Migration and Mobility
This research group brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers. Having grown initially from a group within Central and East European studies it now includes researchers in Sociology, Modern Languages and Cultures, Urban Studies and Human Geography. As a group we explore migration and mobility in post-socialist contexts and beyond. We are concerned with both contemporary and historical aspects of migration within and between countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union and between these countries and the wider world.
The group brings together researchers who are interested in the ways in which migration intersects with other processes of transformation and how migration is experienced by and impacts upon people (both those who move and those who do not) and places. Research within this group is primarily qualitative, prioritising migrant perspectives, and often involves development of participatory initiatives and forms of community engagement and/or knowledge exchange for policy and practice.
Themes
Research within the group can be captured by the following core themes:
- Processes of migration and settlement: migrant and host community experiences
- Identity, language and culture: transnational and diasporic perspectives
- The politics of migration, mobility and refuge
- Interfaces between research, policy and practice: local, regional, national approaches
Programme of Activity
The group organises:
- Regular Cluster Meetings (normally on the last Tuesday of each month) where members discuss readings, offer peer support for developing publications and funding applications, propose joint initiatives etc.
- Research Workshops - July 2017: Participatory Action Research and Community Engagement Workshop; June 2016 Workshop Programme
- Writing Retreats; December 2018 residential writing retreat - Ross Priory; May 2018 non-residential writing retreat - Centre for Contemporary Arts
- Knowledge Exchange Events and Activities. 30 September 2016 ‘Is Scotland Our Home?’ research station at Kelvingrove Museum
This programme of regular activity provides a stimulating forum for researchers at all stages of their careers to develop research ideas and initiatives, to share best practice and access wider networks of researchers, policy makers and practitioners working in this field. Our research workshops attract participants from beyond UoG, including international partners, and have led to joint publications. Knowledge exchange activities engage with the general public as well as with policy makers and practitioners.
Members
- Rebecca Kay (Convenor) - Central and East European Studies
- Sara Bernard - Central and East European Studies
- Blair Biggar - Central and East European Studies (PhD Candidate)
- Kate Botterill - Geography
- Dobrochna Futro – School of Modern Languages and Cultures (PhD Candidate)
- Anna Gawlewicz - Urban Studies
- Robert Gibb - Sociology
- Elwira Grossman - Modern Languages and Cultures
- Fanni Gyurko – Central and East Euroepan Studies (PhD Candidate)
- Nina Ivashinenko – Central and East European Studies (Honorary Research Associate)
- Cetta Mainwaring - Central and East European Studies
- Sophie Qiaoyun Peng – Central and East European Studies (PhD Candidate)
- Mirna Solic – School of Modern Languages and Cultures
- Francesca Stella - Sociology
- Paulina Trevena - Central and East European Studies
Associated Projects
A Regional Studies Association-funded research network set up with colleagues at the Cracow University of Economics (Poland) and the University of Gloucestershire (England) that connects researchers working on Central and Eastern Europe interested in postcolonial and decolonial perspectives in and on the region (2020 – 2023)
A British Academy funded project which explores the relationship between language learning and migrant ‘integration’, considering the importance of different stakeholders perspectives (learners, teachers, providers and policy-makers) and the ways in which learners’ needs and experiences are shaped by location, migrant status and/or gender. (September 2019 – September 2022).
A UKRI/ESRC-funded project looking at how the COVID-19 pandemic affects migrant essential workers by focusing on Polish essential workers in the UK as a case study (2020 - 2022).
An Urban Studies Foundation-funded project which explores everyday encounters between Polish migrants and the long-settled population in the East End of Glasgow, Scotland (2017 – 2019). While the project is formally completed now, the results are being disseminated via journal articles, blogs and conference papers, and the project website is regularly updated.”
An ESRC- funded project to study perspectives and experiences of 'social security' amongst migrants from Central Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union in Scotland (Nov 2013 - Nov 2018).
An AHRC-funded project, involving international comparative research on translation and interpretation at different kinds of border (2014-2017).
An ESRC-funded project, exploring the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual migrants from Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union in Scotland (Jan 2015 – Dec 2016).
PhD Projects
- Exploring the socio-legal aspects of low-level corruption: A study of informal economic transactions of long-term local residents and migrants in Scotland and Hungary' (Fanni Gyurko)
- Knitted National Identities: A cultural semiotic study of traditions of knitted textiles in Estonia and Shetland’ (Sophie Qiaoyun Peng)
- Understanding ‘lived citizenship’: A study of Roma in Scotland (Blair Biggar)
- Translanguaging art: Investigation into multilingual practices of contemporary artists and their implications for language pedagogy (Dobrochna Futro)
- Language Preservation and Social Integration amongst Russian-Speaking Families in Scotland (Nina Ivashinenko – awarded 2019)