Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM) is an international research centre with a multidisciplinary profile and a strong international presence. Within the centre and its extensive network, researchers develop, explore and exchange knowledge of international migration and ethnic diversity.

News and events

Seminar, 1 September

Migration seminar

Seminar, 8 September

Migration seminar: Similar disruptions, different reactions? Refugee crises and...

Seminar, 15 September

Migration seminar

Seminar, 6 October

Migration seminar: Where do we go from here? Anthropological reflections on the...

News

Civil society crucial for successful integration

News

Common talk about migration maintains harmful assumptions

Research highlights and news

Read just published article by MIM researcher Sayaka Osanami Törngren.

“Innovative Approaches, Climate Change Resilience in Urban Environments”, 25-26 of August. See link for more information and call for abstract.

Welcome to attend the final conference of the Asylum commission on Aug 25 that takes place in Malmö. You will also be able to watch it online.

Special Issue on Corona and Populism; The pandemic situation (Covid-19) has led to a global health crisis. How governments have chosen to handle the situation have brought repercussions on the everyday encounters of individual citizens, workplace conditions, educational arrangements, the salience of which political issues, the governance of migration, and more. For more information and how to contribute, see link below.

The Migration Seminar

This is a multidisciplinary forum for researchers from all faculties at Malmö University with an interest in migration, integration, diversity and related issues. Master’s students and anyone else interested in the research field are welcome to participate in the Migration Seminar.

The purpose of the seminar is to facilitate an exchange of ideas and knowledge and to stimulate a pluralism of perspectives, theories and methods. It offers a wide variety of research-related activities ranging from paper and project presentations to specially-invited guests and panel debates. It also hosts the seminar series of the Malmö City Guest Professor in Migration Studies. As the seminar has a distinctly international profile, both with respect to attendance and topics, most sessions are held in English.

Seminars on Thursdays

During the autumn the Migration seminars will be held in hybrid format, both online via zoom and in the seminar room 9th floor, Niagara, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1. If you would ike to participate on campus, gather by the reception area on ground floor at 14.10. Email us if you have any questions at mim@mau.se

1 September
TBA
Christian Fernández, Associate professor, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University

8 September
Similar disruptions, different reactions? Refugee crises and the politicization of immigration in Sweden and Switzerland
Anders Hellström, Senior lecturer, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University,
Marco Bitschnau, Research associate, University of Neuchatel and University of California, Berkeley,
Didier Ruedin, Senior lecturer, University of Neuchatel and University of the Witwatersrand, 
Mari Sundström, Doctoral student, Gothenburg University.

15 September
TBA
Tina Gudrun Jensen, Researcher, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University,
Erica Righard, Associate professor, Department of Social Work, Malmö University

22 September
90% PhD seminar: TBA
Eline Waerp, Doctoral student, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University

29 September
A sense of presence. Visual ethnography using immersive 360-video with Syrians
Josepha Ivanka Wessels, Senior lecturer, Communication for Development, the School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University

6 October
Where do we go from here? Anthropological reflections on the role
of the imagination in human (im)mobility
Noel Salazar, Professor, Social and Cultural Anthropology, KU Leuven
Read more


13 October
TBA
Måns Lundstedt, Research assistant, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University

20 October
TBA
Carolin Schütze, Postdoc, Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School

27 October
TBA
Rebecka Söderberg, Doctoral student, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University

10 November
TBA
Daniela DeBono, Senior lecturer, Anthropological Sciences, University of Malta

17 November
TBA
Haodong Qi, Project researcher, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University

24 November
TBA
Ingrid Jerve Ramsøy, Project researcher, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University

1 December
TBA
Jacob Lind and Christina Hansen, Project researchers, Department of Global Political Studies,
Malmö University

8 December
TBA
Henrik Emilsson, Assistant senior lecturer, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University

15 December
TBA
Peter Scholten, Professor, Public Administration, Erasmus University Rotterdam

 

