GERM (Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherches sur Genre, Environnement, Religion et Migrations) is a research team at UGB composed of seven teaching and research units: Arts, Languages and Sciences; Agricultural Sciences; Education and Training Sciences; Health Sciences; Economics and Management Sciences; Science and Technology; and Law, Politics and Administration. The team brings together research professors, academics, and scholars affiliated with national and international institutions.
Its mission is to produce scientific knowledge on internal, regional, and international migration in West Africa and beyond, while analyzing the causes, trajectories, forms, and impacts of mobility on societies of origin, transit, and destination. It also aims to contribute to evidence-based public policy, strengthen the research capacity of young scholars, and create a space for dialogue between researchers, policymakers, civil society actors, and international institutions.
GERM seeks to become a leading African center on mobility and migration issues. It promotes research through seminars, conferences, and scientific workshops—such as Brown Bag Seminars and Sociology Cafés—and supports the dissemination of knowledge to inform public policy and social action. The team regularly organizes major scientific events, including international conferences such as Senegalese Migration in a Context of Sovereignty Policies (2024), Social Dynamics: Migration and Families in West Africa (2025), Rethinking Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Migration To and From Africa (2025, in partnership with the African Union Centre for Migration Studies and Research), and Civil Society Participation in Migration Governance (2025).
A key initiative is the Senegalese Migration Observatory, designed as a forum for information exchange on migration issues and a consultation platform bringing together civil society organizations, government institutions, and social partners. The Observatory produces and disseminates benchmark studies on migration to and from Senegal and collects reliable information at all stages of mobility to support the development of evidence-based policies.
Within IMISCOE, the GERM team seeks to develop academic and institutional partnerships through joint research, scientific publications, academic exchanges, capacity-building activities, and work that contributes to policy impact. In the coming years, new initiatives will be discussed, including the creation of a Living Lab on Migration, artistic collaborations for hybrid research–creative productions, a Migration Forum with regional and international partners, and the development of a University Certificate in Migration To and From Africa.
Overall, the team positions itself as a major academic actor at the intersection of research, training, and public engagement, with the ambition of becoming a leading African reference center on human mobility issues.