Booking and further information are available at: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=2455

The classification of places and people has become an increasingly popular activity from the perspective of those seeking to understand the nature of spatial and social inequality and for those aiming to target consumers. National
spatial classifications have been developed by both public and private sector teams and this workshop aims to provide some guidance on how to build national spatial classifications, what data sets and statistical methods are
needed, what obstacles are encountered, how robust are the classifications that are produced and what are they used for. The workshop also considers the issue of social classifications and their harmonisation.

This workshop is free to attend and aimed at those working or studying in UK higher or further education institutions.

Contemporary Labour Migration: National and International Perspectives

Hosted by NUI Galway under the auspices of the Population Geography Research Group of the RGS-IBG and Population Commission of the International Geographical Union

Papers are invited for an Anglo-Irish population conference on Labour Migration. Whilst there is a focus on Ireland and the UK, papers that address the broad conference themes in other geographical contexts will be most welcome.

Major changes have taken place in the scale and character of labour migration in the UK and Ireland since the early 1990s, involving both national and international workers. Established patterns of movement have continued within and between rural and urban regions; both countries also experienced dramatic increases in overseas labour immigration from the early 1990s on, to fill vacancies in highly skilled and lower skilled employment. Both countries, with Sweden, opened their borders immediately in 2004 to members of the new accession states of the European Union to meet labour deficits. In response to reduced rates of economic growth since 2008, demand for labour has fallen and new challenges have emerged for labour, employers and governments. New migration patterns are apparent, associated with migrant return to countries of origin and relocation within and between regions. Ireland and the UK provide similarities but also contrasts in terms of labour migration, in particular the diversity of the former’s immigrant flows. Both countries are currently facing crises in their labour markets which are finding expression in changing migration patterns, a phenomenon that is not exclusive to them. This experience provides a context for exploring and developing existing and new theoretical perspectives relating to internal and international migration.

Papers are invited on the following themes in particular:

(i) the socio-economic and political contexts of recent labour migration, including the role of employers, national governments and international agencies in the migration process;
(ii) the composition of migration flows at an international scale and impacts in source and reception areas;
(iii) the internal and transnational labour migration experience within urban and rural settings;
(iv) the transnational labour migrant experience in the broader host society.

Abstracts (max. 300 words) are invited by Tuesday 6th April 2010: http://www.conference.ie/Conferences/index.asp?Conference=90.

Guest Speaker: Professor Adrian J. Bailey, University of Leeds and Hong Kong Baptist University will deliver a plenary address on Recession, Labour Migration, and Europe’s Transnational Turn, at 18:30 on 12th May, in the D’Arcy Thompson Theatre.

Graduate Bursaries: A limited number of graduate bursaries are available on a competitive basis to cover the cost of the registration fee, (sponsored by the Dean of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies): http://www.conference.ie/Conferences/index.asp?Conference=90.

Registration commences at 10:30 on Wednesday 12th May followed by buffet lunch at 12:00.  The Conference opens at 13:00 on the 12th May and closes at 17:00 on Thursday 13th of May.
Conference web site:
http://www.conference.ie/Conferences/index.asp?Conference=90

Organisers
Darren Smith, Chair, RGS-IBG Population Geography Research Group  d.smith@brighton.ac.uk
Mary Cawley: mary.cawley@nuigalway.ie
Marie Mahon: marie.mahon@nuigalway.ie
Valerie Ledwith: valerie.ledwith@nuigalway.ie
School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway

The first event is entitled: Globalisation and Cosmopolitan Citizenship: Migrating Bodies, Practices and Ideas and will be given by Professor Peggy Levitt of Wellesley College, USA; chaired by Dr Claire Dwyer of the Migration Research Unit, UCL Department of Geography, and with Professor John Eade, Director of CRONEM, University of Roehampton and Visiting Professor in the Migration Research Unit acting as discussant. The abstract is as follows:

“Cosmopolitanism today is no longer the exclusive province of elites. Labour migrants, sojourners, religious believers, and refugees are also open to the world, although they interact with it differently than their professional counterparts. In fact, in today’s world, cosmopolitanism is a necessity not a choice. What are the rights and responsibilities of global citizenship? How can we begin to imagine a community that extends beyond national borders and where do the elements come from with which to create it?”

