You are here

  1. Home
  2. IMISCOE is changing and the OU is involved

IMISCOE is changing and the OU is involved

7 January 2019

Registering for IMISCOE's 15th Annual Conference - Barcelona (photo courtesy of IMISCOE)

‘IMISCOE is changing’ was the message from Dr Kesi Mahendran, returning from an event organised to rethink the infrastructure of the international migration, integration and social cohesion research network.

The OU was among those invited to take part in the working conference at Rotterdam on November 29 and 30 2018 to kick off the restructuring, which seeks to reflect developments in the field of migration studies.

IMISCOE was established in 2004 with EU funding but is an independent research network. The OU became a member in 2016, in an initiative led by Professor Parvati Raghuram.

The OU’s participation in the event represents an opportunity to help shape IMISCOE’s future, says Dr Mahendran.

Cross Migration themes

The restructuring event was based around themes that are developing out of CrossMigration, a new Horizon 2020-funded programme championed by IMISCOE Co-ordinator Dr Peter Scholten.

“The OU has a contribution to make. We have a long history of migration studies, going back to 1993, and nearly 20 researchers involved in migration across faculties. This interdisciplinary approach is of particular interest to IMISCOE,” said Dr Mahendran.

“There are many themes where the OU can really contribute, for example: international student migration; migration and development; and the new grouping  ‘reflexive migration studies’  which hopes to have its own Standing Committee in the new structure.”

Benefits of membership

She urged colleagues in the OU’s Migration Research Group to ‘take a fresh look at IMISCOE’ and, in particular, to take advantage of the OU’s institutional membership.

“The benefits of membership include the exchange of ideas, networking, collaboration and the potential to participate in new grants.

“IMISCOE is the place where migration researchers meet, and membership is a ‘kitemark’ in the field. It’s a large community which isn’t just confined to EU countries and which has research feeding into local, national and international policy. It’s also developed relationships with equivalent organisations such as NOMRA.

“You may think you know IMISCOE, but it has changed, and is going to change further. 

“I’m happy to talk to anyone who’s interested in finding out more about IMISCOE, please get in touch.”

Share this page:

Contact us

To find out more about our work, or to discuss a potential project, please contact:

International Development Research Office
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
United Kingdom

T: +44 (0)1908 858502
E: international-development-research@open.ac.uk