Marie-Caroline Saglio-Yatzimirsky and Gvantsa Tsintskaladze

Could you tell us which organizations and people contributed to hosting the 2025 IMISCOE Annual Conference in Paris?

The Annual Conference in Paris is the fruit of the collaborative efforts of several partner institutions that make up Institut Convergences Migrations and, most importantly, the dedication of our team that has been working tirelessly since last year to deliver a memorable 22nd IMISCOE Annual Conference. 

As you know, IC Migrations—the French Collaborative Institute on Migration—is a consortium bringing together 8 leading research institutions and universities: CNRS, Ined, Inserm, IRD, EHESS, EPHE, Collège de France, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

The Institute is one of the few initiatives that bring together researchers from social sciences, humanities and health sciences. It is structured around five scientific departments—Dynamics, Global, Health, Integer, and Policy—as well as a department dedicated to the academic course (Master’s program) and professional training.

Seeing that IC Migrations is composed of interdisciplinary researchers as well as a diverse coordination team, we tried to assemble a conference host committee that reflects this richness. 

It consists of our immediate IC Migrations team: 

• Marie-Caroline Saglio-Yatzimirsky, Director of Institut Convergences Migrations
• Haoua Mahamat-Ahmat, Head of Administration
• Gvantsa Tsintskaladze, Events & cultural project coordinator
• Our super interns: Mattéa Cordebar and Melvyn Gué Dembelé, master’s students in International Solidarity and in Communications respectively

and five senior researchers who play a major role at IC Migrations:

• Camille Schmoll, Director of Research and Editions at EHESS, IC Migrations fellow
• Hélène Thiollet, Researcher at CNRS and professor at Sciences Po, IC Migrations fellow 
• Flore Gubert, Researcher at IRD, deputy Director of Institut Convergences Migrations
• Patrick Simon, Director of Research at INED
• Antoine Pécoud, Professor at University Paris 13, Director of IC Migrations’ POLICY department

Of course, special recognition is due to our Communications team, whose efforts brought to life the conference’s visual identity on our end, the official booklet, and the promotion of the public segments of the program.

What will the Conference format be?

Gvantsa: This year’s edition of the IMISCOE conference maintains its core structure, featuring plenary sessions, panel discussions, and workshops spread across four days, along with the Standing Committee and board meetings. 

From our side, we were delighted to enrich the program with a diverse cultural agenda as part of the side events. This includes 3 film screenings, 3 exhibitions and a roundtable discussion —all held on campus—as well as a Civil Society Forum, offering participants the opportunity to engage with various French associations active in the field of migration and/or involved in migration research. Furthermore, in addition to the publisher booths, several French academic journals will be present to showcase their work.

The theme of the Conference is "Decentering migration studies". Could you explain the rationale behind this theme?

Marie-Caroline: The theme Decentering Migration Studies emerged from a collective reflection within the Institut Convergences Migrations (IC Migrations) scientific committee, composed of researchers from diverse disciplines. At IC Migrations, our work is grounded in field research that constantly challenges established categories. We are based in a neighborhood shaped by migration, which makes these questions not only theoretical but deeply contextual and practical.

We wanted a theme that reflects how we conduct research at IC Migrations: across disciplines, connected to the field, and open to critical rethinking. Migration studies have evolved significantly in recent years—with new theories, methodologies, and collaborations—but the field remains largely centered around institutions in the Global North, English-language publications, and a dominant focus on immigration to Western countries.

Decentering is thus both a necessity and a call. Geographically, it means moving beyond binary flows from "South to North" to recognize diverse, often overlooked patterns. Historically, it challenges the idea that recent events like the 2015 so-called "migration crisis" are unprecedented. Politically, it broadens the lens to include a wider array of actors—states, NGOs, migrants, smugglers—whose interactions shape migration governance. And epistemologically, it urges us to integrate non-Western perspectives, not as add-ons, but as central to how we understand and produce knowledge.

This theme reflects IC Migrations’s identity and ambition: to create a space of critical, pluralistic, and creative dialogue on migration.

We also want to get to know you as a migration scholar. First, regarding IMISCOE: how did you first hear about it, and how did you become involved? What have you particularly appreciated about IMISCOE and its conferences? 

Marie-Caroline: I am not a migration scholar by training—I come from field anthropology on social exclusion. Initially, my research focused on lower castes in Indian megacities, and I later worked on urban social exclusion in India and Brazil. Alongside this, I have been a clinical psychologist for over 15 years, working with migrants in a psychotrauma unit in a public hospital in Seine-Saint-Denis. Migration was initially a contextual factor in my work, emerging through social exclusion, but it gradually became central, also through my clinical practice.

Since 2017, I’ve been directly involved in migration, asylum, and exile-related research, notably through a national program on language and mediation (ANR Liminal). That’s when I first encountered IMISCOE, which immediately impressed me as an impactful and inspiring research network. It strongly resonates with our work at IC Migrations: fostering creativity through interdisciplinary collaboration. When I became the director of IC Migrations in 2022, my colleagues Camille Schmoll, Hélène Thiollet, and Patrick Simon suggested we join IMISCOE—an excellent initiative.

What I also value deeply about IMISCOE is its support for early-career researchers—IC Migrations too hosts many young scholars, and I supervise several PhDs. Their energy, connection to the field, and innovative formats bring real richness to the field.  

