NORCOM Final Conference in Oslo

17 November 2023

The 17th of November, NORCOM will arrange its concluding conference in Oslo at the House of Literature (Wergelandsveien 29, 0167 Oslo, Norway).

> In detail about the final conference

> The program

PROTECT Final Conference in Brussels

6-8 March 2023

Between 6-8. March, PROTECT had its final conference in Brussels at the nhow Brussels Bloom hotel (Rue Royale 250, 1210 Bruxelles, Belgium).

> In detail about the final conference

> The program

ASILE Project Annual Event

26 January 2023

Nicholas Maple, from our Wits-team, has been invited by the ASILE project, to participate as a speaker in the ASILE Project Annual Event that took place in Cape Town, South Africa during the 25, 26 and 27 January 2023. On the Panel dedicated to ‘Refugee Recognition, Self-reliance and Rights‘ on Thursday 26 January (11h30 – 13h30, South Africa time zone).

> More about the ASILE-project

VULNER Project Report Launch

25 January 2023

As part of a research seminar in extension to the launch event of the Vulner report “Protection Seekers’ Lived Experience of Vulnerability in Times of Stricter Migration Policy. The Case of Norway”, on 25, January 2023, at ISF in Oslo, Mary-Anne Karlsen from our Bergen-team, represented PROTECT. Vulnerability in the field of migration was discussed across different research projects.

> More about the VULNER-project

Roundtable and Q&A of a recent new publication

12 December 2022

On 12th December, Elspeth Guild, Kathryn Allinson, Nicolette Busuttil and Maja Grundler from our QMUL-team, held a roundtable and Q&A about their recent publication on ‘A Practitioners’ Handbook on the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and EU and Member States’ Commitments under the UN Global Compact on Refugees and the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’, for the Sheffield Centre for International and European Law (SCIEL).

> Read the Handbook

Society for Social Studies of Science

5-7 December 2022

Jona Zyfi, from our Canadian-team, has presented her research on the 4S/ESOCITE 2022 Meeting by the Society for Social Studies of Science in December, in Mexico, on “The Meanings of Biometrics, and their Consequences”-panel, with a paper titled “Destined to be a criminal: Biometrics, race, and predictions of
criminality”.

> Read more

Metropolis Americas Migration Policy Summit

1-2 December 2022

Jona Zyfi, from our Canadian-team, has presented PROTECT-findings on the Metropolis Americas Migration Policy Forum, titled “Have the Global Compacts impacted assessments of vulnerability? A
multi-perspective analysis of field level governance actors in Canada”.

> Read more

Conference of the Refugee Law Clinic Gießen

1 December 2022

Pauline Endres de Oliveira, from our University of Giessen-team, gave a talk on 1st December at the conference on “Complementary forms of protection – rights to stay beyond refugee status”, in Giessen, presenting essential findings of WP2. This was an in-person event, held entirely in German.

> Read more

RLI Annual Seminar Series

8 November 2022

Nicholas Maple from our Wits-team, has presented “Local Integration: A Durable Solution in need of Reinvigoration?”, at the RLI Annual Seminar Series, which utilised research collected through Protect:

Local integration has long been framed as the ‘forgotten’ durable solution to refugee displacement, evidenced by the reluctance of governments across the globe to grant refugees new citizenship. This presentation goes further by arguing that local integration as a durable solution has not merely been forgotten, but deliberately avoided at the national, regional and international level. As a result, its status as a realistic durable solution for most of the world’s refugees is now in question.

> Listen to the recording

CARFMS22: 14th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies

4 November 2022

Researchers from our Canadian-team, Idil Atak, Jona Zyfi and Claire Linley, have participated in a panel of the 14th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS), on “Examining recent policy developments of bordering and externalization within Canadian border and refugee protection systems”.

> More information about CARFMS22

ECREA 2022 – 9th European Communication Conference

22 October 2022

For the ECREA 2022 conference in Aarhus, the theme “Rethink Impact” served as a frame for discussing how media and communication research, education, and training interact with, impact on and reflect society. Our researchers from the Lund-team, Anamaria Dutceac-Segesten and Mike Farjam, have presented their paper on “Europeanization on Twitter? Mapping the Transnational Migration Discourse”.

