Annual Conference of the Romanian Network for Migration Studies (RoMig)

As one of the social phenomena which gained enormous momentum in the past ten years, migration continues to represent a major issue on the European agenda. Regardless of its nature, dynamics, and causes, migration remains a global social phenomenon raising new challenges in a continuously uncertain global environment, and incorporating new countries as either countries of origin, transit, or destination.

Over the last decades, Central and East European (CEE) countries have been particularly affected by migration. Their recent history as emigration countries passed through different stages, from sources of mass emigration in some cases to cases of return, transit, and immigration. For politicians or policy makers, migration has successively triggered the enthusiasm for high remittances and exporting social unrests, challenges of brain drain and the efforts to encourage return or/and diaspora policies. For many citizens coming from the region, migration is simply a search for a wider range of professional opportunities, better economic perspectives or cultural enrichment. At the same time, for many immigrants, passing through or settling in these countries, the region is often seen as just a second hand choice, however safer and far better option than their countries of origin. These rapid and complex developments unveil the CEE countries as new strategic research sites as source, transit, and destination countries, where current critical questions related to migration can be asked anew. With more than 3 million of its citizens living abroad and with a low, but raising foreign born population, Romania epitomizes this regional development. Our aim in this context is to explore this current status and migratory developments in comparative perspective.

Academics, students and practitioners working in the field of migration and social integration are encouraged to submit papers on topics such as: Migration and social change; Migration and development; Diasporas and remittances; Migration and transnationalism in CEE countries; Migration and family; Migration policies and institutional practices in new countries of destination;; Return and circularity in the Eastern European migration; Immigration and immigrants’ integration in the “New Europe”; The link between internal and external migration, Data sources and their uses in the study of migration; Migration, employment and labour markets in developing countries; refugees in the Central and Eastern Europe, etc.

Submissions: Abstracts no longer than 250 words should be submitted online at: http://romig.ro/submissions-2018 no later than the 15th of June. We will be able to accept up to 50 proposals. Acceptance decisions will be communicated before June 30, 2018.

There are no registration or participation fees. Organizers do not cover transport, housing or meals.

Important dates
Deadline for abstract submission: 15 June 2018
Acceptance decision: 30 June 2018
Deadline for registration: 15 July 2018
Date for preliminary program: 25 July 2018
Dates of RoMig Conference: 11-12 September 2017

Set up in 2016, RoMig – the Romanian Network for Migration Studies (www.romig.ro) is a network of Romanian and international scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds who share the interest in international migration from and towards Romania. The conference will take place in Timişoara and it will be hosted by the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology together with the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, East European Center for Research in Economics and Business, West University of Timişoara.