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The International Migration Institute (IMI) aims to promote new thinking about migration as an intrinsic part of global change and development - away from Western-centric and governmental perspectives.  This is achieved through promoting research, generating new data, developing innovative teaching methods  and publishing IMI’s Working Paper Series.

IMI is strengthened by a global network of fellows from around the world sharing this research agenda. IMI activities are driven by the desire to advance the boundaries of migration research and migration theory, promote evidence–based debates about migration, and encourage greater engagement beyond the academy: 

  • Developing a long-term perspective on international migration and human mobility as an intrinsic part of global change and develoment.
  • Exploring new conceptual and methodological horizons for understanding and researching migration processes.
  • Sharing data and research through the IMI working paper series and other ‘open access’ platforms.
  • Disseminating evidence-based insights on migration to the broadest possible audiences using accessible language.
  • Creating new narratives on migration that challenge polarized debates between ‘pro-’ and ‘anti-’ migration voices.

Since IMI's establishment in 2006 at the University of Oxford, IMI researchers and fellows have developed a wide-ranging research programme that challenged conventional ideas of migration and build an empirical basis for significant advances in theory and analysis. IMI forges collaborations among migration researchers from around the world to build global research capacity.

IMI functions as a global hub encouraging new research partnerships, visiting fellowships and exchange visits, conferences and seminars, and collaborative publications.

This image shows a classroom.

 

Background

The International Migration Institute (IMI) was originally established at the Department of International Development (ODID) of the University of Oxford in 2006 thanks to support by the Oxford Martin School. IMI was initiated as a collaboration between Steven Vertovec, then-director of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), and Stephen Castles, then-director of the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC). Stephen Castles became IMI’s first Director. He was succeeded by Robin Cohen (2009-11), Hein de Haas and Oliver Bakewell (2011-16) and Mathias Czaika (2017). In 2019 IMI became established at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), directed by Hein de Haas, from where it operates as a global hub centre gathering social scientists from around the world committed to advancing a long-term view of migration processes as part of global change away from governmental and institutional views of migration as a 'problem to be solved' or a 'solution to problems'. 


Thinking Migration: celebrating imi's legacy

Thinking MigrationThis report features highlights from IMI's first ten years (2006-2015) developing a long-term and forward-looking perspective on international migration as part of global change.

This 56-page report captures the story of the institute's founding in 2006, tracing its development into a leading global authority on international migration.

Contributions from former IMI staff, and from research collaborators from the Global North and South, celebrate the achievements IMI made over its decade of existing, and look towards ongoing and new areas of research.

Download the report