Partners & Consortium
The EMMIR Consortium Committee
EMMIR is run by a Consortium of nine partners: three African, four European, and two Asian institutions (listed in detail below). Partners in the consortium represent multi-disciplinary expertise in migration studies and intersecting fields, such as gender studies, cultural studies, and education and development studies. Each partner institution is represented in the Consortium Committee by 2 delegates.
EMMIR Consortium meeting on 28 September 2022 at the University of Oldenburg
Two student representatives from the two current cohorts, elected by the students of the current cohorts, are also invited to join the Consortium Committee. They are granted advisory votes in questions pertaining to examinations and are consulted in the process of monitoring the course of study.
EMMIR students are represented in the Consortium Committee, like every partner institution they have two seats. The student representatives play a crucial role with regard to the overall performance of the programme and the consortium‘s routines and procedures. Students can contact their student representatives with any suggestions, problems, wishes, and needs.
University of Oldenburg in Oldenburg, Germany
UOL has a long history of running interdisciplinary study programmes and programmes focusing on inter- /transcultural education. While EMMIR is situated at the School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies and closely tied to the School’s research cluster “Transculturality and Cultural Mobility,” it is also, thematically and institutionally, framed and backed up by two of the University’s interdisciplinary research centres:
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the Center for Migration, Education and Cultural Studies (CMC), which is concerned with practices of social differentiation and the formation of subject positions in societies defined by migration and aims at the analysis of orders of difference and orders of belonging in migratory contexts; and
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the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Women and Gender (ZFG), which focuses on questions of (the representation) of gender relations and the explicit or implicit power structures through which these relations are organised and continuously reproduced.
The working group ‘Migration – Gender – Politics’ (MGP) has been the operational ‘home’ of EMMIR. UOL’s specific contribution to EMMIR builds on this expertise and brings in experienced staff that, both in research and teaching, specialises in theories and the history of migration and gender from a social science perspective (Dr Lydia Potts), in Cultural Studies-oriented, approaches to the analysis of practices of cultural representation and forms of cultural mobility (Prof. Dr Martin Butler), and in pedagogical approaches to migration (Dr. Koopmann) as well as in transnational gender studies (Dr. Pritsch). On this basis, UOL provides state of the art foundational modules plus an academic environment offering students a wide range of pertinent possibilities for orientation and networking.
The contributions of guest lecturers and scholars from other disciplines and geographical regions (e.g., Africa, and India) serve to widen students’ perspectives and relate to the diverse disciplinary and geographical backgrounds they have. At the same time, in the first and third semesters—and whenever appropriate—the programme incorporates complementary expertise from colleagues from its immediate institutional environment at UOL, e.g., from Linguistics, Anthropology, Art, Ethnography, Musicology, or Slavic Studies. In addition, various GOs and NGOs in the region, to which UOL has established institutional ties, are involved as experts for small-scale research projects and, at the same time, provide students with direct contacts to the working world.
The EMMIR Consortium partners
University of Stavanger in Stavanger, Norway
The University of Stavanger (UiS) was the leading partner in the initiative for a joint (European) MA course on Migration and Intercultural Relations in 2001. Faculty involved in EMMIR have broad experience in curriculum development and in teaching migration issues and initiatives related to intercultural education. Especially grounding in migration history and migration sociology, the institution has developed a focus on micro-history, linked to a re-assessment of concepts of time, temporality, place and location, of migrant narratives and migration experiences. Scholars at UiS strongly cooperate with scholars from other institutions – e.g. the VID Specialized University – and different disciplines in social sciences and humanities.
At UiS, EMMIR is located in the Department of Education and Sports Science at the Faculty of Arts and Education. With regard to the EMMIR curriculum UiS emphasis is on migration history (Prof. Dr. Østrem), Nordic migration and migration theory, e.g., transnational social spaces (Ptof. Dr. Normand) and diversity education and African migration (Prof Dr. Hansen).
