team members will be encouraged to engage in lecturing, teaching and supervision activities in the context of the new Migration Studies Centre. Team members will be strongly encouraged to give papers at international conferences and workshops.

Virtual Laboratory on Migration

One of the most important innovations of the proposed project is the establishment of a HWWA-based Virtual Laboratory on Migration (VLM). The VLM will have the function of: (a) pooling existing micro data on the behavioural patterns of migrants; (b) generating new data through experimental interviews with migrants (see document B.1). The VLM will consist of a separate room in HWWA with five work-stations, each equipped with a computer allowing access to data. In addition to its contribution to understanding migration dynamics, the VLM will also have an important dissemination function. It will offer a unique resource for researchers and students from Europe and the world to have access to the widest possible pool of micro and meso data on migration in Europe.