Projects
Below you can find the third party funded projects I work on as PI or Co-PI.
DYNAMIG
A closer understanding of migration decisions and policies
DYNAMIG is a three-year project that aims to create a more thorough understanding of how people make decisions on whether or not to migrate and on how they migrate. Focusing on Africa and Europe, we will analyse to what extent migration policies – or policies that impact migration – take into account the factors that shape migration decisions, and look at how effective these policies are in influencing decisions and behaviour.
Funded by EU Horizon Europe. Project Duration 2023-2025.
You can find more detail and our ouputs on our project website. Also see the commentary I wrote to summarize the project's aims
The Senegal Migration Panel
Understanding Mobility in a Climate-Stressed Population
In an interdisciplinary team of economists, sociologist, and political scientist, the project plans to analyze the influence of climate change on attitudes towards migration and actual migration decisions using the example of Senegal. Via comprehensive surveys of individuals and households in 150 Senegalese villages, different factors influencing migration decisions will be analyzed: the relevance of extreme weather events, the role of local networks and their narratives about climate change, economic pressures as well as a change in the demand for skills by the labor market due to climate change.
Funded by Leibniz Association. Project Duration 2023-2025.
Photo: Unsplash by Carles Martinez
China in Africa
Exploring the Consequences for Economic and Social Development
The research project studies the effects that China’s growing economic engagement has on African economies, and how China’s economic presence is perceived by African citizens. To this effect, the key dimensions of trade, investment, aid, debt, and migration flows from China to Africa (and vice versa) are analyzed.
Funded by Leibniz Foundation. Project duration 2021-2024. Link to Website
Cluster: Economic Research on Africa
In the first phase of the project, the Cluster for Economic Research on Africa has already successfully begun to address these issues and to lay the foundation for significantly expanded economic research on Africa in Germany, for example by compiling new databases.
The second phase of the Cluster builds on this work and focuses on three overarching themes:
The corporate level with a special focus on potentials and entrepreneurial activities in African markets.
Investment and trade in and with African countries and the underlying policy framework.
Issues of macroeconomic development, stability and public finance in Africa.
Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF). Funding 2021-2022 (Phase I) and 2023-2024 (Phase II). Link to Website
Photo by NESA by Makers on Unsplash
Megatrends Africa
In the project “Megatrends Afrika: Implications and Options for German and International Policy”, we explore how megatrends affect African states and societies. We seek to develop ideas for German and European cooperation with African partners that help to make ongoing transformations fairer and more sustainable. This is all the more important as Africa is rising on the agenda of German and European policymakers, as does their need for evidence-based policy advice.
Funded by Federal Foreign Office (AA), Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg). Project duration 2021-2022 (Phase 1) and 2023-2025 (Phase II).
Link to Website
Finished projects
Work in progress...
MEDAM
Refugees, immigration from third countries in general, and the cooperation between the EU and its member states with third country governments will remain dominant issues in Europe for many years to come. How these challenges are addressed impacts Europe’s cohesion and capacity to act. The Mercator Dialogue on Asylum and Migration (MEDAM) addresses the most relevant research questions and pressing concerns of policy makers.
Through MEDAM, we develop solutions for asylum and immigration policies in the EU and its member states that
allow the EU to meet its humanitarian obligations towards refugees;
harness immigration from third countries for growth and development in countries of origin and destination;
recognize the role of labor migration in promoting integration with EU accession and neighborhood countries;
address the migration implications for Europe of population growth and demographic change in Africa and other developing countries;
promote the labor market and social integration of immigrants and their descendants, and thereby their contribution to economic growth in Europe.
Funded by Stiftung Mercator. Project duration 2016-2019 (Phase 1) and 2020-2023 (Phase 2). Link to Website
ITFLOWS
ITFLOWS will generate novel insights on migration. The purpose of ITFLOWS is to provide accurate predictions and adequate management solutions of migration flows in the European Union in the phases of reception, relocation, settlement and integration of migration, according to a wide range of human factors and using multiple sources of information. These insights will be provided by an evidence-based ICT enabled solution (the EUMigraTool) and precise models. All solutions will have fitness for purpose continually validated by policy-makers and practitioners in cooperation with civil-society organisations in a dynamic and iterative process.ITFLOWS will propose tailor-made solutions for practitioners and policy makers for managing migration. On the one hand, the EUMigraTool targets first-line-practitioners, second-level reception organisations and municipalities. It will provide modular solutions based on the prediction of migration flows and the identification of risks of tensions between migrants and EU citizens. On the other hand, an in-depth analysis on drivers, patterns and choices of migration as well as public sentiment towards migration will lead to the drafting of adequate recommendations and good practices for policy makers, governments and EU institutions.
Funded by EU Horizon 2020. Project duration 2020-2023. Link to Website