In addition, UiS teams up with the University of Nova Gorica (UNG), bringing in experienced teachers and researchers seconded from the Slovenian Migration Institute (SMI) who—already in semester 2 and in Norway—teach the EMMIR students in order to deepen theoretical and methodological knowledge with specific attention to the programme foci. Professors Dres Gombac (specialist on forced migration in Central Europe), Luksic Hacin (EMMIR Course Director at UNG, expert on multiculturalism, identity and migration), Hladnik (her expertise includes gender and migration as well as research methods), Vah Jevsnik (labour mobility, migration and integration) and Vizintin (education and migration) not only contribute to sem 2 teaching, they also offer the sem 3 module at UNG. Thus semesters 2 and 3 also include comparative dimensions e.g., on migration in Northern European welfare states and Central European post-communist new nation states.
Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman, Sudan
The Regional Institute of Gender, Diversity, Peace and Rights (RIGDPR) at Ahfad University for Women, Omdurman, is concerned with issues related to gender, migration, and intercultural relations. It offers several post-graduate programmes and conducts extensive research and curriculum activities. Connected to the EDULINK-funded curriculum development and research cooperation IMMIS (a.o. with UOL and MUST, 2008-2011), it was among the first institutions in eastern Africa to develop and implement modules focusing on migration and multiculturalism, linking those issues to gender, development, governance, and peace studies.
With its expertise in gender, multiculturalism and development, the AUW is internationally recognised in this field and may claim to be the top-of-the-range women’s university in Africa and the Arab world. AUW constitutes a unique space providing ethnically and religiously integrative, quality academic education for women – providing a ‘safe-haven’ for learning, teaching and research in a conflict-ridden society. At AUW EMMIR is based in the Regional Institute of Gender, Diversity, Peace and Rights (RIGDPR) and builds on synergies created by EMMIR and MA programmes “Gender, Migration and Multiculturalism” and “Gender and Development”. Prof. Dr Badri is the EMMIR Course Director, EMMIR students are taught together with those of other AUW master programmes – by Prof. Dr Badri whose specialization is on gender and conflict and by Dr Osman, also a gender specialist in the context of refugees and IDPs in Sudan, by Prof. Dr Alkhangi, a medical doctor by training, whose focus is on gender-sensitive health policy analysis and socio-medical research in the setting of conflict and crisis, by Dr Alabas, a specialist on peace issues, and Dr Izeldeen, a psychologist with specialisation in gender and women empowerment.
Research projects carried out by RIGDPR staff are mostly interdisciplinary and often undertaken in partnership with academia and experts from NGOs or governmental institutions in Sudan as well as outside Sudan. Research undertaken in the past five years focused on questions regarding ethnic identity and cultural diversity, human rights and conflict resolution, migrant domestic work and reproductive health.
RIGDPR’s mission also includes developing solid partnerships and close collaborations with various national, regional, and international organisations including government and academic institutions. Moreover, RIGDPR engages in advocacy activities for achieving change at the policy and community level in areas of diversity, peace, rights, migration, and governance. These activities include public lectures and advocacy workshops.
Mbarara University for Science and Technology in Mbarara, Uganda
MUST is spearheading the implementation of migration studies as a transversal task in the university’s postgraduate courses. From 2008 to 2011, MUST was one of the partners in the Edulink-funded research and curriculum development project IMMIS and contributed considerably to the development of EMMIR and the implementation of migration studies in African higher education. EMMIR is hosted by the Institute of Interdisciplinary Training and Research, the programme is interlinked with the postgraduate course in Conflict Analysis and Inclusive Development.