> Access the conference booklet

Fifth Edition of The Day of Belgian Migration History

29 September 2022, Amsab Institute for Social History in Ghent

Since 2017, researchers from Belgian universities have gathered annually to create a forum together with archivists, heritage partners, authors and other stakeholders to exchange ongoing research on Belgian migration history. The aim of these meetings is to share findings on Belgian migration history, both within the academic context and with the general public.

> Read more

> Check out the program

Migration Working Group – Scholars of Excellence Edition: Regional migration governance and free movement regimes

27 September 2022

Free movement regimes have become an important tool in migration governance at the global level. This workshop took a global perspective to discuss the functioning of various free movement regimes in Africa, the Caribbean, South America and beyond. Scholars debated the way in which these regimes interact with national legislative instruments and global legal frameworks, such as the Geneva Convention on Refugees, as well as how they are able to respond to imminent challenges including displacement due to environmental degradation. Idil Atak from our Canadian-team has presented research on “Responding to refugee crisis and displacement through regional governance”.

> Read more

The Common European Asylum System and the UN Global Compacts on Refugees and for Safe, Orderly and Legal Migration

27 September 2022

The (B)OrderS: Centre for the Legal Study of Borders and Migration at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the Centre for International Law at the University of Bristol invited those interested to a discussion on The Common European Asylum System and the UN Compacts on Refugees and for Safe, Orderly and Legal Migration celebrating the launch of the related Handbook for Practitioners.

> Read more

The 8th Conference of the International Journal of Press/Politics

22 September 2022

Between 21-23 September, seventy scholars from different countries and disciplines presented research on the relationship between media and politics in an international perspective at Loughborough University during the eight conference of The International Journal of Press/Politics. Sara Schmitt, Hakan G. Sicakkan, Pierre-Georges Van Wolleghem and Raphael H. Heiberger from our WP7 on (social) media discourses, have presented on ‘Policy actors’ struggle for attention in the migration discourse. The role of semantic, ideological and attributional diversity on Twitter’.

> Read more

Framing Migration SfAA Global Roundtable

16 September 2022

The knowledge that organizations assume, produce, and use on migration has short and long-range impacts on the people that move. Panelists representing six different sectors presented how they frame the underlying architecture of migration. The public was invited to dialogue with panelists to understand their framing, the impact of their actions on the migrants themselves, and future applications and reconsiderations.

> Read more

APSA Annual Meeting

15 September 2022

During the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, in Montréal, Québec, Canada, on “Rethink, Restructure and Reconnect: Towards a Post-Pandemic Political Science, Anamaria Dutceac-Segesten and Mike Farjam from our Lund-team, have presented their research on “Europeanization on Twitter? Mapping the Transnational Migration Discourse”.

> Find out more

Federal Congress of the Refugee Law Clinics Germany

11 September 2022

Janna Wessels from our Giessen-team has presented at the Federal Congress of the Refugee Law Clinics Germany 2022 “Migration law between claim and reality”, in the closing panel on “Solidarity in migration policy in Germany and Europe – new perspectives and opportunities in the shadow of the Ukraine war?”.

> Read more

Annual SISP Conference

8-10 September 2022

During the Italian Political Science Association Conference, Marcello Carammia, Iole Fontana and Francesca Longo have presented a paper on “The impact of the external dimension of migration governance on asylum-seeking in the EU”, whilst Daniela Irrera presented her paper on “Protecting vulnerable people in a post-pandemic humanitarian system”. All from our Catania-team.

> Read more

UACES Annual Conference 2022

5-8 September 2022

Simon Usherwood from The Open University has presented from our research on Surveying Civil Societies’ Attitudes, specifically on “The Role of Civil Society Organisations in European Refugee Protection: A Cleavage Model” to the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) Annual Conference, Lille, France, 5-8 September 2022.

> Read more

ECPR General Conference

24 August 2022

From our Stuttgart-team, Sara Schmidt has presented a paper, which she co-authored with Raphael Heiberger on “Contagious populist radical right: The role of issue salience for electoral success in the European Parliament”, as part of the ECPR General Assembly panel on “Operationalizing the (Populist) Zeitgeist: How Political Actors Shape Party Competition by Transforming Their Rivals’ Issue Positions”.

> Read more

EASA 2022 Conference

26 July 2022

Giovanna Cavatorta from our Catania-team has arranged a panel on “Vulnerabilised hopes: the transformations of the humanitarian-securitarian nexus at the borders”, as part of the European Association of Social Anthropologists Conference, in Belfast.

