efms Network activities

Participation in the RAXEN Network as National Focal Point

RAXEN is coordinated by the initiative European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) based in Vienna.

The primary task of RAXEN is to support the European Union and its Member States in implementing measures against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism and formulating suggestions for future policies. This is accomplished by collecting, structuring and evaluating objective, reliable and comparable data (including examples of "good practice"), which is provided for by the national coordinators.

IMISCOE Network of Excellence

The efms is a member institution of the Network of Excellence International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe (IMISCOE). This network, which is funded by the EU Commission, DG Research, for a term of five years, assembles nineteen established research institutes with many years of experiences in migration research from ten European countries. The network aims to integrate research on migration and integration of migrants on a European level and to create a basis for sound policy counselling in this field, which is highly relevant for social policy.

Participation in the European Migration Network

The aim of the European Migration Network (EMN) European Migration Network (EMN), which was established by the European Commission in Brussels, is to provide the institutions of the European Union, the Member States participating in the network and - in the long run - the general public with objective, reliable and EU-wide comparable data and information on the issues of migration and asylum, which is gathered by contact points in 17 EU Member States so far. Each national contact point has its own national network of partners. The efms is one of the partners of the contact point Germany, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in Nuremberg.

Forum against Racism

In 2000, the Forum against Racism, founded in 1997, established a National Round Table against Racism. Academics were invited to join the Round Table. The efms is a member of the Forum against Racism and actively participates in this nationwide initiative.

International Association for the Study of Forced Migration

The International Association for the Study of Forced Migration was founded in January 1994 on the occasion of the 4th IRAP conference (an international expert conference on forced migration, organised by the Refugee Studies Programme at Oxford University). It is the objective of IASFM to run an international forum in the area of Forced Migration, for academics as well as for practitioners. This forum contributes to the development of academic concepts and the transfer of knowledge between theory and practice. For that purpose, the IASFM organises every two years a large expert conference on Forced Migration. The first conference took place in Eldoret, Kenia, in 1996. The efms participated, inter alia, in the organisation of the follow-up conferences that have been held since then, which took place in Jerusalem in 1998, in Johannesburg /South Africa in 2001 and in Chiang Mai/ Thailand in 2003. The last international follow-up conference took place at São Paulo, Brasil, in 2005.

Publication: Khalid Koser: Changing Agendas in the Study of Forced Migration: A Report on the Fifth International Research and Advisory Panel Meeting, April 1996. In: Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4, Oxford 1996.

Participation in completed network activities

Marie Curie Fellowships

In the area of social sciences, the EU Commission funded scholarships for young high-potential researchers through the so-called Marie Curie Fellowships. One focal point of the programme comprised training centres for PhD students (Training Sites of Excellence). In the area of migration research, institutions at eleven European universities were recognised in the fifth EU framework programme as Training Sites of Excellence for Marie Curie scholars. At the University of Bamberg, the efms was chosen to be the participating research institute. During the four years of funding, the efms tutored six scholars from Finland, Iceland, Greece and Poland over terms of six or twelve months, who prepared their dissertations on the topics of migration and integration.

European PhD in Migration, Diversity and Identities

The results of a survey of the sub-group Migration, Multiculturality and Ethnic Conflict in the network project HumanitarianNet led to the establishment of this project. As a first result, a concept for a postgraduate qualification programme on the topic of the thematic group was drawn up. A core group of ten European universities (University of Amsterdam, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, University of Bradford, Universidad de Deusto Bilbao, Dublin University (Trinity College), University of Helsinki, University of Liege, University of Ljubljana, University of Padova, University of Sheffield) took part in a general agreement on the introduction of a European Doctorate that would be offered as an additional European qualification following the local PhD and which would be mutually accepted. Within the project, a curriculum for international intensive workshops of ten days was developed which would be carried out by the participating universities, taking turns. The first intensive workshop took place at the Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao in September 2001, the second as European Summer School in September 2002 at the University of Bradford and the third one was organised by the efms at Vierzehnheiligen near Bamberg from September 4 to 13, 2004. The fourth summer school was held in Helsinki in late summer 2004, and the fifth in Padua/Italy in August 2005. The sixth Summer School is scheduled to take place in Liège in summer 2006 and will be organised by CEDEM. Meanwhile, the Summer School series has become part of the training activities organised by IMISCOE.

European Network HumanitarianNet (Socrates)

Based on the previous work of five thematic sub-groups of the EU network ProHuman (Migration, Multiculturality and Ethnic Conflict / Poverty and Development / Human Rights / Peace Studies / Humanitarian Assistance), the project HumanitarianNet conducted a survey about course offerings and research on these subject areas among universities in Europe, which was co-ordinated by Julia Gonzales of the Deusto University of Bilbao/Spain. Within this survey information was gathered and analysed from the about 80 universities involved which comprised course offerings and conferences by applying the ECTS Credit System. The findings of this survey and contributions to the subject matters were discussed on several work meetings and two conferences held in Bilbao and were published in book form, on a CD ROM and on WWW data base.

Publication: Wolfgang Bosswick/Peter Jackson: Thematic Study: Migration, Multiculturality and Ethnic Conflict. In: Julia Gonzalez, Wilhelm Löwenstein, Mo Malek (eds.): Humanitarian Development Studies in Europe. Assessment of Universities" Training and NGOs" Needs. Bilbao 1999, 41-51.
Wolfgang Bosswick: Minorities, policies and strategies in Europe: Germany. In: David Turton, Julia Gonzalez (eds.): Cultural Identites and Ethnic Minorities in Europe. Bilbao 1999, 51-56.

European Thematic Network ProHuman

As the only German partner the efms participated in the sub-group "Migration, Multiculturality and Ethnic Conflict" within in the network ProHuman which was funded by the DG XXII of the European Commission, with 80 European academic organisations co-operating. The project's objective was the establishment of a standardised postgraduate university degree "Humanitarian Assistance" at European universities as well as a compilation of already existing university courses in this area. The project expired in March 1999 and was concluded with an international conference in Bilbao; the HumanitarianNet is based on its results.

Publication: Wolfgang Bosswick/Peter Jackson: Thematic Study: Migration, Multiculturality and Ethnic Conflict. In: Julia Gonzalez, Wilhelm Löwenstein, Mo Malek (eds.): Humanitarian Development Studies in Europe. Assessment of Universities" Training and NGOs" Needs. Bilbao 1999, 41-51.