Asylum and migration became a major election issue because many people perceive it as a threat. In the Netherlands, Italy, Finland and Sweden, far-right parties have won significant electoral victories largely because of this issue. Polls predicted that this would also be the case in the (European) elections in Belgium, Germany, France, Portugal and Austria in 2024. Migration is also being used as a campaign issue in the presidential elections in the VS. Is the fear that people have about asylum and migration justified, or can fair asylum and migration policies, coupled with bold integration and education policies, benefit our European societies, for example in the context of tight labour markets?

People's perceptions of asylum and migration are often distorted, while academic opinions on the moral justification, feasibility and consequences of asylum and migration are divided. In order to create a critical and attentive public opinion, it is important to create more clarity about which facts and options are consensual among scientists and which are not. On the fringes of the New Horizons in Justice and Migration conference (15 October) and the Annual Workshop of the Good Integration Research Network (GOODINT; 16 October), LIAS is organising a series of interdisciplinary expert seminars with renowned researchers from 14 to 25 October.

In this LIAS project different aspects regarding migration (such as Integration, European Law, labour market and demography effects) will be discussed interdisciplinary by our international experts.

We organise several public events during this project:

17/10: Lunch discussion: Undoing Empire’s Hold on Democracy

17/10: Current Events Lecture: Is migration in Europe's self-interest?

24/10: Lunch discussion: The effect of citizenship on migrants' wealth

24/10: Lecture: Europe's border policy