> Read more

SGOC Conference

4-6 July 2022

Daniela Irrera from the University of Catania has presented a paper on “The Use of Military and Civilian Missions to Cope with Crime-Terror Effects: the Case of the Sahel”, during the 4th ECPR General Conference on Organized Crime in Pisa.

> Read more

ACMS Panel at the RLI Annual Conference (online) 

1 July 2022

On 1st July, our ACMS-Wits-team have organized a panel on alternative forms of protection found by refugees, asylum-seekers, and other forced migrants in Africa, titled “Alternative Forms of Protection in Africa”, during Section 6C of the RLI Annual Conference.

> Read more

> Watch the recording

19th IMISCOE Annual Conference

29 June – 1 July 2022

Pierre Van Wolleghem from the Bergen-team has presented PROTECT-findings during the 19th IMISCOE Annual Conference on “Migration and Time: Temporalities of mobility, goverannce and resistance”, in Oslo.

> Read more

SGEU Conference

8-10 June 2022

Stefania Panebianco from our Catania-team has presented her research on “The EU’s contribution to climate change migration governance in the wider Mediterranean: leadership or trompe-l’oeil?”, as part of the 11th Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on the European Union.

> More about the event

72th Annual ICA Conference

26-30 May 2022

Anamaria Dutceac-Segesten and Mike Farjam from our Lund-team, have presented their research during the 72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association in Paris, France. With over 3,400 in-person attendees and an additional 400-plus participants tuning in from virtual locations around the globe, the Conference invited reimagining communication scholarship on globalization and networks.

> Read the conference brochure

PROTECT-NORKOM Symposiet

25 May 2022

I dette andre symposiet snakket PROTECT-NORKOM-nettverket om “Holdninger til flyktningebeskyttelse i Norge”. Vi fokuserte på norske borgeres støtte til internasjonalt samarbeid om å hjelpe flyktninger og nordmenns holdninger til spesifikke beskyttelsesmåter og -metoder. Dette var gjort i et internasjonalt komparativt perspektiv (26 land).

> Mer om symposiet

Horizon 2020 Joint Virtual Event on the Protection of Ukrainian Refugees 

5 May 2022

Our joint Webinar on the“Temporary Protection for People Fleeing the War in Ukraine. Challenges Ahead and the Way Forward for a Common EU Response”, was jointly organized by Sergio Carrera, ASILE Project Coordinator, Luc Leboeuf, VULNER Project Coordinator, and Hakan G. Sicakkan, PROTECT Project Coordinator.

> More about the webinar

> Watch the recordings

Seminar series on ‘Statistics and Demography for Migration Studies’

5 May 2022

Stefania Panebianco from the University of Catania, has presented on the ‘Statistics and Demography for Migration Studies’ Seminar Series, at the University of Palermo, with the topic of “Border crises and human mobility in the Mediterranean Global South”.

> Read more

Vulnerability and International Protection on the Southern Border of Spain: Practices and Challenges 

3 May 2022

Mary-Anne Karlsen, a PROTECT-researcher doing fieldwork in migratory hotspots has organized the following seminar, together with the University of Cadiz in Spain.

> More information about the webinar

ONLINE SEMINAR: Migration at Sea and the Role of Non-State Actors: zooming in on the Central Mediterranean Route  

29 April 2022

In this seminar Matilde Rocca, our visiting researcher at the University of Bergen-team, presented reflections from her PhD research project which aims to determine how non-state actors (NSAs) have been involved in migratory processes in the Mediterranean and to what extent they have changed the level of human rights protection accorded to migrants. In addition, Rocca’s research project assesses the way in which the involvement of NSAs in migratory operations has shaped international human rights law (IHRL) and the international law of the sea.

> More about the webinar

> Watch the recording

Lunch talk series at the McLaughlin College of York University  

7 April 2022

Idil Atak, from PROTECT’s Ryerson team, gave a speech on “Canada and the UN Global Compact for Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration”, as part of the Lunch talk series at the McLaughlin College of York University.

> More about the webinar

ISA 2022 Annual Convention

28 March-2 April 2022

During the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, Francesca Longo and Stefania Panebianco from the University of Catania have presented their paper on “The external dimension of EU Asylum and Migration on Policy: Externalization via agreements with EU border countries”.

