RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2011

London, 31^st August to 2^nd September

CALL FOR PAPERS

Diversity in transitions to adulthood and implications for residential mobility

Convenors: Nissa Finney (University of Manchester) and Naomi Tyrrell (University of Plymouth)

Sponsored by the Population Geography Research Group and the

Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group

Migration has long been recognised as an experience associated strongly with life stage. However, it is relatively recently that substantial attention has been paid to the interaction between migration and lifecourse, as demonstrated by the publication of special issues on this topic in Population, Space and Place (2008) and Demographic Research (2007). This emerging arena of research has been propelled by findings that transitions to adulthood and migration’s relation to family change are more complex than previous understandings recognised. So too, the geographies of migration across the lifecourse have increased in their complexity. Thus Geist and McManus (2008, 283) assert that “the increasing complexity of career and family trajectories throughout adulthood call for a re-examination of geographical mobility across all age groups”.

In lifecourse research, there has been recent theorisation about destandardisation and the increase in complexity of transitions to adulthood, in parallel with more general concerns in the social sciences with individualisation of experiences. This has led to calls for the study of the experiences of subcultures and subgroups and the comment that “the life course literature has largely ignored these alternative life course patterns” (Dannefer 2003, 651).

This session engages with these debates by focusing on the implications of diverse transitions to adulthood for residential mobility. Papers are welcomed from any national/regional context. Themes of papers may include:

-          Career aspirations and trajectories

-          Access to housing; changing housing markets

-          Ethnic differences in higher education participation

-          Cultural meanings of marriage

-          Understandings of home

-          Gender and mobility

-          Intergenerational transfer (e.g. of cultural norms, economic resources) and housing choice

-          Community ties and networks

-          Family influence on housing decisions

-          Financial constraints and material resources

- Methods for researching transitions to adulthood and residential mobility

If you would like to present a paper in this session, please send an abstract of 200 words to Nissa Finney (nissa.finney@manchester.ac.uk) and Naomi Tyrrell (naomi.tyrrell@plymouth.ac.uk) by 7th February 2011.

The Erste Foundation has published a new call for expression of interests, this time focusing on “Migration and its effects on demographic and economic development in Central and Eastern Europe”.

Submission deadline for receipt of expressions of interest is 20 July 2010. For more information please visit: http://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/research/regions/europe/east/opportunities .

The University of Liverpool are advertising for a lecture in Human Geography, specialising in the areas of Human Migration and Mobility, and Global population change. The position is based in the People, Space and Place research cluster within the school of Environmental Sciences. The principle research thems of this cluster are: spatial planning and governance, population and the life course, environment and development, cultural geographies and advanced research methods in the social sciences.

The ideal candidate will already have begun to establish an international reputation in this field and will have particular expertise in qualitative methods enabling them to contribute to developments in social science research methods. Preference may be given to those working on international labour migration and/or the effects of environmental change.

The salary is £30,747 – £35,646 pa

Closing data for applications is the 10th of May, 2010.

More information is available here.

Research Associate (ENFOLD-ing project: Migration stream)

Salary (inclusive of London allowance)

£31,778 per annum

Duties and Responsibilities

This is an EPSRC-funded research position working on the Explaining, Modelling & Forecasting Global Dynamics (ENFOLD-ing) project.   The main purpose of this post is to initiate, develop, design and be responsible for the delivery of a programme of high quality quantitative research into the relevant statistical, geographical and theoretical aspects related to migration analysis, as well as related issues to the overall aims of the ENFOLD project; this includes working in and contributing to the wider ENFOLD team effort.

Funding is available for two years in the first instance.

Key Requirements

The ideal candidate will have extensive programming experience (in C#, C++, Java, Python etc) , expertise in designing, constructing and analysing large databases and a PhD in any of the following:

• a quantitative speciality within a social science discipline such as; statistics, geography, economics, sociology, epidemiology/ public health, GIS, spatial analysis
• a science discipline with experience in social science applications, such as computer science, maths, physics, medicine, and any other relevant disciplines.

