Unravelling the Mediterranean Migration Crisis (MEDMIG)

Sep 2015 - Aug 2016
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Overview

The MEDMIG project is led by the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham (UK), the University of Oxford (UK), ELIAMEP (Greece), FIERI (Italy), People for Change Foundation (Malta) and Yasar University (Turkey).

Research questions

In the first ten months of 2015 more than 700,000 refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean, arriving in southern Europe in search of protection or a better life. This has captured the public and media imagination and challenged the ability of European States to respond appropriately.

This project aims to better understand the dynamics of migration in the Mediterranean region by providing the first large-scale, systematic and comparative study of the backgrounds, experiences, aspirations and routes of migrants in four European countries (Italy, Greece, Malta and Turkey). It encourages critical reflexive dialogue and practice by opening new and inclusive spaces for questioning and challenging established ways of categorising and thinking about the Mediterranean migration crisis. It will create opportunities for increased policy dialogue and academic collaboration between the affected countries and the EU.

Several urgent research questions underpin the research:

  • What are the underlying factors shaping migration from countries of origin, and how do the characteristics and backgrounds of migrants shape the response to structural issues?
  • What are the opportunities or constrain structures that shape migrant journeys to Europe?
  • What are the differences between the Central Mediterranean (principally from Libya to Italy and Malta) and Eastern (Turkey to Greece) Mediterranean routes?
  • To what extent are migrant journeys to Europe, or particular countries within Europe, shaped or even determined by non-state actors (agents, facilitators and civil society)?
  • What are the impacts of policies that deter or prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean?

More information is available on the project website.

Additional Links

Principal Investigator

Heaven Crawley (Centre for Trust Peace & Social Relation, Coventry University)

Researchers

Franck Düvell (Project Co-Investigator)
Nando Sigona (Project Co-Investigator)
Katharine Jones (named researcher)
Simon McMahon (named researcher)

Funding

ESRC