West University of Timișoara (UVT) is a comprehensive public university with twelve faculties. It is the main academic institution in western Romania and a member of the UNITA European University Alliance. Located near Romania’s borders with Serbia and Hungary, Timișoara has a long history of linguistic, ethnic and religious diversity. This intercultural legacy was prominently showcased during the city's tenure as the European Capital of Culture in 2023. Complementing this cultural plurality is Timișoara's status as one of Romania’s national growth poles, possessing a labor market that attracts significant internal migration as well as an increasing influx of non-EU nationals. Over the past few decades, the Romanian-Serbian borderland has become a visible segment of the so-called Western Balkans migration route. As a result, several migration processes typically analyzed in isolation intersect within a single city: transit across the European Union's external borders, refugee resettlement via the Emergency Transit Centre, the influx of non-EU migrant workers, and the protracted, inconsistent settlement of new arrivals.
UVT joins IMISCOE as an institution rather than through a single dedicated migration centre. While this configuration may appear fragmented at first glance, it allows migration to be studied in close dialogue with research on discrimination, politics, gender, social policy, education and labour. The membership brings together colleagues from four research units. The Faculty of Sociology and Psychology hosts three of the centres: the Centre of Research and Social Development (CCDS), the Centre for Social Diagnosis (CDS), and the Centre for Action Research on Discrimination and Social Inclusion (CCADIS), while the Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies (CISG) is based in the Faculty of Letters, History and Theology. Now based in the Department of Psychology, the CDS also draws upon the expertise of numerous sociologists, reflecting the disciplinary porosity upon which the cluster relies.
Our research interests stem from an observation (or a paradox) that is simple to state but consequential for theory. Romania, long studied as a country of emigration, is gradually becoming a country of immigration. The conceptual tools developed for Western European destination countries, however, do not always travel well to this context. We ask: what does integration mean in a society that is simultaneously losing and receiving population?
Several connected strands of work address this question. The Interreg Europe project SALAM (2024–2028) examines the sustainable labour market integration of migrants. Within this project, the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology has convened dialogue between the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), employment services and NGOs. PRO-VOCEM (CERV, 2025–2027), coordinated by UVT, draws on oral histories and archival work to examine historical and contemporary racism experienced by Roma people on probation. In doing so, it links legacies of forced mobility with present-day encounters with the criminal justice system. A partnership with UNHCR Romania, which includes an on-campus information point for refugees, facilitates research and training on forced displacement, with a particular focus on the reception of individuals fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Additionally, our researchers investigate political remittances and migrant electoral (dis)engagement (Szulecki et al., 2021; Bivand Erdal et al., 2022), migrant-led political change at the local level (Bortun et al., 2025), and public attitudes toward migrants in Timișoara, assessed via the Quality of Life Barometer of the Municipality of Timișoara (Barometrul calității vieții în Municipiul Timișoara), a comprehensive, large-scale survey administered by the CCDS. This body of work typically employs a mixed-methods approach, integrating survey research with qualitative and participatory methodologies.
Teaching is closely tied to this agenda. Since 2025, UVT has offered the English-language Master's programme International Migration and Global Social Change (IMGSC). It also runs a postgraduate programme in Integrated Assistance for Migrants and Refugees, designed for practitioners in social work, psychology, education and public administration. A growing group of doctoral students also works on migration-related topics. In collaboration with Terre des hommes Romania, cluster members are currently designing and implementing a training programme for social workers and other frontline professionals providing services to third-country nationals, as part of the EU-funded CASTLE 2 project.
How, then, do we see our role within IMISCOE? Primarily, as a link between IMISCOE’s comparative agenda and migration research in our region. First, we intend to bring evidence and theoretical questions from a post-socialist borderland into the work of the Standing Committees. These include specialised committees such as those focusing on Forced Migration and Refugees (FMR); Migration, Migrants and Labour Markets (IILME); Race, Racism and Discrimination (RACED); Gender and Sexuality in Migration Research (GenSeM); and Migration Politics and Governance (MigPoG).
Second, we wish to contribute to the network's reflection on de-centring migration studies. Our region has been described at once as a periphery, a transit space and a new destination. We argue that these labels, and the oppositions on which they rest ('transit' versus 'destination', 'migrant' versus 'citizen', 'East' versus 'West'), should be treated as objects of analysis rather than as analytical starting points. The 2026 IMISCOE Forum in Agadir provides an ideal venue for this discourse; much like Romania, Morocco functions simultaneously as a country of origin, a transit hub for migration toward the European Union, and, increasingly, a country of destination.
Third, we aim to extend the network's reach to early-career researchers within our region by encouraging doctoral students to integrate into the IMISCOE PhD Network and PhD Academy. Furthermore, we aspire to host IMISCOE activities in Romania, a milestone that would mark the first time the country has hosted such an event. In this regard, we would be honoured to welcome international colleagues to Timișoara. Beyond event hosting, we invite expressions of interest for joint research initiatives, teaching exchanges, and comparative studies focusing on migration within Central and Eastern Europe.