Further Details

A job description and person specification can be accessed at the bottom of this page. To apply for the vacancy please click on the ‘Apply Now’ button below. If you have any queries regarding the vacancy, please contact Sonja Curtis, s.curtis@ucl.ac.uk, 020 7679 1782.

Please also upload the following documents: (a) a letter of application outlining your suitability to this post and your reasons for applying; (b) a samples of your work (if any).

UCL Taking Action for Equality

Closing Date

23 Apr 2010

Interview date

21st May 2010 (TBC)

More details:  http://tinyurl.com/yh567tq

PhD studentship opportunity at University College London in migration statistics and modelling.

—-

PHD Studentship – (ENFOLD-ing – Explaining, Modelling and Forecasting Global Dynamics), –

UCL Department / Division

Department of Geography

Specific unit / Sub department

Migration Research Unit/CASA

Duration of Studentship

3 Years

Stipend

£15,290 plus £3,390 tuition fees per annum

Vacancy Information

ENFOLD is a multidisciplinary, five year modelling project funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC: £2.9 million FEC) spanning seven UCL departments. It will develop new forms of complexity science to address the most difficult of human problems: those involving global change where there is no organised constituency and whose agencies are largely regarded as being ineffective. ENFOLD addresses problems arising from the fact that that global systems tend to be treated in isolation from one another. Their characteristically unexpected dynamics are thus due to the aspects of coupling and integration between them that are all too often ignored. To demonstrate these dynamics and develop appropriate policy responses, ENFOLD will study four related global systems: trade, migration, security and development aid. Integrated and coupled models will be developed, whose dynamics can be described in the language of complexity theory, including chaos, turbulence, bifurcations, catastrophes, and phase transition. The programme will apply spatial interaction models to trade and migration; reaction diffusion to conflicts and terrorism; and network models to international trade, migration and crime. These models will be extended to incorporate new events, such as the emergence of new entities, including countries, coupling them together in diverse ways. A generic framework will ultimately be developed for a coupled global dynamics spanning many spatial and temporal scales, pertaining to different systems whose behaviours can be both quantitatively and qualitatively simulated. Models will be developed which incorporate all these ideas into a global intelligence system to inform global policy makers about future events. Several UK government departments as well as global businesses are partners in this project.

Studentship Description

The role of the Migration PhD studentship within ENFOLD will be:

1. To review and engage with the literature on general theories of migration and more specifically that on migration forecasting models

2. To identify, collect, systematise and analyse relevant international migration statistics as required by the project

3. To assist in the programming and database effort for the migration model in ENFOLD

4. To develop and test several models of global migration dynamics

Person Specification

The applicants should possess a good honours degree (1st Class or 2:1 minimum) in any of the following disciplines: Economics, Statistics, Physics, Mathematics, Finance, or in any social science program with a strong quantitative component within Geography, Sociology, Epidemiology/ Public Health, GIS, Spatial Analysis or any other closely relevant subject area. An MSc in one of these areas or/and knowledge in econometric and statistical analysis is highly desirable. They should also have excellent quantitative research skills in social sciences including a good command of statistical analysis and programming knowledge of relevant packages (R, SAS,SPSS). As well as strong motivation to conduct independent research on the field of migration and basic knowledge of contemporary issues on migration.

Eligibility

The studentship is subject to funding restrictions please refer to the following link:http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/students/Pages/eligibility.aspx.

Candidates should submit an application for graduate study to UCL Registry (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/admission/graduate-study/application-admission/) and should send a duplicate, along with a CV and cover letter, to Dr Pablo Mateos via email top.mateos@ucl.ac.uk.

Contact name

Dr Pablo Mateos

Contact details

p.mateos@ucl.ac.uk

UCL Taking Action for Equality

Closing Date

30 Jun 2010

Latest time for the submission of applications

30th June 2010

Interview date

Mid July 2010

Studentship Start Date

1st October 2010

A new report released today at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Bonn Meeting, says climate change may cause vast human migrations on an order not previously experienced. The report, In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Displacement and Migration, was written by CIESIN, the United Nations University, and CARE International.

The report:

• Draws on empirical evidence from a new survey of every continent.
• Contains original maps created by CIESIN that pinpoint potential locations of critical displacements.
• Aims to inform critical policy making via a comprehensive discussion of the linkages between environmental change, displacement, and migration.

