News from Members

International student mobility and migration: trajectories, transitions, and social transformations

Research panel organised at the 15th IMISCOE Annual Conference, Barcelona, Spain, 2-4 July 2018

Organizers: Christof Van Mol, Yvonne Riaño, Nicolai Netz, & Parvati Raghuram

Over the past years, great progress has been made in research on international student mobility and migration (hereafter ISM). However, research on ISM still mostly conceptualises mobility as a discrete and disconnected event, hardly considering ISM as a social and spatial trajectory connected to broader life-course transitions, mobilities, and social transformations. This is rather unfortunate, as existing research already suggested that ISM is often influenced by past mobility trajectories and may be a predecessor of future mobility (e.g. Van Mol, 2014). Moreover, ISM may influence major life events such as the transition from education to work (e.g. Kratz & Netz, 2016), as well as the establishment, dissolution or reconfiguration of social and intimate relationships (Geddie, 2013). Finally, ISM also occurs within the context of wider social, political, and economic transformations, whereby ISM becomes a way of responding to such transformations.

Therefore, we encourage submissions which analyse ISM as a social and spatial trajectory and its role in life-course transitions and social transformations. We look for contributions addressing questions such as why students move and what kind of transitions turn out to be turning points, to what degree current outcomes depend on past states, to what degree path dependencies cumulate into distinct trajectories (de Valk et al., 2011), and how ISM relates to classical life transitions regarding education, work, and the private/family sphere. In sum, we welcome papers that provide insights into the ISM trajectory itself as well its linkages to other relevant life trajectories, transitions, and broader social transformations. We particularly encourage contributions that adopt a comparative perspective.

Submissions

We welcome abstracts of no more than 250 words including your name, title, email, and institutional affiliation by 8 December 2017 at the latest. All files must be submitted in pdf format to Christof Van Mol (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Yvonne Riaño (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Nicolai Netz (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Parvati Raghuram (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). We will inform all authors on whether their abstract is accepted for presentation before 15 December 2017. A definitive answer of acceptance of the panel by IMISCOE is expected by 1 February 2018.