The Observatory of Migration (OM) is Portugal’s national centre for research and policy support on migration, integration and diversity. Based within AIMA, the Portuguese Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, its mandate was reinforced by Decree-Law 41-A/2024. Our role is to connect scientific knowledge, public policy and society. Our mission rests on four pillars: we produce scientific and statistical research on migration; we monitor migration and integration dynamics, nationally and internationally; we support the design and evaluation of evidence-based public policies; and we inform public debate, including efforts to counter misinformation.
What makes the Observatory distinctive is its hybrid model: strong public anchoring combined with scientific, administrative and analytical autonomy. That autonomy gives our evidence credibility, both among policymakers and with the wider public.
The Observatory is growing. This year, we are recruiting 19 PhD researchers to work on dedicated thematic research projects. They will join a specialised core team of researchers holding PhDs and master’s degrees, supported by a wider applied-knowledge network embedded in the public administration.
Our research covers the core domains of migration studies: governance, integration, labour migration, demographic change, public attitudes and diaspora dynamics.
Data infrastructure sits at the heart of what we do. We are building a national migration data infrastructure (BDMIGRA) and a statistical dashboard that gives the scientific community direct access to data on foreign residents in Portugal. We also run a longitudinal panel of immigrants, tracking integration trajectories over time, and monitor media narratives and public attitudes towards migration.
We deliberately invest in topics that remain underexplored. Current lines of work include migration and social protection, comparative nationality laws, homelessness among migrants, and meta-analyses of doctoral research on migration in Portugal.
We want this work to be useful well beyond academic circles. That means combining administrative data, surveys and qualitative research, while also listening to the people and organisations closest to migration in practice. We work with public bodies, municipalities, civil society organisations and migrant communities to ask better questions and make sense of the findings. Bringing these perspectives together helps us identify what national figures can sometimes miss, including important regional and local differences. It also allows us to explain complex evidence more clearly and accessibly. Ultimately, our aim is not simply to document change, but to help shape responses that are timely, informed and inclusive.
Research at the Observatory is closely tied to teaching. We contribute to postgraduate teaching and supervision at the University of Coimbra, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon and other institutions, and we provide tailored training for policymakers and practitioners. Through AIMA, we are also part of the European Migration Network, with direct access to administrative data.
Joining IMISCOE is a strategic priority for the Observatory, and we intend to be an active member of the network. We see three ways in which we can add value. First, we bring a practice-oriented perspective grounded in the day-to-day realities of migration governance. Our “Building Bridges” workshop, which brings researchers and policymakers together, is one example. Second, we can connect institutions with similar structures across Europe, facilitating the sharing of data and methodologies between research centres and public administrations. Third, we offer a Southern European and Lusophone perspective that enriches comparative research and extends analytical frameworks beyond the traditional core cases of European migration studies.
We look forward to contributing to IMISCOE’s work, particularly on data-driven methodologies, and to meeting colleagues at the Forum in Agadir.