Finally, the reason we took on the challenge of organizing the 22nd IMISCOE Conference—even as a relatively new member of the network—was also a strategic one. Social science research in France is facing serious budget cuts, and while migration is omnipresent in public policies and discourse, it is often politicized and distorted. IC Migrations —a unique consortium bringing together eight major French research institutions—risks losing long-term public funding. With the IMISCOE Conference, we wanted to send a strong signal to our Ministry of Higher Education and Research: that a dynamic, growing, and nationally and internationally connected research initiative is underway. On this occasion, we are also publishing a landmark volume that offers a comprehensive overview of migration research in France today.

Returning to the Annual Conference you are organizing, what do you hope people get out with out of those four days?

Marie-Caroline: For four days, almost 1,500 international researchers are coming together on-site and online to engage with a major topic that involves us socially, economically, and that is today at the heart of public debate. And we are not meeting at just any time: we are witnessing the violence of global conflicts, forced and prevented displacements—such as in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Ukraine, and others.

This on-site part of the conference is taking place on Campus Condorcet which also hosts the "Universities in Exile" program, a project co-founded by IC Migrations. We are therefore situated in a truly political center, in the strongest sense of the word—right in the heart of Seine-Saint-Denis, one of France’s major migration hubs. So firstly, we want to escape the postcard-like memory of Paris; we want a city alive with all its contemporary creativity, much of which comes from the migrant population. 

Furthermore, we hope people will take away from this conference a broad scientific discussion on a highly sensitive subject—where only rigorous, informed, and verified science can truly support public decision-making.

We also hope our colleagues recognize the shifts we’ve aimed to introduce in this edition: first, a move toward decentering—opening up beyond Europe and reaffirming internationally how crucial it is to break away from Eurocentrism. We do this at a time when France and Europe are immersed in deep postcolonial debates, with migration at their core. We’ve worked to introduce underrepresented fields such as health sciences—an area actively developed at IC Migrations—as well as economics, to broaden the scope of migration research. We’ve also worked to introduce multiple languages, to invite researchers from the Global South, and to root this conference in the local community, in partnership with the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental council. Finally, we organize a forum of associations, involving 8 of the 80 remarkable civil society organizations we collaborate with. 

Because we believe in research that has a strong social impact, we hope this event will help us, as researchers, to continue this path of decentering—at a time when the human stakes behind migration are simply enormous.

One last question from the IMISCOE Network Office in Liège: do you have any tips for conference participants to enjoy their stay in Paris? Anything unmissable?

Gvantsa: To begin with, Line 12 of the Paris Métro offers a convenient route from Campus Condorcet in Aubervilliers to the south of Paris, passing by numerous iconic landmarks. Thus, you can explore the Montmartre neighbourhood, the Place de la Concorde —framed on one side by the Tuileries Gardens leading to the Louvre and, on the other, by the Champs-Élysées stretching toward the Arc de Triomphe; you’ll pass by the Assemblée Nationale (Parliament building), the beautiful banks of the river Seine and the Musée d’Orsay if you feel like discovering some impressionist art along the way.

I personally think Paris is best discovered on foot or by bike—if you’re up to the challenge—and early summer can be perfect for that. I would recommend a few tried and tested itineraries that are always a hit amongst friends and family of a range of backgrounds. 

If you make your way to Montmartre—only 20 minutes from the Campus—you can discover a variety of world cuisines and scenic spots to enjoy a drink, often with panoramic views over the city or the emblematic postcard-like stairways. La Halle Saint-Pierre is well worth a detour if you love multifunctional spaces combining beautiful architecture, a café, a bookshop and exhibitions featuring smaller-scale artists. For an experience with less tourist crowds and a bit more edge, consider venturing further north into the 18th arrondissement, with plenty of cool local bars and quaint shops between Lamarck-Caulaincourt and Julles Joffrin metro stations, as well as larger alternative venues along the Petite Ceinture —the discarded railway line that used to encircle Paris—like La Recyclerie or Le Hasard Ludique. 

Another vibrant and picturesque area to explore during a Parisian summer is the Canal St-Martin that you can easily access from Place de la République or Gare de l’Est. This area offers waterside picnics, live music, charming bridges, and a variety of restaurants. 

Going back to central Paris and its more traditional attractions on the Left bank of the Seine, I highly recommend a walk around the Latin quarter, especially through the little streets going from Pantheon down towards the newly reopened Notre-Dame Cathedral (or vice-versa, if you’re feeling sporty). It’s a great way to discover the academic heritage of Paris, still buzzing with student life and home to historic institutions like the Sorbonne, Collège de France, and the Sainte-Geneviève library. Along the way, you may discover cute hidden squares and gardens, perfect for a pause. It’s also a great area to enjoy a crêpe on the go and get lost in small bookshops—special mention goes to the Abbey Bookshop among the English-speaking ones. 

To conclude our Left bank tour, grab a table at Le Club des Poètes near Invalides for an unusual, out-of-time dining experience complete with local poetry recitals in candlelight, and trust the process.

For those seeking a peaceful moment surrounded by nature (and dogs!), there are the large parks of Paris like Buttes Chaumont, Parc Monceau, and the expansive Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, located on the western and eastern outskirts of the city, respectively.

Finally, to return full circle to Aubervilliers and its rich cultural and artistic fabric, we warmly encourage you to participate in the city walk scheduled for the last day of the conference. This event will offer an opportunity to learn about the region’s history first-hand from its dwellers. 

Of course, we will be here should you need any last-minute tips or recommendations. I hope you enjoy the conference and your stay in Paris-Aubervilliers!