Welcome

'The mission of COMPAS is to conduct high quality research in order to develop theory and knowledge, inform policy-making and public debate, and engage users of research within the field of migration.’

The mobility of people is now firmly recognised as a key dimension shaping society today, but the relationship between migration and societal change is only partly understood. Research at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), core funded by the Economic and Social Research Council is geared to deepen the understanding of this relationship.

Research by Theme

COMPAS' 2011-2016 research programme is grouped around five inter-realted thematic clusters, addressing elements of the migration process:

  • Flows and Dynamics - exploring global migration flows and the dynamics that drive, facilitate and inhibit migration

  • Labour markets - analysing the socio-economics of international labour migration, particularly the economics and politics of labour shortages and demand

  • Citizenship and Belonging - addressing the relationship between mobility, citizenship and the numerous ways in which people ‘belong’

  • Urban Change and settlement - challenging assumptions around movement and settlement patterns, investigating emergent urbanisms and processes of integration

  • Welfare  - addressing the relationship between migration and welfare provision in ‘receiving’ and ‘sending’ countries

Full details on COMPAS' Research Programme 2011-16

Visit the Migration Observatory for data and analysis on UK migration

Latest News

From the blog

Only connect? Migration and the right to the city

The London housing market is overheated. The spectacle of local people displaced hundreds of miles away when the London Olympic bid had foregrounded the regeneration of east London and the city’s diversity, has resonates in the media. Maybe the time has come to link the utopian invocation of the right to the city to a hard headed debate about reconciling incommensurable demands and realisable city futures. 

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