SC Gender and Sexuality in Migration Research (GenSeM)
The SC GenSeM invites nominations for their annual Best Article Award in the area of Gender, Sexuality and Migration. Submissions must have a demonstrable link to the Standing Committee’s topical area and present originality and innovation in relation to core empirical, theoretical and/or methodological debates in the field of gender, sexuality and migration studies.
Submissions consist of peer-reviewed articles that are published (online first) or printed (issue allocated) in the 2025 calendar year. Articles can be submitted to the Best Article Award only once. Nominations, including self-nominations, must be made by a member of the GenSeM Standing Committee and (at least one of) the author(s) must be GenSeM Standing Committee member(s). Each member can submit only one article per call. For more information about Standing Committee membership, please visit our website.
Please send an electronic copy of the article, accompanied by a short motivation statement (max. 400 words) to Dr. Laura Cleton (chair). In the statement, please elaborate on empirical, theoretical and/or methodological innovations in relation to the field of gender, sexuality, and migration.
Deadline for nominations: Friday 15 May 2026, 23.59 CET
The winner will be announced at the annual GenSeM meeting, taking place at the IMISCOE Annual Conference in Girona, 29 June - 2 July 2026. The winner(s) of the GenSeM Best Article Award receive(s) an award certificate and will likely feature on an episode of the IMISCOE podcast.
Award Committee:
Dr. Laura Cleton (Erasmus University Rotterdam),
Prof. Dr. Eleonore Kofman (Middlesex University)
Dr. Laura Morosanu (University of Sussex)
For further information or questions, please reach out to Laura Cleton at
SC Race, Racism and Discrimination (RACED)
In November 2025, a Cross-Sectoral Symposium addressing “Structural Racism, Diversity and Inclusion” was organized by the SC RACED in collaboration with Malmö University–MIM. The event took place in Malmö, Sweden, on 26 November.
In September 2025, the SC’s PhD group convened an online PhD Reading Session featuring a collective discussion of “Incorporating Racialization, Anti-Blackness, and Critical Whiteness Into European Psychology: Moving Beyond ‘Migrant’ Integration.” Two of the authors of the paper joined the session for a Q&A.
Plans for 2026 include the organization of a workshop on Anti-Roma/Sinti Racism at the annual conference in Girona; a workshop in Amsterdam at the end of November 2026 on “Theorizing and researching racism as structural and systemic in a non-U.S. context”; and two online events in the fall organized by the PhD group, including a reading discussion and a presentation by a professor followed by a Q&A.
SC Families, Welfare, Care and the Life Course (FamWeLC)
SC FamWeLC is relatively new group within IMISCOE (established in 2024). Our aims are to advance a life-course perspective in migration studies and to draw wider attention to the inter-connections between families, welfare and care, and their changing contexts. The SC has an active PhD and ECR representation, as well as four thematic working groups:
- Informal care and social support;
- Healthcare and social services;
- Financial welfare and welfare regimes;
- Migration and life-course transitions.
Upcoming activities:
April-May date TBC: Webinar. Decolonization and Critical Intercultural Education: Bridging Practices from the Global South to the Global North, facilitated by Tatiana Edith Vergara, Eduardo A. Martin, Julio Cesar Tovar Galvez, and Martha Montero-Sieburth (Informal Care and Social Support thematic working group).
May-June date TBC: Members’ online meet-up to discuss future collaborations, facilitated by Hanna Carlsson and Allen Glicksman (Healthcare and Social Services thematic working group).
Further information about these events will be posted on the SC FamWeLC webpage: https://www.imiscoe.org/research/standing-committees/families-welfare-care-and-the-life-course
Fill in the form here to join SC FamWeLC and stay up-to-date with our activities.
You can also follow our new LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/famwelc-imiscoe/
SC Reflexivities in Migration Studies (Reflexivities)
The SC Reflexivities has several activities taking place during spring and summer. Upcoming is a blog series on “Visions and Narratives in Migration Studies”, starting in March. In this blog series, migration scholars will reflect on, engage with, and develop new or alternative visions and narratives. This includes, but is not restricted to, reflections on how authors’ own implicit normative assumptions structure their research, how they envision what migration studies should do, and more broadly what visions they have of “migration” and “society”. The blog series will be published on the SC’s website.
The working group on “Teaching Reflexivities” is currently preparing a series of sessions. Through dialogue among a variety of speakers, the sessions will explore experiences and practical approaches to reflexivity in both qualitative and quantitative research, and throughout each stage of the research process. The series will be valuable for researchers, PhD students, and educators.
At the IMISCOE Annual Conference 2026 in Girona, the SC organises two workshops: “Beyond Exceptionalism: Normalizing Engaged Research and Questioning Its ‘Non-Engaged’ Counterpart” and “Bottom-up Epistemologies: Decentering and Reflexivity in Knowledge Production through Community-Based Research?”. The first workshop is organised by the SC working group “Activism”, and the second workshop is jointly organised with The Global (De)Centre: Diversity, Mobility and Culture.