Peggy Levitt is a Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College and a Research Fellow at The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University where she co-directs The Transnational Studies Initiative. Her books include God Needs No Passport: Immigrants and the Changing American Religious Landscape (New Press 2007), The Transnational Studies Reader (Routledge 2007), The Changing Face of Home: The Transnational Lives of the Second Generation (Russell Sage 2002), and The Transnational Villagers (UC Press, 2001).

The event is scheduled to take place on 10 March 2010 from 5.30-7pm in the Roberts Lecture Theatre, 106 Roberts Building, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE. The event is followed by a drinks reception in the Roberts Building Foyer. All are welcome, but places are limited, pleases can be reserved at http://migrationsymposium.eventbrite.com/.

The series is sponsored by UCL Research Challenges and the UCL Grand Challenge of Intercultural Interaction. A full programme for the series is available here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/migration/symposia/.

If you want to come to the one day CASA meeting “Advances in Spatial Analysis & e-Social Science”, then please go to the registration site at http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/conference/ and register.

You can get to the GISRUK site from http://gisruk2010.spatial-literacy.org/registration/

If you need any more information about this meeting email christiane.morgan@ucl.ac.uk.

The programme for the CASA meeting is listed below

Session One (AM)

Online exploration of cultural regions, migration and ethnicity using the geography of personal names  – Paul Longley & Pablo Mateos

Spatial Interaction Models for Higher Education – Alex Singleton & Ollie O’Brien

The Dynamics of Skyscrapers: Scaling, Allometry, and Sustainability – Michael Batty

Development of an urban growth model using high-resolution historical data – Kiril Stanilov

Session Two (PM)

The research frontier in urban modelling: the agenda and the challenges – Alan Wilson

On-line Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Network Data and Road Developments – Tao Cheng

Twitter Tags and Real-Time Visualisation of Complex Geographic Data with MapTube – Richard Milton

Tales of Things and Electronic Memory ­ Creating and Mapping The Geography of Everything – Andrew Hudson-Smith

Panel Discussion with Mike Goodchild, Keith Clarke, David Maguire, Carl Steinitz

Coffee at convenient points is provided, but lunch is not.

Afterwards, there will be a reception in the Wilkins Building Jeremy Bentham Room.

MIGRANT TRANSNATIONALISM, INTEGRATION AND PLACE

SESSION ABSTRACT:
This session aims to explore the intersections between migrants’ transnational engagements and integration in the destination country.  The session is based on the premise that our understandings of the interactions between transnationalism and integration depend on how we understand and use the two terms.

If integration is understood as a process whereby migrants and the mainstream population become more alike, transnational activities that link migrants with their country of origin can be a signifier of difference – transnationalism can be perceived as a barrier to integration.  This is especially true if the mainstream perceives migrant transnational activities to be a cause, or indicator, of ‘divided loyalties’.  At the same time, integration understood in this way can be seen as decreasing or limiting transnational ties, especially for the second generation.  Alternatively, if integration is understood as a process of migrant adaptation to life in a new country, then it could be considered as a complement to transnationalism, assuming that is also understood as form of migrant adaptation.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the intersections between transnationalism and integration (see for example, Joppke and Morawska, 2003, Kivisto, 2001; Levitt, 2003; Nagel and Staeheli, 2008; Snel et al., 2006; Vertovec, 2007).  These studies indicate a growing consensus that integration and transnationalism are not mutually exclusive – but are they instead simply concurrent, overlapping, or even mutually supportive?  And, how do relationships between integration and transnationalism play out in different contexts?