Watch MIM seminars at Mau Play

Bridget Anderson, Director of Migration Mobilities Bristol and Professor of Migration, Mobilities and Citizenship,  University of Bristol, and Malmö City Guest Professor in Migration Studies at MIM.
2022-05-12

The work of the ‘national’ in ‘national welfare states’


James F. Hollifield, Professor, Director of the Tower Center at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas.
2022-05-05

Controlling Immigration:  A Comparative Perspective


Russell King, Professor of Geography at the University of Sussex (UK) and Visiting Professor in Migration Studies at MIM, Malmö University
2022-04-28

Unpacking the migration–development nexus: theoretical perspectives,
and empirical evidence from Albania

Marta Bivand Erdal, Research Professor in Migration Studies at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
2022-04-21

Can you live in two countries simultaneously?
What theoretical approaches on transnationalism and mobilities can tell us

Rainer Bauböck, Professor, European University Institute, Florence, and Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 
2021-11-04

Selection into citizenship

Irene Bloemraad, Professor, founding director of Berkeley’s Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI) and the Class of 1951 Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley 
2021-11-18

Beyond Typologizing (or Idealizing) Citizenship: What does it do, what does it mean?

James F. Hollifield, Professor, Director of the Tower Center at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas
2021-02-11

Theorizing International Migration: Towards a ‘Unified field of Study?’

 

Migration Society 2.0 Lecture Series

Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM) is an international research centre with a multidisciplinary profile and a strong international presence. Within the centre and its extensive network, researchers develop, explore and exchange knowledge of international migration and ethnic diversity. The objective of the Migration Society 2.0 series is to draw attention to and enhance understanding of the new forms of diversity that migration scholars are talking about under banners such as super-diversity, everyday diversity, commonplace diversity, post-migration society and so on. We are specifically interested in how diversity is normalized and resisted on different levels and spheres of society. How is this normality construed and co-produced by its own generation of agents and subjects? What kind of mindset and strategy of co-existence is diversity, really? And how is it sustained in public imagery and narratives? To answer these questions, we have handpicked seven particularly interesting and original researchers from the diversity field.

Autumn 2020 – watch the seminars 

Keith Banting, Professor Emeritus of Political Studies and Stauffer Dunning fellow at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University;
Will Kymlicka, Professor of Philosophy and Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy, Queen’s University.

Beyond National Identity: Shared Membership, Deservingness,
and Inclusive Solidarity in Diverse Societies

Maurice Crul, Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Identities, Diversity and Inclusion Program, University of Amsterdam

Becoming a Minority. How do people without migration background influence the living climate in majority-minority neighbourhoods?

Eva van Belle, Assistant Professor of Economics and Post doc at NCCR – on the move, University of Neuchatel

The immigrant-native wage gap: is there a gap and is it "fair"?

Miri Song, Professor of Sociology at the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent

How should we (teachers and students) talk about racism
in the classroom and in our research?

Susanne Wessendorf, Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science

Social exclusion, symbolic boundaries and convivial labour in
East London’s context of ongoing immigration

Facts

            Malmö City Guest Professor
            in Migration Studies

(former Guest Professorship in Memory of Willy Brandt)

The Guest Professorship within the field of International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) is a donation to Malmö University financed by the City of Malmö when the University was inaugurated.

During the spring of 2022 we had the pleasure of having
Professor Bridget Anderson from Bristol University as the Malmö City Guest Professor in Migration Studies at MIM.

Read interview with Professor Anderson

Willy Brandt Series of Working Papers

We are very happy to announce that we recently received confirmation from the City of Malmö that our guest professorship will be financed for another ten years. Malmö University and MIM have, since 2000, hosted 32 prominent researchers as part of the guest professorship and it has generated a constant and dynamic exchange of knowledge, enhancing MIM’s academic strength while also reinforcing our international network. We are therefore very glad that the City of Malmö wishes to continue collaborating with MIM and that we can look forward to another ten years of academic and social exchange with leading scholars from the migration field. Read more about the guest professorship and previous guest professors below.

