In view of the 23rd IMISCOE annual conference to be held on 29 June - 2 July 2026 in Girona and online on the topic of “Strengthening Migration studies through community engagement”, we are gathering participants for the workshop proposal below on “Strengthening Local Resilience through (Migration) Research in Times of Democratic Regression”.
Workshop Organiser: Emma Luna Brahm (
Deadline for expression of interest: Sunday 21 September 2025
Workshop abstract: In times of increasing anti-immigrant discourse and rising far right movements and parties globally, the question of how the knowledge produced through migration research can contribute to more inclusive and resilient societies becomes increasingly important. Migration research, with its interdisciplinary perspectives and composition, and multifaceted engagement regarding questions of belonging, diversity, and power relations, holds unique potential to collaborate with local communities to produce knowledge not only on the basis of but, more importantly, with their expertise and experience.
Debates and conflicts concerning migration (governance) become especially evident in local settings (Caponio 2022; Fick et al. 2023). For instance, local communities and municipalities face mounting challenges with regard to social cohesion and inclusion, political participation, and social justice. The local scale bares particular significance, as far-right ideologies, authoritarian tendencies, and other socio-political challenges often manifest initially in everyday interactions and low-threshold local structures, before becoming visible at national or international levels. This can be illustrated by the implications of anti-migration policies, and their reception by public staff on experiences of racialized individuals at the immigration office (Reichle et al. 2024). Furthermore, local actors are confronted with the impacts of right-wing national policies, when funding for voluntary or civil society organization is cut. Or in the scope of planning new refugee accommodations and thereby emerging conflicts that arise due to deviating attitudes toward migration and refugee policies (Adam et al. 2020; Göler 2020). These are just exemplary impacts that the growth of right-wing parties and ideologies can have on local structures, actors, and communities. Thus, focusing on co-producing knowledge and working together with local actors such as migrant-led organizations, grassroots initiatives, and municipal administrations is, or should be, a crucial part of migration research. As top-down research approaches may risks reproducing hierarchies of knowledge and overlooking the agency of (migrant and/ or marginalized) communities and local actors it is essential to ask through which forms of collaboration researchers and local communities can work together in ways that are research-driven and practice-oriented, contributing to both knowledge production and societal problem-solving.
In this workshop, we aim to address methodological approaches and perspectives that engage with questions of collaboration with local actors in migration research, related knowledge production and resilience. Thus, we invite contributions that discuss the potentials and challenges of collaboration between research and local civil society, explore innovative methods of knowledge production and knowledge co-use, and critically reflect on how migration scholarship can avoid reproducing hierarchies while engaging with communities as equal partners. Central to the workshop is the question of how co-produced knowledge can be mobilized not only to understand migration, but to strengthen collective and local resilience in the face of democratic regression, far-right mobilization, and socio-political polarization. Thus, in summary, the discussion among participants and discussants can be guided by the following questions:
- How can knowledge on migration issues and topics be created in collaboration?
- What are the potentials and challenges of the collaboration between research and local civil society?
- What opportunities and challenges arise when research engages with local civil society?
- What are potential methods for knowledge production suited scholars as well as communities?
- What practices and strategies can help foster resilience through such co-produced knowledge?
Please send your abstract (appr. 200 words) to Emma Luna Brahm (