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The Changing Face of Global Mobility: Celebrating 10 Years of the International Migration Institute will be held 13-15 January 2016 at St Anne's College, University of Oxford

The provisional programme for this three-day international conference features 55 presentations by migration scholars from around the world.

In celebrating the 10th anniversary of IMI, this conference will both review the progress made in reaching the aim of developing a long-term and forward-looking perspective on international migration as an intrinsic part of global change, and explore new conceptual horizons for understanding migration processes and their impacts for origin and destination societies.

Keynote speakers and panellists

Dr Oliver Bakewell, Director, IMI and Associate Professor, Department of International Development, University of Oxford

Prof. Stephen Castles, Research Chair in Sociology, University of Sydney

Prof. Robin Cohen, Emeritus Professor of Development Studies, University of Oxford and former Director of IMI

Prof. Hein de Haas, Professor of Sociology, University of Amsterdam, and former co-director of IMI

Dr Filiz Garip, Associate Professor of Sociology, Harvard University

Prof. Tim Hatton, Department of Economics, University of Essex

Dr Leander Kandilige, Visiting Lecturer at University of Northampton, Lecturer at University of Ghana and Research Associate, University of Oxford

Prof. Uma Kothari, Professor of Migration and Postcolonial Studies, University of Manchester

Prof. Loren Landau, South African Research Chair for Mobility and the Politics of Difference, African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand

Prof.Takyiwaa Manuh, Director, Social Development Policy Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Dr Çağlar Özden, Senior economist in the Development Research Group's Trade and Integration team, World Bank

Conference themes

The aim of this interdisciplinary conference is to advance theoretical understanding of the nature, drivers and impacts of migration processes:

1.    Drivers and Dynamics. How do processes of social transformation and development shape human mobility? In what ways are interrelated processes of internal and international migration are driven by wider social, economic, technological and political transformations in origin and destination countries? What is the role of origin and destination states in shaping migration processes? To what extent do these insights challenge sedentary assumptions of policy?

2.    Development, inequality and change. What are the implications of migration for development and social transformation in destination and origin societies? In particular, how does migration affect social, cultural and economic change as well as patterns of inequality? Why does migration seem to have more positive development outcomes in some settings, and more negative outcomes in others?

3.    Diaspora, transnationalism and identity. How is globalisation affecting migrants’ ability and ways of sustaining long-distance and potentially inter-generational links with origin societies? How are transnational communities and diasporas formed? How do they impact on people’s identities? To what extent do they challenge conventional models of immigrant integration and the nation state?

Download the conference programme

Register to attend the conference

Registration deadline 14 December 2015