> More about the event

> Read their paper

“Foreign Affairs” – Migration in post-war Belgium (1944-1980s)

24 March 2022

Foto: Algemeen Rijksarchief

Historical research into post-war migration has been on the rise in recent years, a trend that goes hand in hand with the opening up of new archive sources. A fascinating and topical matter, therefore, to which the National Archives has dedicated a study day on March 24, 2022. Frank Caestecker held a presentation on ‘HR Management in the Mining Industry and Labor Migration, 1937-1966’ and Eva Ecker about ‘UNHCR recognizes refugees for Belgium (1952-1988): were national interests secured?’. Both of these researchers are from our Ghent-team.

> More about the event

Policy Roundtable: Co-designing an inclusive Europe  

1 March 2022

The policy roundtable, based on findings from ten H2020 projects, looked at “Migrations and migrants in the EU: changing narratives – modifying practices – influencing policies”.

> Read our summary and policy recommendations

> More on the Policy Roundtable

> Watch the recordings

Master Course in Anthropology of humanitarian Interventions

March-April 2022

As part of her contribution on PROTECT, Mara Benadusi from our Catania-team, has offered a master course in Anthropology of Humanitarian Interventions, which included 9 lectures, 3 of which had another Catania-team member, Giovanna Cavatorta as guest.

> Read more about the course

Two PROTECT-seminars on Fieldwork in Migratory Hotspots

February 2022

Our researchers from the Catania-team have organized two hybrid PROTECT-seminars on 16th and 21st February with University of Bergen (UiB) anthropologist Christine M Jacobsen on migration and international protection.

The first seminar focused on “Fieldwork studies of the governance of international protection in practice: a comparative perspective”, whilst the second one looked at “Entangled temporalities and im/mobilities: the case of ‘migrants waiting for regularisation’ in Marseille”.

SANEF REPORTING THE COURTS WEBINAR 4 

17 February 2022

PROTECT contributed to a webinar with the WITS-based researcher Kudakwashe Vanyoro on “Reporting children and vulnerable groups” on 17 February. The event was organized by SANEF in partnership with the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism.

> More on the webinar-series

Cornell Institute for African Development Global Africa Monthly Webinar Series

 

4 February 2022

Our researcher from the Catania-team, Daniela Irrera has given a talk to the Institute for African Development at the Cornell University, on the topic of “The European Union Policy in the Sahel Region: Challenges of Security, Development and Migration”.

> More about the webinar series

Round Table: Rethinking Migration Research, Teaching and Practice

 

12 January 2022

Our WP3 co-lead on Governance and historical research, Frank Caestecker from the University of Ghent has held a presentation on “The challenge of migration management, a century’s experience in France and Belgium” at Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre.

> More information about the lecture


Round Table: Rethinking Migration Research, Teaching and Practice

 

7 December 2021

The Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna and the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand organized a roundtable on Rethinking Migration Research, Teaching and Practice. The event was moderated by Kudakwashe Vanyoro from our Wits-team.

> Read more

American Anthropological Association 2021 Annual Meeting

 

17 – 21 November 2021

PROTECT organized a panel on “Re-engaging anthropology with the social and political life of vulnerability in international protection” at the American Anthropological Association conference on 17 November 2021. In this panel, the following PROTECT researchers have presented their findings: Mara Benadusi (Catania-team), Giovanna Cavatorta (Catania-team), Evgenia Iliadou (Surrey-team), Kudakwashe Vanyoro (ACMS-Wits-team), Christine M. Jacobsen (Bergen-team).

> See the full program here

Second Gender workshop by the Centre for Britain and Europe

 

11 November 2021

This workshop, organized by the Centre for Britain and Europe, a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, focused on gender and immigration. Our Surrey-team presented papers on immigration detention and refugee camps and the lived experiences of people who are confined.  

> Read more

ZeMKI Research Seminar

 

10 November 2021

The University of Bremen’s ZeMKI Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research has welcomed our researcher and WP7 co-leader on media and social media discourses, Anamaria Dutceac Segesten from Lund University to present her paper on “Assessing Europeanization on social media: a new approach” during one of their research seminars. Annamaria probed for the existence of a Europeanized public discourse on Twitter
on the issue of migration by collecting data over the period 2014-2019, in nine different
languages, and by charting the connections and the content of Twitter-based communication using a
triangulation of methods: network mapping, qualitative coding, and statistical modeling.

