...continuation CESS joining the network
Since 1990, Albania has experienced one of the most intensive migrations of recent times, with as many as one in three Albanians having left the country between 1990 and 2004. Besides being one of the key recent origin countries for immigrants in the EU, particularly Greece and Italy, it is also emerging as a transit country to the EU particularly for migrants from China and Asia. There has been a considerable body of research on contemporary Albanian migration which has been building in the last 15 years. However, the majority of this work has been carried out by non-Albanian scholars abroad, particularly on Albanian immigrants to Greece and Italy. These studies have generally focused on the impact and experiences of Albanian immigrants in the receiving societies and on the migrants’ livelihoods and integration abroad. It is only in recent years that research in other areas has been conducted, including looking at Albanian migrants as emigrants, their return and migration’s impact on the development of the country, etc. Another key issue is the connection between external and internal migration. In this pool of knowledge, a minor part of academic research on Albanian migration has been carried out by Albanian scholars based in Albania. One of the reasons for such a situation is that research capacity on these issues has been rather limited. The proposed project will build on the existing research capacity and expand it further.
