"Foreword by the Standing Committee for the Social Sciences of the European Science Foundation" [2012] ELECD 1134; in Morano-Foadi, Sonia; Malena, Micaela (eds), "Integration for Third-Country Nationals in the European Union" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012) xvii

Book Title: Integration for Third-Country Nationals in the European Union

Editor(s): Morano-Foadi, Sonia; Malena, Micaela

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857936813

Section Title: Foreword by the Standing Committee for the Social Sciences of the European Science Foundation

Number of pages: 3

Extract:

Foreword by the Standing Committee
for the Social Sciences of the European
Science Foundation
In recent decades the geography and dynamics of migration have under-
gone a transformation. Global mobility patterns have diversified and
intensified, to a large extent in response to economic forces and political
change, but additionally inflected by government policies vis-à-vis migra-
tion, including the provision of incentives or imposition of constraints for
various categories of migrants.
The social, cultural and political questions and challenges posed by
migration flows and processes since the latter half of the 20th century are
numerous, diverse and evolving. In the past decade alone the Standing
Committee for the Social Sciences of the European Science Foundation
(ESF) has observed and responded to an expanding research and policy
interest in a wide spectrum of migration-related issues. The ESF has
supported research on these issues in multiple ways, from Strategic and
Exploratory Workshops to International Conferences and European
Collaborative Research Projects.
A major part of the rationale for an ESF Strategic Workshop on
migration research in September 2011 on `New approaches for research-
ing the determinants of migration processes' (International Migration
Institute, Oxford),1 was that research on migration is fast-growing and
fragmented over numerous disciplines. Researchers have approached
migration-related issues, including the integration of migrants, from a
wide variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives. A significant
amount of research has focussed on the social, cultural and economic
impacts of migration on sending and receiving societies and on labour
market ...