> Read the whole invitation here

IHSA World Conference on Humanitarian Studies

 

3 – 5 November 2021

Hosted by the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA), the conference focused on ‘New realities of politics and humanitarianism: between solidarity and abandonment’. From our researchers, Giovanna Cavatorta, from the Catania-team, has presented a paper on ´From beneficiaries to humanitarian workers : the politics of difference about migrants working at the Eu Italian border´, as part of the Humanitarianism and Inequality panel.

> View the program

V. International Conference on Migration in the 21st Century

 

11 – 12 October 2021

The International Conference on Migration in the 21st Century, organized for the fifth time this year by Yeditepe University Global Education and Cultural Studies Application and Research Center (KEKAM), was held online on October 11-12, 2021. Among the invited speakers was our WP1 and WP9 co-lead İdil Atak from the Ryerson University.

> Read more

PROTECT Expert Forums

 

autumn 2021

PROTECT has organized three Expert Forums in 2021, all of which sought to explore the legal potential and impacts of the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration:

#1 Expert Forum (EU, 10 September)

> See the program and the speakers

> (Re)Watch talks and discussions

#2 Expert Forum (Southern Africa, 15 and 22 September)

> See the program and the speakers for 15 September and for 22 September

> (Re)Watch talks and discussions

#3 Expert Forum (Canada, 7-8 October)

> See the program and the speakers

> (Re)Watch talks and discussions

Immigration Law and Policy, Border Control, and Migrant Deaths

 

29 September – 1 October 2021

This two-day conference, organized by the Centre for British Studies, Humboldt-University of Berlin, explored the relationship between migration and border control law and policy, and migrant deaths within and close to the borders of Europe, as well as relevant practice and research in the area of contentious death investigation. Conference papers were presented by our Queen Mary-researchers, co-leading our legal work package, Elspeth Guild, Kathryn Allinson, Nicolette Busuttil and Maja Grundler on ‘Implementing the UN Global Compacts for Refugees and Migrants in Times of Pandemic: A View from the EU Member States”.

> See the whole program here

III Convegno Nazionale SIAC

 

22 – 25 September 2021

The Società Italiana di Antropologia Culturale (SIAC) in Rome has organized its third national conference, which focused on “Futuro : Anthropologies of the Future, the Future of Anthropology”. Giovanna Cavatorta from our Catania-team has presented a paper on the autonomy of “children”, with a paper titled L’autonomia dei “ragazzi”: il riconoscimento dell’il-libertà di richiedenti asilo neo-maggiorenni in Italia.

> More on the program and speakers

Day of Belgian Migration history

 

22 September 2021

The fourth edition of the Belgian Migration History Day took place at the University of Saint Louis in Brussels. The purpose of this day is to offer the opportunity to all those interested in the history of migration in Belgium to meet, whether they belong to the academic world, to the cultural, educational or media sectors. Our researchers from Ghent University, Frank Castecker and Eva Ecker contributed to this event by sitting in the scientific committee (Frank Castecker) and by holding a presentation on “Belgian refugee policy: history of legislation and asylum institutions (1952-1990)” (Eva Ecker).

> See the whole program here

 

16 September 2021

This event was planned for all immigration and asylum practitioners to learn about the new ILPA Handbook for Practitioners on the Global Compact for Migration. It introduced how the UN Global Compact can assist them and their clients by ensuring that the Home Office lives up to the ministerial statement that UK law is compliant with the UN Compact. The panel included three of our researchers from the Queen Mary-team, co-leading our legal work package, Elspeth Guild, Kathryn Allinson and Nicolette Busuttil.

> Read more

EISA 14th Pan-European Conference on International Relations

 

13 – 17 September 2021

During the 14th PEC Conference, organized by the European International Studies Association on ´The power politics of nature´, our researchers from the University of Catania have presented the following papers: ´From Refugee Crises at the Border to a Global Crisis of Protection? Comparing EU and US resettlement policies´ by Iole Fontana and ´Climate Change Migration enters the Agenda of the Wider Mediterranean: The Long Way towards Global Governance´ by Stefania Panebianco. Stefania has also been an invited speaker at the Plenary Session ´Migration: Utopias and dystopias´.

