Connecting Cities and Universities at Strategic Frontiers - 7-9 October, 2015, Catania, Italy

Strand 2 - the challenges of (e)migration focuses on:

• How populations can build sustainable economies on existing strengths and resources

• The challenges of new immigrant populations.

We are asking contributors have courage to consider the tougher problem of the reasons people are leaving their homes en masse and what can be done? What governments and employers should be doing to make that unnecessary? Currently the focus is solely on what to do about those who have already had to leave.

Background primer:

Those interested in the causes of mass migration – that is to say, the conditions that cause people to risk their lives to leave their countries and homes – may be interested in the following BBC Radio 4 interview with Dr Mo Ibrahim, founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, established in 2006 to support good governance and exceptional leadership on the African continent. The interview was conducted just before the European Parliament's debate last week (29th April) on the situation in the Mediterranean.  

You can find the interview with Ibrahim at this link, 2 mins 35.44 seconds into the recording: 

At the debate, chaired by European Parliament President Martin Schulz and attended by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Council President Donald Tusk, MEPs demanded concrete action to halt the drowning of Mediterranean migrants and refugees. Much was made of dealing with human trafficking and smuggling, and distributing migrants to different countries.  However, much less time has been spent discussing tackling the root causes of migration and more cooperation with partner countries in the Middle East and Africa' (see European Parliament news).

We are particularly encouraging papers that seek to discuss these 'root causes', as well as those interested in the topical migration-related issues.

Information on how to submit abstracts and the type of papers accepted can be found in the CALLS section of the PASCAL Conference website.

For further information on the conference strands go see the STRANDS page.