International migration and ethnic relations

The aim of the professorship is to strengthen research at Malmö University within the field of IMER. As IMER has a strong international network, the City of Malmö sought, via the guest professorship, to strengthen contacts with international experts in order to ensure that they would become an integral part of research and teaching. An international guest professorship creates a constant and dynamic exchange of knowledge and enhances the centre’s academic strength. The donation also funds a research fellow and a PhD position.

Who was Willy Brandt?

Willy Brandt was West Germany’s Chancellor between 1969-1974. He was forced to seek refuge in Sweden during the Second World War and developed strong ties with the country. In order to emphasise the importance and status of the scientific investment, the City of Malmö obtained the family’s permission to name a guest professorship after him.

Bridget Anderson (spring 2022)

Magdalena Nowicka (spring 2020)

Ellen Percy Kraly (spring and autumn 2019)

Per Mouritsen (autumn 2018)

Maarten Vink (autumn 2017 and spring 2018) 

Ruth Wodak (spring and autumn 2017)

Keith Banting (2016 October-December)

Joaquín Arango (2016 August- September )

Giuseppe Sciortino (2015 autumn and 2016 spring)

Garbi Schmidt (2014 and 2015 spring)

Miri Song (2013 autumn)

Russell King (2012 and 2013 spring)

Ayhan Kaya (2011 autumn)

Raymond Taras  (2010 autumn and 2011 spring)

Daniel Hiebert (2009 autumn and 2010 spring)

Peggy Levitt (2009 spring)

Carlo Ruzza (2008 autumn)

Yasemin Soysal (2007 autumn and 2008 spring)

Cas Mudde (2007 spring)

David Ingleby (2007 spring)

Ewa R. Morawska (2006 autumn)

Nina Glick Schiller (2006 spring)

Sandro Cattacin (2005 autumn)

Nikos Papastergiadis (2005 spring)

Marco Martiniello (2004 autumn) 

Don DeVoretz (2004 spring)

Katherine Fennelly (2003 autumn)

Thomas Faist (2003 spring)

Grete Brochmann (2002 autumn) 

Jock Collins (2002 spring)

Ellie Vasta (2001 autumn)

Thomas Faist (2001 spring)

John Rex (2001 spring)
(1925-2011)

Rainer Bauböck (2000 autumn)  

 

Facts

Our research

MIM was established in January 2007 with the goal of strengthening Malmö University’s migration research profile. Further to this, MIM was also envisaged as a platform to expand Malmö University’s international networks and build bridges between the university and non-academic actors. MIM consists of a core of senior and junior researchers and a large international network of affiliated researchers. MIM regularly hosts prominent professors in IMER from around the world.

The research conducted at MIM is multidisciplinary and is pursued in collaboration with international partners. It is funded either nationally or by the EU and can be classified under the following four themes:

We focus both on a general analysis of emigration and immigration from/to Sweden and other places, and on individual experiences of migration, and how these are represented in, for instance, politics, media and museums. Here, migration concerns people moving from conflict zones and applying for asylum in Sweden as well as other countries, but also highly educated people looking for better job opportunities in, for example, Shanghai and Sweden.

Migration politics are analysed at policy and discursive levels, and migration patterns, dynamics and outcomes are considered. The perspectives range from the global to the local and from the international to the transnational, and we employ a variety of methodological approaches.

Immigration creates both opportunities and challenges for the receiving country, and many of our research projects study the policies for and processes of inclusion, particularly those related to the first years after receiving residence. Under this theme, projects and studies deal with, for example, establishing “integration” indicators in a European context, which policies and practices are encountered by asylum seekers and refugees in local contexts. Research within this theme also studies which labour market integration and housing patterns are visible, including work-life balance for various immigrant and refugee groups by educational level as well country of origin.