Specialising in Development Studies and Interdisciplinary Teacher Training, MUST’s main expertise lies in the field of forced migration, peace and reconciliation (also drawing upon transnational cooperation with the University of Rwanda and an MA programme in “Conflict Analysis and Inclusive Development” – the EMMIR module at MUST regularly includes a study trip to Rwanda). Dr Muriisa, a political scientist with a research focus on governance, refugee security and borders, is the EMMIR Course Director at MUST and teaches the EMMIR module. He teams up with Dr Ahimbisibwe, who specialises in development and migration in the Great Lakes Region, Dr. Ogwang, who is a conflict analysis expert focusing on internal displacements, and Dr Olema whose research focuses on gender, displacement and reconciliation. MUST is a young, regional university located in an area with intense migration and displacement; among its partners is the Refugee Law Project an organisation that combines activist work with an evidence-based policy approach, and various UNHCR implementing partners in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement (e.g. Windle Trust, American Refugee Council) that over the past four years turned out to be one of the most important internship providers for EMMIR students introducing them to professional work in the fields of humanitarian assistance, development aid and migration/refugee management.
MUST’s key expertise also draws on gender issues. As a matter of principle, it focuses on the practical applications of social sciences to the needs of the community. Besides, MUST offer community-based training and contribute to the interdisciplinary analysis of development in Uganda by focusing practically on the comparative problems of the prospects for Uganda and the Great Lakes Region and advances capacity in development studies by contributing to local, national and international policy-making.
Current research projects include 'Finding Durable Solutions for Old Refugee Case Loads in Nakivale Refugee Settlement,' in partnership with the University of Antwerp, Belgium and funded by Virilous (Belgian Development Cooperation). In addition, EMMIR benefits from the strong relationships between MUST and the UNHCR implementing partners in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, providing students with internship opportunities and also facilitating research activities in the settlement setting, particularly following art-based research approaches. Currently, MUST is also involved in the development of a joint project proposal with the University of Rwanda and UOL in the area of Post-Conflict, Peace, and Reconciliation. Since 2012, MUST has been hosting EMMIR students for the third-semester focus module and also provides an organisational framework for project-based internships in Nakivale.
University of Nova Gorica in Nova Gorica, Slovenia
UNG joined the network now running EMMIR in 2001 and has been involved in joint curriculum development and the set-up of the forerunner programme JMMIR. The key staff representing EMMIR in this application has considerably contributed to the programme implementation throughout the first funding period. Other projects and activities implemented within the framework of migration, intercultural relations, and transculturality include:
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Doctoral programme in Humanities: encompassing literary studies, migration, and intercultural relations, and focusing specifically on contemporary methodological and theoretical skills.
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Travelling TexTs 1790-1914 – Transnational Reception of Women’s Writing at the Fringes of Europe (2013–2016, HERA/FP7): This HERA-funded collaborative research project studied the role of women’s writing in the transnational literary field during the long 19th century. It explored cultural encounters through reading and writing that contributed to shaping modern cultural imaginaries in Europe. By tracing and comparing the networks created through women’s writing from the perspective of five countries (Norway, Finland, Slovenia, Spain, and the Netherlands) located at the fringes of 19th-century Europe, it questioned the relations between centre and periphery from a gendered point of view. The project thus contributed to the development of new, transnational models of writing the history of European literary culture.
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BoB – Balancing on the Border (2014, 2015): The bi-national twin-city Nova Gorica forms the backdrop for an intensive programme, in which students from Norway, Portugal, and Slovenia collaboratively researched aspects of ‘balancing life on the border’ using audio-visual and multimedia artistic works and encompassing various border-related phenomena, e.g., trans-border migration for work, culturally mixed marriages, language barriers, cultural and historical links and cleavages, political micro-geographical and territorial issues, naturally as well as architecturally manifest border phenomena.
UNG’s and all other third-semester focus modules reflect the specific expertise of the partners and provide students with advanced perspectives and in-depth variations on topics in the field of migration studies.
University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budjejovice, Czechia
The University of South Bohemia (USB) in Ceské Budjovice is a public institution of advanced learning. On a long-term basis, USB supports and promotes ideas and values of a democratic society through education, research and public engagement on local as well as national levels. For this reason, USB is also involved in many international projects and has developed a wide network of active partnerships on the supranational level.
