Research on migration is flourishing but is very fragmented over disciplines, perspectives and issues. Disciplines like political science, law, economics, sociology, demography, etc., have their own approaches to studying different aspects of migration at different levels, from the individual right up to the social system, economic system or region. This makes it difficult to achieve a really comprehensive understanding of the relevant phenomena and drivers without adopting an international, interdisciplinary approach.
The best example of the benefits of Europe-wide collaborations is the European Social Survey (ESS), an absolutely unique undertaking, supported from its beginnings in 2001 by SCSS. The ESS is a Europe-wide (covering currently more than 30 countries), academically-driven social survey designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe’s changing institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations. The result is comparable social data. This is a really unique source of social science information.
The strategic workshop, which was attended by participants from all over Europe and the US, therefore aimed to put all these theoretical and methodological approaches in relation to each other, so as to draw up a theorydriven agenda for multi-method and multilevel research on migration processes that would ultimately help us improve our understanding of this very complex social phenomenon. Part of the challenge is to make better use of existing data, but also to collect internationally comparable quantitative and qualitative data.
Research projects
EUR: Is this kind of collaboration particularly important given the scale of the social challenges Europe faces? Dr K-H: Yes, this is absolutely clear. If we want to compete with large countries like the U.S or China, we need European collaboration, because individually not even the largest European countries would be an equal partner to the U.S.
We can exchange and share useful data and experiences from different cultures. This is especially important for humanities and social sciences, because they are closely related to the environment in which they function
This covers all research areas, but of course our focus is on the social sciences. The role of the ESF in these terms is to enable pan-European collaboration, which is similar to the European Union framework programme, but there are differences. First of all, our instruments work on a bottom-up approach. The framework programme, except for the European Research Council, is organised around priority themes. Also, the ESF includes member countries from outside the EU, such as EFTA countries, the Balkan nations and Turkey.
www.euresearcher.com
EUR: Could we talk about some of the specific projects funded by the ESF? I understand the EUROHESC project is looking at Higher Education and social change? Dr K-H: The EuroHESC programme followed on from our Forward Look on Higher Education. A Forward Look is a foresight instrument outlining the directions in which a particular research domain should go. Research on higher education is an applied domain. Normally researchers in this field are under pressure to deliver advice and factual support for political decisions.
What the researchers wanted to do in this foresight exercise with ESF was to look at their field independently of pressures from policy-makers. They worked on the directions which need to be developed in research on higher education, both theoretical frameworks and Europe-wide comparative approaches. The EuroHESC projects that took up this research agenda worked in particular on issues concerning changes in the steering and governance of higher education and the implications of this for the academic profession and scientific innovation – and all of this with a European comparative approach. The projects are now producing results, but one fundamental
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