CfP: “Measuring Migration: Why? When? How?” hosted on June 9-10, 2022

We particularly welcome submissions from early 
career researchers, postgraduate students, non-academics, and all that are typically 
underrepresented in academic conferences. 

Conference Themes and Objectives 
This conference seeks to explore the idea of “measuring” migration, to the extent that is possible, 
using a variety of methods from interdisciplinary perspectives. We aim to explore the ethics and 
implications of what it means to track migratory flows, and we discuss when this might be 
appropriate and why these data are helpful/harmful. 

This conference is particularly relevant and timely in light of the many facets of social change. 
The COVID-19 pandemic has, for many, changed the means of and reasons for migration, and the 
pandemic has also changed the way researchers have had to collect migration data. Further, 
advances in fields, such as digital demography, have changed the methods that are used to analyze 
and visualize data. However, with these burgeoning methods and data, there are increased concerns 
about data protection and privacy: For example, there are manifold implications for ethics around 
the use of AI or digital trace data. This conference hopes to bridge these ideas—changing social 
realities, advances in data and methods, and need for ethical approaches—across different 
branches of migration research. 

The conference will have 5 overarching topics for the 10-15 minute presentations: 

1. How do we measure migration? Methods and advancements: 
In this panel, we are interested in methods that measure migrant stock/flows and mobility. 
Presentations may include (but are not limited to) those that use digital trace data, geolocation 
data, demographic surveys, population registers, and other forms of documentation. 

2. When should we measure migration? Ethical considerations of data collection and harm 
mitigation: 
In this panel, we are interested in understanding motivations and appropriate circumstances 
for data collection on migration/migrants. We want to throw into question the default 
assumption that more data is always better, and we hope to collect a panel of presentations 
that questions the bounds of ethical data collection around migration 

3. What are the implications of measuring migration? Policies and implementation 
In this panel, we are interested in the policy implications of measuring migration. What 
happens when we have migration counts? What are these data used for? Presentations for this 
panel should reveal evidence of the practical consequences of having sound methods in 
migration studies 

4. How do we represent migration? Developments in data visualization 
In this panel, we are interested in data visualization for migration. How should we convey 
population flows and counts? Are there differences in visualizations for internal/international 
migration? What types of data are most conducive to which kinds of visualizations? 

5. How has COVID-19 affected migration and mobility? Crisis and measurement 
In this panel, we are interested in COVID-19 and the way that this has changed the migration 
landscape, and thus produces methodological challenges. How are the research questions in 
the pandemic different/similar to those before (or perhaps, after) the pandemic? Are there 
specific issues relating to measurement that might change from this period? 

The conference aims to generate interdisciplinary between and among academics, researchers, 
practitioners, activists, and all other stakeholders and critical thinkers. Therefore, we invite 
abstracts from all levels and disciplinary perspectives including, but not limited to, Anthropology, 
Computer Science, Cultural Studies, Data Science, Demography, Development Studies, 
Economics, Environmental Studies, Geography, History, Human Sciences, Journalism, 
Languages, Law, Linguistics, Medicine, Political Science, Psychology, Public Health, Public 
Policy, Socio-Legal Studies, and Social Policy, Sociology. 

Confirmed Speakers and Discussants 
Confirmed speakers include: Mina Fazel (Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford); 
Isabel Ruiz (Department of Economics, University of Oxford); Carlos Vargas-Silva (Centre on 
Migration Policy and Society, University of Oxford) 
Confirmed discussants include: Madeleine Sumption (Migration Observatory, University of 
Oxford) and Francesco Rampazzo (Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, University of 
Oxford). 

Submission Guidelines 
To provide a submission, use this Microsoft form, which will ask for a 250-500 word 
abstract/presentation descriptions and a 100-word speaker bio. This form is due by 5pm GMT on 
February 15th, 2022. Please specify with which of the topics (see above) your presentation best 
aligns. The form will also ask whether the speaker hopes to present virtually or in-person and 
whether the speaker would like to be considered for need-based travel funding. Decisions will be 
communicated by March 25th, 2022 via email. Submissions that are not based on an abstract/academic paper, particularly for those whose work does not commonly take this 
form. 

Registration 
Registration details will be released in due course, once speakers are confirmed. Attendees and 
participants are welcome to attend individual panels as they wish. Accessibility is a priority, and 
due to the hybrid nature of the event, the conference will not charge a fee. The organisers will also utilize automated closed captioning for those attending online. They would be happy to hear your ideas, and you are welcome to contact them if there are ways that we can make this conference more accessible and/or conscientious. 

Contact details 
Please do not hesitate to contact the conference organisers at 
• christina.pao@nuffield.ox.ac.uk 
• maksim.zubok@nuffield.ox.ac.uk. 
• migration-mobility@torch.ox.ac.uk