The main and most important task of the Department of Social Sciences at the Faculty of Education, which has been the coordinator of the EMMIR in the Czech Republic since 2011, is the training of future teachers of civic education with an emphasis on active participation of students in various projects and research. However, since 2005 one of the main areas of expertise of the Department is migration with a focus on processes of nationalism, ethnicity, and representations. USB was also a partner institution of the project Comenius 3 Learning Migration (funded by the European Commission) together with other European EMMIR partners, as well as of the study program Joint Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations.
At USB, an important component of the university mission is to widen and deepen international cooperation in the fields of education and research as an important step to reach international standards. The long-term aim is to develop several joint and double degree programmes. EMMIR connects with the 2021 strategy of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic:
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Aim 3.1. Promote global competencies of students and teachers
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Aim 3.2. Internationalisation of study programmes
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Aim 3.4. Creating an international environment within the university
USB has a strong focus on teacher training, and what specifically ties in with EMMIR is the focus on civil education. Based on expertise in political science and cultural studies, USB’s EMMIR teaching focuses on migration in Central Europe and questions of representation and minorities, specifically Roma people; this is combined with interdisciplinary aspects of psychology and education. Elements of the module are carried out in cooperation with civil society organisations and regional governmental institutions.
University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa
The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand is an independent, interdisciplinary, and internationally engaged Africa-based centre of excellence for research and teaching that shapes global discourse on human mobility, development, and social transformation. The ACMS is one of the continent's leading institutions for research, teaching, and outreach on migration.
The ACMS offers an Honours, MA and PhD programme that attracts students from within South Africa, the southern African region, and beyond. Research at the ACMS fits within five broad and intersecting themes. Each of these includes multiple projects, often involving doctoral and master’s students and partners based outside of Wits University:
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Considering communities of difference
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Governing Mobility in Southern African Cities
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Illness, Boundaries, and Health Systems
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Migrant rights and the social life of law
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Mobility labour and livelihoods
ACMS is part of the seven-year research programme consortium (RPC) 'Migrating out of Poverty', funded by the UK's Department for International Development, and focusing on the relationship between internal and regional migration and poverty in six regions across Asia, Africa, and Europe (coordinated by the University of Sussex). ACMS hosts the South African Research Chair in Mobility and the Politics of Difference, held by Prof. Loren Laundau and the migration and health project in Southern Africa (maHp), funded by a Welcome Trust Investigator Award held by Prof. Jo Vearey.
Other projects include a three-year Mellon Foundation-funded project on Governing morality, migration, sexuality, and gender, an oral history project 'Whose Country is it Anyway? Telling Transformation & Xenophobia,' and participation in studies funded by Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity’s Super-Diversity South Africa Project.
The EMMIR Programme is in line with the mission of Wits University, which is to grow its global stature as a leading research-intensive university and to be a gateway to research engagement and intellectual achievement in Africa. It achieves this by building on the principles of intellectual excellence, international competitiveness and local relevance. As an institution built on principles of intellectual excellence, it is committed to providing high-quality, internationally competitive education, founded on high academic standards, cutting-edge research, public engagement, and productive partnerships with leading institutions throughout the world. In 2010, the University developed the Wits Vision 2022 Strategic Framework to achieve this aforementioned vision. This was guided by an extensive consultation process, allowing various internal and external stakeholders an opportunity to contribute. Wits is globally vaunted for its academic and research excellence. That it is a world-class university is evident in its ranking in the past years as one of the two leading universities in the country and on the continent. This legacy of excellence has to be nurtured, sustained and eventually surpassed in the next years. The Wits Vision 2022 Strategic Framework articulates a vision that elevates Wits’ position as one of the internationally leading research-intensive universities and a gateway to knowledge and understanding in Africa. It provides the overarching framework for more detailed plans based on current imperatives and will shape strategic thinking during the respective planning cycles.