More information here

Report link (pdf) here.

The Centre for Migration Policy Research (CMPR) at Swansea University has been awarded funding by the ESRC to host a series of one-day seminars which aim to increase understanding of the migrant experience.

The first seminar in the series was held in April and explored the links between micro-level understanding of ‘the migrant experience’ and macro-level theories and trends from an inter-disciplinary perspective.

The next seminar is entitled Understanding difference: the role of gender, age, class and race in shaping ‘the migrant experience‘ and will provide an opportunity to reflect on the various dimensions of identity that impact on experiences of migration, as well as the implications of these differences, and the intersectionality between them, for policy and practice.

The seminar will take place at Swansea University on Thursday 9th July 2009 from 9.30am – 5pm.

Seminar details and programme, questions, and if you would like to attend this seminar please email migration@swansea.ac.uk by 20th June. Places are limited to 45 participants. There are a number of travel bursaries available for migrants and postgraduate researchers who would like to participate.

Rethinking Migration. New Glances on Migration/s

Research-Workshop, Sept, 29th and 30th 2009, Graz/Austria

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Research-group Migration at the Centre for Cultural Studies (University of Graz, Austria) invites you to submit an abstract (3000 char. incl. space) for the Research Workshop “Rethinking Migration.  New glances on Migration/s” in September 2009.

Proposals from Research-groups, PhD-Students (especially teams) as well  as Post-Doc-Researchers (for presentations as well as for posters) are  welcome to be submitted to stefan.benedik-karner@uni-graz.at

 Deadline:  June, 10th, 2009

Certain theoretical approaches towards phenomena of migration tend to  result in specific focusses, which are fostering certain issues and  problems as well as hiding others. This research-workshop is based on  the assumption that the dominance of social sciences in Migration Studies still is supporting concepts of multiculturalism. Hence,

 seemingly static identities (ethnical, religious, gender, class or  others) and binary structured images (“push” vs. “pull”) persist.

 New approches dealing with concepts such as hybridity, transition,  diaspora oder community, Gender, Intersectionality, Postcolonial,  Subaltern Studies etc. challenge these perceptions: Migrations become  visible beyond teleological conceptions. Thus current approaches  emphasise decentral characteristics (e.g. in biographies), not only

when  speaking about migratory experience. Consequently transnationality, transculturalism and multilingualism are considered to be the norm –  fragmented lifes in transition and similar perceptions of space and  frontiers are no longer marginalised.

The aim of the planned research-workshop is to discuss current  approaches on migratory movements in historical as well as present  perspectives and to examine possibilities and limits of different  migration theories. The workshop is open to any research-projects  on

 migration/s (done in teams or by individuals), PhD-students as well as  Post-Docs are invited to outline their position within current  theoretical debates on migration in short presentations (app. 20  min) or  posters.

The following focusses are to be followed (among others):

 –            Cultural representation of migration/s  (imagination/narrative invention of “migrants” and their communties,  (gendered) discourses, visualisation, processes of negotiation and  functions of migration discourses)

 –            Social practices (plural self-ascriptions, labour and  migration, “global division of labour”, gendered scopes of action)

 –            Participation and Empowerment, bureaucratical  treatment of  migration/s

 stefan.benedik-karner@uni-graz.at , Deadline for proposals: June 10th,  2009

International Conference on North-South migration

The Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations (CRER) is holding a conference on African Transnational and Return Migration on June 29-30th 2009, at Radcliffe House, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL. The conference is concerned with the following themes:

Conceptual issues in transnationalism, remittances and homeland development;
Public policies affecting transnational organisations in the countries of origin and destination;
Typologies and functions of transnational organisations in destination communities and homeland development;
Transnational organisations in post-conflict reconstruction;
The future of transnational organisations and North-South and South-South cooperation.

Over the two days of the conference, 20 papers will be presented. The speakers include both eminent and early stage researchers, drawn mainly from Africa south of the Sahara. While the primary focus of the conference is on African migration and migrants, the programme includes contributions from experts in north-south migration in other contexts (e.g. North America) and specialists in migration within Europe. The papers will be published in an edited book.