> Click here to access the program

51st UACES Annual Conference

 

8 September 2021

Daniela Irrera from the University of Catania was presenting during the UACES Annual Conference, organized by the University Association for Contemporary European Studies, which is the global membership organisation for academics, students and practitioners who are interested in all aspects of Europe and the European Union.

> For more information

#ECPR General Conference

 

30 August – 3 September 2021

During this year´s General Conference, the Catania-team has presented two papers: Stefania Panebianco´s on `A discursive re-conceptualization of migration in the midst of the Covid19 crisis. A European Human and Humane Approach or Business as Usual?´ and Iole Fontana`s on ´The external dimension of EU migration and asylum policy between migration politics and functional cooperation´.

> Watch on YouTube

PROTECT’s Mid-term Conference

 

26 – 27 August 2021, online

During the Conference, PROTECT presented initial research findings from its 11 Work Packages. PROTECT’s Canadian partner, the Ryerson University hosted and organized the conference.

> See the program and speakers

> (Re)Watch talks and discussions

National Conference on Migration and Urbanisation

 

28 July 2021

This panel explored the ‘Boundaries of Protection and Human Rights for International Migrants’ in South Africa and included PROTECT researchers Jo Vearey and Nicholas Maple from Wits University.

> Download the presentation (video)

> Download the slides (pdf)

18th Biannual Conference of the International Association for the Study
of Forced Migration (IASFM)

 

26 – 30 July 2021

The conference, focusing on “Disrupting Theory, Unsettling Practice: Towards Transformative Forced Migration Scholarship and Policy”, organized by the University of Ghana was held over five days and consisted of five keynotes, three plenary sessions, and around 72 panel sessions, providing an opportunity for a wide range of contributions and participants from different backgrounds and geographical contexts. PROTECT was represented by our Ryerson and Wits-team.

> See the full program for IASFM18

26th IPSA World Congress of Political Science

 

10 – 15 July 2021

The PROTECT-team has contributed to the World Congress with a panel on “International Protection in a Multilevel Governance System: Between Global Commitments and National Responses”, chaired by PROTECT`s Scientific Coordinator Pierre Georges Van Wolleghem from the University of Bergen on 14 July. The discussant was Francesca Longo from the University of Catania.

> The full program with papers is available here

WISC Global Virtual Conference

 

30 June 2021

The Global Virtual Conference was designed in preparation of the 6th Global International Studies Conference in June 2022. The Virtual Conference ran for ten hours, with the theme “WISC and the Globe – Achievements and Challenges”. It included seventeen panels. On the panels about ´Regulation of Migration Flows in the World´ and ´International Political Economy, Global Transformations, Regional Reconfigurations, and National Dilemmas´, PROTECT researcher Daniela Irrera, from the University of Catania was amongst the speakers.

> More about the conference

Academic Council of the United Nations System Annual Meeting 2021: Toward a Fit for Future UN System

 

24 – 26 June 2021

The 2021 Annual Meeting featured an outstanding global effort with approximately 500 participants spanning all the world’s time zones. Six headliner plenary sessions included the formal launch of the Global Governance Innovation Network. Plenary sessions are available on the ACUNS YouTube channel. The Annual Meeting included 57 panels and roundtables, two of which featured Daniela Irrera, from our Catania-team: ´Challenges Stemming from International Migration´ and ´Displacement and Governance of International Migration and Displacement´.

> Access the full program here

CES Virtual 27th International Conference of Europeanists

 

21 – 25 June 2021

The Council for European Studies has organized its annual conference with a focus on “Europe’s Past, Present, and Future: Utopias and Dystopias”. The PROTECT panel focused on “International Protection in the Global Compacts Era”. The panel was chaired by Pierre Van Wolleghem from the University of Bergen, panellists included Dario Mazzola, Anamaria Dutceac Segesten from Lund University, Theofanis Exadaktylos and Evgenia Iliadou from the University of Surrey.

> See the conference program

 

Second webinar of the SISP Standing Group of International Relations

 

18 June 2021

25 years after the Barcelona Process has been inaugurated, the Mediterranean space has changed decisively. As the Mediterranean finds itself at a critical juncture, this webinar asks – or asserts – why the Global North and the Global South do not meet in the Mediterranean. Our researcher from the Catania-team, Stefania Panebianco participated as a speaker in this online conference, looking at ´Why the Global North and the Global South do not meet in the Mediterranean´.