The specific expertise that the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) at Wits contributes to EMMIR (particularly during the IP and in their third-semester focus module) covers areas such as the migration labour nexus and questions of migration and psychosocial health. Staff from Wits involved in EMMIR have extensive experience in teaching and research in these fields. The core teaching is done by Prof. Dr Vearey, Director of ACMS and EMMIR Course Director, who is a psychologist by training. ACMS’ teaching postdocs include Dr Nlodvo (specialist on art-based research and migration in Southern Africa) and Dr Camminga whose work focus is on transgender-identified people and migration. ACMS very successfully runs an MA in Migration Studies, attracting students from all over the continent and beyond. As a centre of excellence, it also has a large number of PhD candidates and is running numerous migration research projects, funded nationally and internationally. EMMIR students, who have been hosted and supervised for their internships and theses in this environment, have reported about their outstanding learning and research experiences.
Rabindra Bharati University in Kalkutta, India
Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) was established to disseminate Tagore’s thoughts on education and to spread Tagorean internationalism and its contemporary relevance through curricula in the Faculties of Arts, Fine Arts and Visual Arts. In this millennium, the university has increased its ambit to include new departments such as Environmental Studies, the Department of Human Rights and Human Development and the Department of Women’s Studies – all offering MA or MPhil programmes.
Through its academic programmes, RBU is committed to knowledge production in a context of plurality of religions and diversity of cultures – based on the pledge not to discriminate based on caste, religion, gender, class or nationality. RBU caters mostly to students of the peripheries of West Bengal and from marginalised and underprivileged strata of society, which constitute more than seventy percent of the students. Yet, because of its academic excellence, RBU also attracts international students each year. Several of the RBU Research Centres are closely connected to the EMMIR foci: The Centre for African Studies, the Radha Krishna Centre for Human Rights, the Centre for Environmental Rights and the Gender Studies Centre, which is sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The participation of RBU adds a further dimension to the EMMIR collective by bringing in experts with knowledge of fine arts and visual arts in the field of migration studies from a region where there are highly complex internal migration flows and refugees. EMMIR would become the first Joint Master programme in migration studies in India which contributes to the paramount efforts needed to address the various challenges in the region and beyond in migration societies. RBU has developed a strong focus on labour migration that will enrich EMMIR curricula and enable capacity building within the partnership. RBU’s portfolio in fine and visual arts will further enhance possibilities for creative transdisciplinary collaborations.
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Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group in Kalkutta, India
The institutional engagement of Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group (CRG) with EMMIR started a few years ago when several young international interns visited CRG and worked on issues related to forced migration.
As a result of CRG’s institutional engagement with EMMIR, several young international interns visited CRG and worked on issues related to forced migration. They enriched the discourses of the young scholars in the CRG, a cutting-edge research institute of repute. EMMIR interns visited socially and economically depressed areas where people seldom get to see persons from a foreign land. Through these interns, young people from the depressed areas for the first time engaged with persons from the EU Africa or the US, all areas unknown to most of them. Also, thanks to the EMMIR programme, several CRG scholars visited EU countries. Dr. Shibaji Pratim Basu visited Germany for the first time to deliver an EMMIR seminar. As a result of his experience, he began an Institute on European Affairs at Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, where he invited several EMMIR scholars to interact with his students and became Dean of Arts. As a result of the robust interactions between EMMIR and CRG, a new Euro-South Asia platform is emerging, cooperating with other research institutes such as the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna, University of Bremen, University of Vienna and others.
The new partners from India, RBU and CRG, contribute through their specialisation in the contemporary international regime of protection for migrants and refugees in the context of mixed and massive population flows. Accordingly, they have conceptualised and are now in charge of teaching a module on “Global Protection System for Refugees and Migrants,” which aims at equipping students with knowledge in this overarching field. The module is taught by Prof. Dr. Samaddar, who has published extensively and works globally on the history and theory of migration. Prof. Dr Banerjee’s focus is on gender and forced migration in South Asia and globally, and Prof. Dr Chaudhury, RBU’s Vice Chancellor, is the EMMIR Course Director. His expertise is in refugee studies and human rights; his regional focus is also in South Asia. Taken together, the specialisations of the partnering institutions, embodied through the key staff teaching in EMMIR, offer students a comprehensive catalogue of courses based on which they come to a solid understanding of the different dimensions of migration processes in a variety of socio-cultural contexts.