This research strand focuses on the representations of migration. How are issues of, for instance, ethnic diversity represented at universities, on stage in theatres, or at museums? How are national identities reproduced in the age of migration? These questions invite studies that move the research interest from “them” to “us”. What kind of stereotypes of and attitudes towards immigrants and different ethnic groups are found in societies both in and beyond the West? How do they affect majority-minority relations? How are people’s negative attitudes to increased levels of diversity translated to the realm of party politics and represented in the different media venues? More generally, how do the Scandinavian welfare states with historically homogenous populations, tackle the challenges of ethnic diversity? And what are the discursive changes and policy measures suggested and implemented in host-societies?

Other related research endeavours empirically and theoretically investigate notions of e.g. freedom of speech, hate speech activities, and tolerance and racism in everyday settings.

Almost all areas of integration are represented in our research, such as political integration, labour market integration and social integration from different theoretical and methodological perspectives. We study policy development and the effects of these policies as well as patterns of integration for the migrant communities. Several of our researchers have a special interest in the idea, institution and role of citizenship and its relation to integration. Our research focuses among other things on the motives of naturalisation policies, such as greater transparency, compulsory (cultural) assimilation, legal exclusion of foreigners, and political participation, as well as liberal democratic legitimacy. Another area of citizenship research is the formation and education of citizens in diverse societies in school. Our expertise in this field ranges from political and educational philosophy to curriculum and classroom studies and from politics and policy to ethnographic “realities on the ground”.

'You're not Swedish Swedish': Inclusion and belongingness within Sweden

Research publications in the Malmö University database Diva

Researchers 

Total hits: 38

Affiliated researchers

Affiliated researchers at MIM

Daniela DeBono

– is a Resident Academic at the University of Malta. She was an Associate Professor at Malmö University, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFAS Fellow at the European University Institute and the Malmö Institute for the Studies of Migration, Welfare and Citizenship. Daniela was awarded her doctorate from the University of Sussex, where she was based at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research. She has conducted long-term ethnographic research on irregularised migration across the Mediterranean and border control in Malta, Lampedusa and Western Sicily. She also led an ethnographic study on deportation from Sweden. In addition, she has also published research on various aspects of Maltese citizenship and children’s rights. Her work has appeared in international peer-reviewed journals.

Daniela DeBono: Read more

Björn Fryklund

Professor Emeritus, Malmö University.

Björn Fryklund: Publications and more information 

PhD. Guita Hourani
- was awarded her doctorate in Global Studies from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan. Her principal research interests are in migration, including naturalization, social mobility, return, and voting behaviour. She is also interested in diaspora politics, lobbying, out-of-country voting, and bilateral relations. She is a Country of Origin Information Expert on Lebanon for the Rights in Exile Programme, England; an Expert for Lebanon at the Global Citizenship Observatory, European University Institute, Italy; a Fellow of Women in Conflict 1325, which is based on the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, Beyond Borders, Edinburg, Scotland; and a Fellow of the US Department of State-sponsored Civic Education and Leadership Fellowship at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USA. She is the Co-Founder and the Advisory Board Chair of Oghma Group International, a consulting agency in Lebanon. She was the Director of the Lebanese Research Center for Migration and Diaspora Studies at the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Notre Dame University-Louaize in Lebanon.


Academia

Dr Liliia Korol

– is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the National University of Ostroh Academy in Ukraine. Her main research interests are in the field of inter-ethnic relations and inter-ethnic attitudes, including tolerance, prejudice, and discrimination toward immigrant and ethnic minority groups. She is also interested in the adjustment of immigrant-origin youth in host countries. Dr Korol is the author of more than 30 scientific publications (mostly first- and single-authored research papers), including those published in internationally renowned peer-reviewed journals as well as top-level journals in her field in Ukraine and Russia.

Liliia Korol: Publications


Katarina Mozetič
– is a PhD Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo. Her research project explores the occupational aspirations and experiences of highly educated refugees in Oslo, Malmö and Munich.