Within the SC, and focusing on PhD scholars, Reflexivities PhD Sessions Vol. VII (Spring 2026) are upcoming. These sessions provide a space where early career researchers can present their work, exchange feedback, debate methodological and theoretical challenges, and expand their networks with peers interested in reflexive migration research. The sessions aim to provide a supportive environment for young scholars interested in exploring alternative research approaches, mindful of the power dynamics involved in knowledge production about migration and striving to de-nationalise and de-migranticise studies of mobility and diversity. PhD candidates and early career researchers contributing to Reflexivities in Migration Studies are invited to express interest in presenting, discussing, or participating in other capacities in the online sessions. For further inquiries and updates, Marina Lazetic can be contacted at
Subscription to the SC Reflexivities Newsletter is also available via the following link.
The newsletter shares updates on the latest activities of SC Reflexivities in Migration Studies, as well as relevant publications, events, academic job opportunities, and other news from within and beyond the standing committee.
SC Migration Politics and Governance (MIGPOG)
- Call for Papers – Street-Level Bureaucracy in Migration Policy
The SC MIGPOG invites submissions for the upcoming Writing Retreat. The event will be held on 25th–26th June 2026 in Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain. The retreat offers a dedicated and supportive environment for migration researchers to engage in intensive writing and peer-to-peer exchange. Scholars at all career stages are welcome.
Dates: 25–26 June, 2026 Location: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain Organizers: The IMISCOE SC on Migration Policy and Governance (Maria Schiller, Cathrine Talleraas, Thomas Lacroix & Giacomo Solano) and the TransDeM – Transnational Relations, Democratization and Migration Research Group at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Jelle van der Wal).
Street-level bureaucracy has long been recognized as a central arena in which migration policies are shaped, negotiated, and enacted. While migration governance is often designed at national or supranational levels, its practical meaning emerges through the everyday work of frontline actors such as border control workers, immigration police, social workers, and other street-level professionals operating at the interface between the state and migrants. Through the exercise of discretion, interpretation of rules, and everyday problem-solving, these actors do not merely implement policy but actively shape governance outcomes.
This writing retreat focuses on street-level bureaucracy in migration policy, inviting contributions that examine implementation processes, everyday practices, and decision-making at the frontline. Particular attention may be given to how street-level actors respond to policy ambiguity, institutional constraints, and competing demands, including through informal adaptations, local innovations, and forms of engagement that may blur the boundaries between implementation and policymaking. In some contexts, frontline practices may also involve normative positioning or advocacy, raising questions about accountability, legitimacy, and the political role of street-level actors within migration governance. We welcome submissions that explore street-level bureaucracy in migration policy in empirically and/or theoretically rich ways. Papers may address one or more of the following aspects:
- Street-Level Discretion, Implementation, and Decision-Making: How frontline actors interpret, negotiate, or adapt migration policies in everyday practice as well as the implications of discretionary action and frontline practices for migrants’ rights, access to services, and differentiated outcomes.
- Problem-Solving and Policy Adaptation or Innovation: Informal practices, local adjustments, and (incremental) innovations that emerge in response to for instance policy gaps, uncertainty, or institutional constraints.
- Normative Orientations, Loyalty, Resistance and Engagement: Ethical considerations, moral judgments, and, in some cases, advocacy or resistance in street-level migration work.
- Crisis, Change, and Uncertainty: Street-level governance under conditions of political contestation, policy reform, or overlapping crises.
Submission Guidelines
Proposals should include a paper title, a 250-word abstract that outlines the basic paper idea, and the name(s), affiliation(s), and contact details of the author(s). We strongly encourage authors to highlight the conceptual and methodological novelty of their contribution.
Abstracts must be submitted by March 15, 2026 to
Accepted papers must be at a draft stage at least one week prior to the Writing Retreat. Participants are expected to prepare a very short presentation of their paper to the retreat.
There is no registration fee. There is a compensation available for (non-Barcelona based) participants of up to €250 to contribute to travel expenses and accommodation. If in need of additional support, the applicant should inform the organizers upon submission (researchers from the Global South). The Writing Retreat can be combined with participation at the 23rd IMISCOE Annual Conference in Girona.
Join us in this collaborative and stimulating environment to advance your research and engage with fellow scholars in the field of migration politics and governance. We look forward to your contributions!
- MIGPOG warmly welcomes two new chairs: Giacomo Solano and Thomas Lacroix.
Giacomo Solano is a Senior Assistant Professor in Migrant Inclusion at Radboud University, the Netherlands, where he is affiliated with the IMISCOE member institute RUNOMI (Radboud University Network on Migrant Inclusion). His research interests include comparative integration policies at both national and local levels, as well as the social and labour market integration of migrants.
Thomas Lacroix is a geographer and CNRS Director of Research at the Centre for International Research of Sciences Po Paris and a fellow of the Institut Convergence Migrations. His research focuses on the social and spatial aspects of transnational migratory worlds and the ways they affect states and territories. More specifically, his work examines the formation of city networks on migration issues and their influence on both local reception policies and the international governance of migration.
Their leadership is expected to contribute to developing SC activities, fostering collaboration, and strengthening the research community on migration governance and politics.
SC Arts, Culture and Migration (DIVCULT)
The SC DIVCULT invites participants to join the Divcult spring event "Urban mobilities: artistic and cultural engagements with migration histories and discourses" organised by Kamila Krakowska Rodrigues (Leiden University), Jessica Falconi (Lisbon University), Amandine Desille (Lisbon University), and Pessoa Nachivango (Lisbon University). The event will take place on 4-6 May 2026 at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Lisbon. For more info on the project click here.