> More about the webinar

JEAN MONNET – ERASMUS + VIRTUAL CONFERENCE: VIRTUE, EUCTER & EUHYBRID

 

14 – 16 June 2021

Stefania Panebianco from the University of Catania held a presentation on the first day of the VIRTUE virtual conference organized by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, about `´The European Commission’s Discourse on Migration amidst the Covid-19 Crisis´ as part of the panel on ´EU institutions and agencies – challenges after Lisbon´.

> See the full agenda here

10th Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on the European Union

 

10 – 12 June 2021

The virtual edition of the Conference provided an engaging platform for researchers from various backgrounds to present and discuss cutting-edge research on the most pressing questions of European integration, across some 100+ Panels. PROTECT researcher, Stefania Panebianco from the University of Catania presented the following paper: A Discursive Re-Conceptualization of Migration in the Midst of the Covid19 Crisis. A European Human and Humane Approach or Business as Usual?

> Access the full paper here

5th Annual Conference, Refugee Law Initiative (RLI): ‘Ageing Gracefully? The 1951 Refugee Convention at 70’

 

9 – 11 June 2021

PROTECT researchers Jo Vearey, Nicholas Maple, and Kudakwashe Vanyoro from Wits University participated in a panel discussion at the RLI Annual Conference dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the 1951 Convention.

The PROTECT panel explored the ‘Contemporary Role of the Global Refugee Regime in Sub-Saharan Africa’.

> See the program

2021 CPSA Annual Conference

 

7 – 10 June 2021

The conference of the Canadian Political Science Association on “Diversity and the Discipline of Political Science” featured a panel this year on “Discourses and Practices of Refugee Exclusion”, with the participation of WP1 and WP9 co-lead İdil Atak from the Ryerson University.

> See the conference program

The Second Helsinki Conference on Emotions, Populism, and Polarisation

 

4 – 8 May 2021

Dario Mazzola, Scientific Coordinator of PROTECT from our Bergen-team has presented on “Populism and the radicalisation of democracy: The frontiers of democratisation” in the Challenges of Democracy panel during the second HEPP conference.

See the conference program”>> For the full program and papers, click here

3rd CJIRIEP | Conference of Young Researchers in International Relations and Political Studies

 

15 – 16 April 2021

The 3rd Conference of Young Researchers in International Relations and Political Studies took place the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto. The event was organised by a group of students and former students with the aim to promote an interdisciplinary debate in the International Relations and Political Studies fields. Our researcher, from the Catania-team, Stefania Panebianco, held the keynote speech on ‘Migration practices in the EU Mediterranean periphery’.

Trondheim Analytica workshop on “Analyzing Citizen Engagement with European Politics through Social Media”

 

15 – 16 April 2021

How are European citizens’ offline characteristics related to political behavior on social media? Our researchers, Anamaria Dutceac Segesten and Mike Farjam from the Lund University contrasted English language tweets to the rest in order to shed light onto the European SoMe public sphere during the Trondheim Analytica workshop on “Analyzing Citizen Engagement with European Politics through Social Media” in April.

The new vulnerability in times of pandemic: The EU and NGOs in managing migrant and refugee issues

 

14 April 2021

In partnership with ERIQA, the Jean Monnet Center welcomed PROTECT researcher Professor Daniela Irrera from the University of Catania for a conference on ‘The new vulnerability in times of pandemic: The EU and NGOs in managing migrant and refugee issues.’

> See more

Nationalism & Covid-19 vaccination: Refugee and Migrant Health

 

30 March 2021

PROTECT researcher Jo Vearey argued that states’ vaccination programs cannot be effective unless they include undocumented migrants. How to create a ‘Firewall’ so that this group can access the Covid-19 vaccine without fearing arrest, detention, and deportation?

The webinar was organized by the M8 Alliance and the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM).

> Read more

Staff Seminar of the Department of Social Sciences, the University of Geneva

 

8 March 2021

PROTECT Scientific Coordinator, Dario Mazzola presented on “Political Theory in Turbulent Waters: The Case of the Global Compact” at the Staff Seminar of the Department of Social Sciences, the University of Geneva.

