The University of Milan, through a research unit located at the Department of Social and Political Sciences and leaded by Prof. Maurizio Ambrosini, will take part in an important H2020 research project on European migration policies in the aftermath of the "refugee crisis".

The MAGYC Project –Migration Governance and Asylum Crisis- will explore how European migration policies are influenced by political and economic crises in the frame of crescent international migration flows. At a time when such policies are heavily contested across European member-states, and when the asylum system seems more threatened than ever, this project is critically important to improve our understanding of how migration policies are formulated and shaped by a context of crisis.

The project has been selected through a competitive process in the framework of the “Horizon 2020” European research programme, it has been allocated a total budget of around 3.2 million euros, and will last four years. The coordinator of the project is The HUGO Observatory (Environment, Migration, Politics) within the University of Liège in Belgium, and will be jointly developed by 13 research partners from different European and Non-European countries (Lebanon and Turkey): University of Liège (BE), Sciences Po (FR), University of Economics in Bratislava (SK), University of Neuchâtel (CH), University of Milan (IT), Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre/Norwegian Refugee Council (NO), School of Oriental and African Studies (UK), University of Lund (SW), University of Macedonia (GR), German Institute of Global and Area Studies (DE), Sabanci University (TR), Lebanese American University (LB) and National Centre for Scientific Research (FR).

The research unit of the University of Milan is integrated by Prof. Maurizio Ambrosini, Prof. Paola Bonizzoni, Prof. Monica Santoro, Dr. Claudia Zilli and other postdoc researchers that will be expressly hired for the development of this project. The overall contribution of the University of Milan will consist of an analysis of the discourses, perceptions and policies regarding international migration from a Mediterranean perspective. The importance to include the Mediterranean, and particularly the Italian perspective, on migration -and more specifically on asylum- governance lies on its peculiar geographical position as the most relevant EU southern border/first “safe country”, and the significant increase of asylum seekers’ arrivals registered at its shores particularly during the last years.

The contribution will focus on 1.- the discursive construction of the crisis rhetoric; 2.- the identification of the different local, national and international stakeholders involved in the governance process of migration and asylum, and their multiple ways of interaction; and 3.- the multi-scalar study of the official and unofficial responses to the so called “refugee crisis”, emphasizing the role of the local authorities on facilitating (or hindering) the application of national policies on reception, redistribution and inclusion/exclusion of newcomers.

For further information:

https://mailchi.mp/65464cbf36f1/magyc-newsletter-1-what-is-the-magyc-project-about or you can also visit the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MAGYCH2020 and subscribe to the Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/9a9bae9d49ff/mailinglisthugoobservatory. Official Website under construction.