Announcements

Hello and welcome to the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, with me your host, Loksan Harley. 

 I’m starting this podcast to bring people together to discuss anything and everything related to the movement of people. I was inspired to start this podcast after sitting through many many webinars during the COVID-19 pandemic. I felt many of these events could have been audio recordings – recordings that you could listen to in the car, on your morning jog, or at the breakfast table. 

DAMR seeks to actively engage with PhD researchers working on migration issues. For this aim, the DAMR gives young researchers the opportunity to organize academic events. The proposed events can be workshops, panel debates, or other innovative events that bring together academic researchers and/or engage with a wider audience.

The third phase of the project “Strengthening Migration Management Authorities in Kosovo” (MIMAK II) was launched in July and was commissioned by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). 

Following the success of the first cohort of the Kenya Post Graduate Diploma Programme in Migration Studies (PGDPMS) which took place in Kenya in 2019, the Migration and Development group launched the second cohort in September 2020. 

While the topics of sustainability and migration are both widely discussed, there is little understanding of the connections between the two.

MIGNEX is a five-year research project (2018–2023) with the core ambition of creating new knowledge on migration, development and policy.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has asked the migration team at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance to evaluate an urban response intervention in Nairobi.

Dr. Sonja Fransen will lead a new, six-month project for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), combining two recently awarded projects on ‘Comparative Reintegration Outcomes in Forced and Voluntary Returns’ and ‘Understanding and Implementing Gender-Sensitive Sustainable Reintegration’.

The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) has been supporting the government of Iraq in the development of a diaspora engagement strategy with the assistance of Dr. Michaella Vanore and Prof. Melissa Siegel

After the news broke out that migrants are trying to flee from Spain to countries such as Morocco and Algeria due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Belgian Radio 1 channel asked Prof. Arjen Leerkes to comment on this phenomenon.