International Women’s Day: Covid-19 and inequality: Gender, Work and Migration

 

8 March 2021

PROTECT researcher Christine M. Jacobsen explored ‘vulnerability in pandemic times’ and how Covid-19 has affected migrants with precarious legal status in France.

> Read more

Photo: Institute for Social Research, University of Bergen, LSE, University of Aalborg, Janne Møller Hansen.

Protection in Mixed Movements: UNHCR – MMC Policy Workshop

 

15-17 February 2021

Kudakwashe Vanyoro, Jo Vearey and Nicholas Maple from our Wits-team have presented on “State & Humanitarian Responses to the Migration, (Im)Mobility & Covid-19 Nexus: Lessons from North Africa” at Day 3 of the MMC-UNHCR Policy Workshop on Protection Challenges on the Central & Western Mediterranean Routes.

> Read the program for the Policy Workshop

> Check out the recorded video from the Workshop

 

12 February 2021

This Webinar, hosted by the Human Rights Law Centre presented work conducted between our researchers at the Queen Mary University of London and ILPA in developing a Handbook on the Global Compact on Migration for immigration law practitioners.

> Read more

Webinar: Foreign African Nationals and Xenophobia in South Africa

 

27 Januar 2021

This webinar looked at how racist ideas and exclusionary frameworks have persisted in the modern South African society.

> Read more

FASS2021 panel: University of Surrey Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Festival of Research

 

18 Januar 2021

> See festival program, panels and speakers

Dr. Theofanis Exadaktylos presented the aims and objectives of PROTECT – and how the researchers in Work Package 4 are overcoming the obstacles that Covid-19 has presented them with.

Seminar: Borders, mobilities and immobilities in Southern Africa

 

13 Januar 2021

In this seminar organized by the Migration Policy Institute, PROTECT researcher Kudakwashe Vanyoro presented his research on Zimbabwean migrants at the Zimbabwean-South African border. Dr. Frank Musoni from the University of Kentucky gave a talk on ‘Border Jumping and Migration Control in Southern Africa’.


 

27 November 2020

> See program

This seminar presented the work conducted between Queen Mary University of London and ILPA on developing a Handbook on the Global Compact on Migration for immigration law practitioners.

PROTECT partners Elspeth Guild, Nicolette Busuttil, and Kathryn Allinson presented the theoretical framework of the Handbook and some key examples to elucidate its contents. Adrian Berry from ILPA discussed the application of the Compact for practitioners in light of this framework. 

Photo: Kingsley Napley and Queen Mary University of London

Protect Expert Forums

autumn 2020

 

(Re)visit our 2020 Expert Forums

#1 Expert Forum (EU, 13-14 November)

> See the program and the speakers

> (Re)Watch talks and discussions from 13 and from 14 November

> Read more about the Forum host

#2 Expert Forum (Canada, 20 November)

> See the program and the speakers

> (Re)Watch talks and discussions

> Read more about the Forum host

#3 Expert Forum (Southern Africa, 26 November)

> See the program and the speakers

> (Re)Watch talks and discussions

> Read more about the forum host

 

Conversations on the Moria fires

 

19 September 2020

PROTECT’s project leader Hakan G. Sicakkan and International Advisory Board member, Jan Fridthjof Bernt discussed the Moria fires, the Dublin Regulation and the New Pact on Migration and Asylum in the monthly event, ‘Insight’.

> Read more

ECPR General Conference: PROTECT panel

 

25 August 2020

Three PROTECT researchers participated in this panel, which looked at the politics of international protection in a context marked by the tension between the rise of nativist ideologies and efforts to share burden and responsibility of international protection at a global scale.

Panel title: ‘The Politics of International Protection: New Perspectives in the Post-Global Compacts Era’

> Explore the PROTECT panel and papers

> See full academic program for the virtual ECPR GC

Virtual roundtable: Researching Migration & Law

 

18 August 2020

PROTECT researchers Siri Gloppen and Hakan G. Sicakkan participated in a roundtable discussion on ‘Researching Migration & Law’ during the 2020 Bergen Exchanges on Law and Social Transformation.

> Read more

> See video recording of the event

PROTECT kick off conference

 

 

9 March 2020

A number of high profile representatives from the academic community, civil society organizations, and international organizations were present for PROTECT’s Kick-Off conference in Brussels on 9 March 2020.

> See the full program

> Access full videos of talks and roundtables