The conference will bring together researchers, policymakers, funding and donor agencies and other stakeholders in international migration and development to discuss the influence of migration upon the migrant’s homeland development. It will seek to map out future North-South and South-South cooperation and initiatives with respect to research, training and dialogue on the role of African transnational organisations both in Europe and in homeland development.

The conference is being organised by Professor John Oucho (See: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/afrobrain/oucho/). He is a geographer, eminent in the study of migration in Africa. He holds a Marie Curie Chair at CRER, where he is developing a programme of research (entitled “Afrobrain”), concerned with the implications of international migration to and from African countries for ‘brain drain’ and ‘brain gain’ (See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/afrobrain/ for further information).

Further details of the conference will be available on the CRER website (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/events/african/), where you can also find a booking form (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/events/african/costs/). If you wish to discuss the conference further or to enquire about presenting a paper, please get in touch with the convenor, whose contact details are as follows:

Prof. John O. Oucho
Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0) 24 7657 4731
Mobile phone: +44 7910508411
E-mail: J.O.Oucho@warwick.ac.uk

Security Insecurity and Migration in Europe

Organised by IMEPO (Hellenic Migration Policy Institute) and the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester.

Venue: University of Leicester, 18-19 September 2009 

The end of the Cold War division of Europe and the recent enlargement of the European Union (EU) have generated new, complex forms of population movement and have reconfigured refugee and asylum issues. The forces that determine these movements are powerful (for example, growing disparities in the level of prosperity and human security experienced by different societies), and in the current economic climate, the ability to modify them is limited. The national states and supra-national institutions of Europe have been presented with massive challenges as they have sought to grapple with the evolution of new forms of mobility and migration within and into the EU and its western satellites. These unfolded against the continuing redefinition of relations with the non-European world. These complex and shifting forms of population movement both questioned established notions of identity and citizenship and created challenges for different scales of governance in both sending and receiving states in the light of emerging divergences between the interests of migrants and states trying to control their entry as well as between governments, NGOs and civil society.

After the events of the 9/11 security concerns are high on national and international agendas, including in the context of the movement of people.   Migration issues, having often been framed in terms of security concerns, they have simultaneously given rise to issues of insecurity: on the one hand, security of borders, political, societal and economic security/insecurity in the host country; while on the other hand, concerns about human security, that is social, legal, economic and other conditions of (in)security for EU citizens and for migrants who enter or have entered Europe.  In terms of state security, migration is a core target of increasingly globally networked surveillance capabilities. In terms of human security, it exposes the gap between the protections that migrants formally enjoy under international law and the realities they experience as they travel and work across different countries and hence a human rights deficit.

Hence, irregular migration poses difficult challenges for states as well as exposing migrants to insecurity and vulnerability. This conference will discuss both the concerns of states in this respect and the need to protect the fundamental rights of migrants. Against this background, the conference aims to explore a number of related themes:

o    The dilemmas involved in framing policy-making on migration in Europe.

o    The implications of the securitisation of migration and migrants.

o    The extent to which irregular migration constitutes a real or perceived threat to state security and human security.

o    Migration, economic in/securities and the informalisation of European labour markets.

o    Migration, societal in/securities and rise of racism and xenophobia in Europe.

o    The living conditions and security needs of migrants in European countries.

o    Processes of inclusion/exclusion.

o    Gender and Migration.

o    Role of social capital in negotiating spaces of control.

o    Human trafficking as a threat to security; who is insecure?

o    Politics of diversity and multiculturalism.

o    Migrants as objects of globally networked surveillance.

o    The implications of state structures and institutional capabilities for the migration-security balance sheet.

Organisation: Registration fee: £130 (this includes conference package including papers presented at the conference, coffee breaks and lunches, reception and conference dinner). Student subsidized fee: £95. Further information can be obtained from Ms Jane Russell. Email jer13@leicester.ac.uk 

Proposals for papers with one page abstract should be sent by 30 May 2009 to Dr. Lazaridis. Email  gl36@leicester.ac.uk