Course Directors
Prof. Dr. Balghis Badri
Professor of Social Anthropology; Director, Regional Institute for Gender, Diversity, Peace, and Rights
Mbarara University for Science
and Technology
Prof. Dr. Roberts K. Muriisa
Professor, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies Department of Planning and Governance
Prof. Dr. Martin Butler
Professor of American Literary and Cultural Studies, Institute for English and American Studies Literary and Cultural Studies
Rabindra Bharati University / Calcutta Research Group
Prof. Dr. Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury
Professor, Department of Political Science and Vice-Chancellor, Rabindra Bharati University Kolkata Director, Calcutta Research Group
Prof. Dr. Mirjam Milharčič Hladnik
Associate Professor, University of Nova Gorica; Associate Professor, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; Lead Research Associate, Slovenian Migration Institute
University of South Bohemia
Prof. Dr. Salim Murad
Professor, Faculty of Education
Prof. Dr. Linn Normand
Associate Professor Faculty of Educational Sciences and Humanities Department of Primary School Teacher Education, Sports and Special Education
University of Witwatersrand
Prof. Dr. Jo Vearey
Associate Professor, African Centre for Migration & Society
Associate Partners
The Consortium adheres a network of associate partner institutions in order to tie in with social dynamics as well as securing graduates’ employability. The areas associates represent are:
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aid and advocacy
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civil society and culture
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research and documentation
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local authorities, schools and continuing education
Most of the associates provide internships for EMMIR students in semester 3. In addition, they are consulted with regard to developments in the labour market, including skills and qualification profiles in demand, they are also potentially involved in guest lectures and other joint projects.
List of EMMIR's Associate Partners:
Austria
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European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, The University of Graz
Czechia
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International Organization for Migration (IOM)
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Město Český Krumlov
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Ministerstvo pro místní rozvoj, Odbor veřejného investování
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Tollnet a.s.
Georgia
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Georgian Institute Of Public Affairs
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Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Germany
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CJD - Christliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands e.V.
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European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
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Malteser-Werk Berlin e.V.
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Theologische Hochschule Friedensau
Ghana
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Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana
India
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Jabala Action Research Organisation
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Jawaharlal Nehru University
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Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Norway
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Universitetet i Bergen
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VID vitenskapelige høgskole
Poland
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Uniwersytet Jagielloński
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Slovenia
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Društvo za razvijanje prostovoljnega dela Novo mesto
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Municipality of Ljubljana
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Znanstvenoraziskovalni Center Slovenske
South Africa
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Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa
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Lawyers for Human Rights
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Sonke Gender Justice
Sudan
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Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women Studies
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Nuba Women for Education and Development Association
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Sudanese Development Initiative, Inc.
Uganda
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Bishop Stuart University
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Office of the Prime Minister
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Refugee Law Project (RLP), Kampala
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UNHCR Regional Office, Mbarara
United Kingdom
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Canterbury Christ Church University
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The University of Cambridge
United States
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Global Migration Center, University of California, Davis
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University of California
EMA for Students and Alumni
The Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association (EMA) is an official network that aims to serve the interests of students and alumni of all Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses, notably by providing a forum for networking, communication and collaboration and by promoting Erasmus as a pro- gramme of excellence in international higher education. We recommend you to join the EMA. Already in the Intensive Phase, you are introduced to the benefits of being an active member of the EMA community and share experiences and expertise, both for other (potential) students and the successful completion of your own studies. We strongly encourage you to become member of the EMA.
Find more info and join the association as a student or an alumni at www.em-a.eu/.
Last page update: July 2024