Open Post-Doctoral Fellowship_ASPIRE_2

The Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia (CIES-Iscte) of the Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa is accepting applications for one post-doctoral researcher position as part of the European project “Decision making of Aspiring (Re)Migrants to/within the EU: The case of labour market-leading migrations from Asia (AspirE)”, funded by the European Commission (HORIZON-CL2-2022-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-04).

About the project:

Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, Europe continues to be a major destination for transnational migrants, notably from Asia and Africa. The way in which this phenomenon has been unfolding underlines the urgent need to further conceptualise transnational migration by analysing the decision-making of aspiring (re)migrants. This scholarly enterprise is critically important as mainstream migration theories put more of a focus on broader social processes and dynamics, thereby overlooking the human aspects of migration. Basing itself on several migration theories in various disciplines, this proposal adopts a framework that humanises

research on (non-)migration decision-making, i.e. highlighting its human aspects in three ways: engendering, decolonising and situating the analysis in temporal, psychological, relational and social contexts. As a case study, the AspirE research project will examine the decision-making of aspiring (re)migrants from selected Southeast and East Asian countries (China, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) to and within selected EU member countries (Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Finland). These migrants are oriented towards the EU labour markets where they are concentrated in ethnic niches. Employing qualitative and participatory research methodologies, the study will map the extent to which spatial mobility policies at the EU and national levels take into account aspiring (re)migrants’ behaviour, identify the micro- and meso-level drivers of (re)migration aspiration and/or intention and determine the temporality of aspiring (re)migrants’ decision-making. The results of this project will provide concrete information as to how individuals’ migration decisions change over time and on the specific stage at which mobility policies are more likely to play a role in shaping migration outcomes, which will enhance EU migration policies.

The project brings together six European partners and seven Asian partners: Université Libre de Bruxelles (BEL), Masaryk University (CZ), Goethe University Frankfurt (GER), University of Milan (ITA), Instituto Universitario de Lisboa – ISCTE (POR), Tampere University (FIN), Scalabrini Migration Center (PH), Mahidol University (TH), Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VN), Foundation for Isaan Education and Popular Media (TH), Asia-Pacific Center (VN), The Education University of Hong Kong (HK) and Waseda University (JP).

Important notice: The position is subject to the signing of the Grant Agreement.