For geographers the exploration of interactions between transnationalism and integration brings together issues of global connections (transnationalism) with how they influence the ways that migrants negotiate membership in their cities and countries of settlement. Geographers have contributed to the study of migrant transnationalism, among other through focus on transnational spatialities (e.g. Featherstone et al 2007), the significance of space in transnationalism (e.g. Ley 2004), transnational urbanism (e.g. Smith 2005) and bringing forward a place perspective (e.g. Gielis 2009).

We invite paper proposals that address (empirically and/or theoretically) aspects of the following themes:

- Has the growing acceptance of migrant transnationalism altered our approach to the analysis of integration, and how?
- How does the linking of transnationalism and integration affect our interpretations of the importance of place and space?
- Are there particular forms of transnationalism that interact differently with integration? i.e. transnational activities with an economic focus versus a socio-cultural focus?
- Do different forms of integration (e.g. structural or socio-cultural) interact with transnationalism in different ways?
- What is the impact of differences between immigrants (e.g. gender, age, human capital, generation) on the questions above?

SESSION KEY WORDS:
Migration – transnationalism – integration – place

SESSION FORMAT:
4 papers and 1 discussant, for a session of 1 hour and 40 mins. Should there be larger interest; consecutive sessions can be proposed, allowing for 8 papers to be included.

DEADLINE
Please submit abstracts by email no later than the 1st of February to Ceri Oeppen (co13@soas.ac.uk) and Marta Bivand Erdal (marta@prio.no).

The meetings will be looking at the revisions proposed by ONS to the Mid Year Estimate series from Mid 2002 to Mid 2008. The latest changes revise methodology for the distribution of International migrants between local areas and include new data on Students to enhance moves within the UK. These meetings will give Local Authorities the chance to compare findings, assess the changes and receive some feedback from the ONS IMPS team.

The programme for both events are available at the bottom of this post. If you would like to contribute to the events by giving a short (10 minute) presentation as part of Session 2, and get instant feedback from the ONS IMPS team, please let the BSPS Secretariat know when you register for the event.

To register please email pic@lse.ac.uk and indicate which venue you will be attending and whether you would like to do a short presentation.

Meeting Flyer here.

Leeds Schedule here.

LGA Schedule here.

The first seminar, ‘Neighbourhood Effects: Theory and Evidence‘, to be held in St Andrews, is scheduled for the 4th and 5th February 2010, starting at 10:30am on the 4th and finishing at 3:00pm on the 5th.

Confirmed speakers include George Galster, Mario Small, Ruth Lupton, Ed Fieldhouse, Steven Durlauf, Paul Cheshire, and Geoff Meen.

Full details can be found on the seminar website: www.neighbourhoodeffects.org

Places are strictly limited: to register your interest in attending the Seminar Series, please email: mail@neighbourhoodeffects.org by Monday the 16th of November.

Attendance at the seminar, including buffet lunch, is free of charge. Transport to St Andrews, and accommodation costs are at your own expense.

It will take place on Friday 23^rd October at the Royal Statistical Society, Errol St, London from 09.30 to 16.30.

Those speaking at the workshop include ESRC Chief Executive Ian Diamond, Sharon Witherspoon MBE, Nuffield Foundation and Patrick Sturgis of the National Centre for Research Methods. The leaders of the pilot projects established by the ESRC to explore ways of encouraging undergraduate social science students to make greater use of quantitative methods and improve their skills will also present their results

There is no charge for attending the workshop, but places are limited and prior registration is required. A buffet lunch will be provided.

To register please return the attached registration form by email to:

john.macinnes@ed.ac.uk

Travel expenses up to a maximum of £75 can be reimbursed for a limited number of participants from outside the Greater London area unable to find funding from their own institutions.

If you would like to apply for this funding please indicate this on the registration form.

More information: Workshop programme and Workshop registration form

For details see the flyer here.