International Migration Institute

We are investigating the way that human mobility is changing the face of global society. Our research aims to provide an understanding of who is migrating, where to, why, and what impacts these movements have on both receiving countries and societies left behind.

The movement of people has always played a central role in global processes of social, economic and political change. But, as international migration becomes more complex, it raises new intellectual and practical challenges for humanity in the twenty-first century.

We pioneer new theoretical and methodological approaches, working with researchers and policy-makers in the global South and North. Our aim is to advance understanding of the multilayered forces driving current and future migration processes.

Research Themes

• African Migrations: aims to improve the understanding of migration patterns within, to and from Africa over time. We are establishing a hub that connects researchers across the continent. The Institute works with African researchers and universities to support research and to improve research capacity.
• Migration and Development: researches the many facets of the migration–development nexus. The focus is on understanding the structural and policy factors that explain why migration has more positive development outcomes in some places, and more negative outcomes in others.

• Migration and Environment: looks to improve understanding of the relationship between the environment and migration. Long-term climate change and its varied impacts on local environmental conditions are likely to affect global migration patterns, although their actual impacts are the subject of much debate.
• Migration Futures: seeks to elaborate scenarios for the future of global migration, in which creative thinking about unexpected changes in the structural factors driving migration occupies a central place. The aim is to inform policy makers and researchers, who are currently ill-prepared for future global migration trends primarily because of a limited insight into he factors driving migration processes.
• Migration Policies and Governance: looks to address key questions around the regulation of migration, such as how do migration policies interact with migration flows, trade, aid, taxation, security and welfare; and why do policy outcomes often fail to match stated policy objectives?
• Rethinking Migration Theory: attempts to analyse the evolution of migration processes, integrating sending, transit and receiving contexts. This allows us to achieve a deeper understanding of past and present migration dynamics and their interaction with broader global transformation processes.
• Transnationalism and Diasporas: focuses on the role of migrant and diaspora organisations in the development of origin countries; the evolution of transnational migrant organisations; and the impact of diasporas in shaping identities, clashing with other diasporic and local identities and connecting home and host societies.