Katarina Mozetič: Publications

Floris Peters

– is a postdoctoral researcher in the "Migrant Life Course and Legal Status Transition" (MiLifeStatus) project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and led by professor Maarten P. Vink. He holds a PhD from Maastricht University (cum laude) on the relevance of citizenship for the socio-economic integration of immigrants. Furthermore, during 2018-2020, Floris is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM).


Margareta Popoola
– fil. dr. in Sociology, Associate Professor in International migration and ethnic relations.
Her research focus: Identity and ethnicity, integration and segregation in urban contexts.
 Margareta Popoola: Publications


Carolin Schütze
– is a postdoc at Copenhagen Business School. She holds a PhD from Lund University. Her primary research areas and interests include; Racial attitudes, Discrimination, Organizations, Professional attitudes, Discretion and Ontological Security. She is also part of the MIM-based research project "Exploration of hiring discrimination and possibilities for intervention through eye-tracking" which is led by Sayaka Osanami Törngren and funded by the Swedish Research Council.

Carolin Schütze: Publications and more information

Mahama Tawat

– is an Associate Researcher at the Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare, Malmö University, Sweden. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Otago in New Zealand and other postgraduate degrees from Stockholm, Malmö and Dalarna Universities in Sweden. His academic endeavours revolve around comparative migration policy with a focus on the Nordic countries, the European Union-Africa migration dialogue, comparative social policy and public management reforms (good governance). He was an assistant professor in public policy at the National Research University, Higher School of Economics. He was a visiting scholar at the Centre for Comparative Immigration Studies of the University of California at San Diego in 2016 and visiting lecturer at the University of Bamberg in 2019. His publications have appeared in such academic outlets as "Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions; East European Politics; International Journal of Cultural Policy" and the London School of Economics and Political Science Blogs. 

Mahama Tawat: Bio and projects

 

Advisory Board

Kent Andersson (Chair) Member of Steering Committee of the international network METROPOLIS, Member of External Advisory Committee of the European Commission-funded Network of Excellence IMISCOE, Mayor of the City of Malmö.

Bridget Anderson, Professor of Migration, Mobilities and Citizenship, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, Bristol University, och Director of Migration Mobilities Bristol, University of Bristol 

Malin Ideland, Professor, Department of Natural Science, Mathematics and Society, Malmö University

Linda Lill, Senior lecturer at the Department of Social Work, Malmö University

Jonas Otterbeck, Professor, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, the Aga Khan University

Peter Scholten, Professor of Migration and Diversity Policy, the Department of Public Administration and Sociology, Erasmus University

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Nordic Migration Research is an organisation of individuals and institutions conducting or using research related to different aspects of international migration and ethnic relations such as integration, ethnicity/race, culture, religion, marginalisation, citizenship, nationalism, discrimination and racism.

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IMISCOE is Europe's largest network of scholars in the area of migration and integration. The network involves 45 member institutes and over 700 scholars and focuses on comparative research, publications, the organization of events, PhD training, awards and communication.

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MILSA is a knowledge-based platform that addresses issues such as health and stimulation of physical activity among newly arrived refugees, the implementation of work ability evaluations and the needs of newly arrived refugees when it comes to health information. The County Administrative Board of Scania and Malmö University are responsible for coordinating MILSA.

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Malmö today is a natural hub for people and cultures from worldwide. The city’s inhabitants come from around 180 countries. This diversity is one of Malmö’s key assets and creates the basis for a rich cultural life. It also equips Malmö to perform well in an ever-more globalised world. Malmö is one of Sweden’s fastest growing metropolitan centres. The high number of births and influx of people stand for the greater part of the population increase.

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The International Metropolis Project is the largest cross-sectoral international network of researchers, policy makers, and community groups engaged in identifying, understanding, and responding to developments in migration, integration / inclusion, and diversity. Through our efforts, we encourage the production and effective communication of policy-relevant knowledge amongst decision-makers, thought leaders, and practitioners. Our network includes partners from across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific and is growing in Africa and the Middle East.

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