Migration, Mobility and Borders Summer Institute

The University of Windsor’s Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology, in collaboration with University of Trento’s Department of Sociology and Social Research sponsor a weeklong Summer Institute on Migration, Mobility and Borders at the University of Trento.

The Summer Institute is a knowledge-sharing, comparative event which will bring together 7 graduate students from Canada and 7 from Europe with as many as 8 internationally-recognized scholars and local NGO leaders to discuss migration, borders and mobility in a comparative context. Among invited guest speakers, there will be Rossana Apaza, Tanya Basok, Paolo Boccagni, Peter Kivisto, and Yasemin Soysal.

A foundational objective of the Institute is to encourage graduate students to develop a comparative perspective in research about migration, borders and mobility to overcome methodological nationalism. Other specific objectives of the summer institute are to provide students, graduate students and scholars with:

• an intensive international learning experience;
• an opportunity to establish international research networks in the field of migration and border communities.

Teaching methods will be based on lectures, as well as on interactive formats such as workshops and roundtables. Participants will have a chance to present their current research projects, receive feedback and recommendations from the guest professors. There will be five extended lectures by established international scholars. Presentation of case studies and on-going research will occupy a large share of the allotted time.

The Summer Institute is part of the ongoing collaboration between the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology and the Department of Sociology. The research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through a Connections Grant. It enjoys also the generous support of the University of Windsor’s VP of Research and Innovation, the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the Departments of SAC and History at Windsor and, in Trento, the Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale.

Registration and fellowships

The Migration, Mobility and Borders Summer Institute is expected to host 14 PhD students and postdocs across the social sciences. Additional participants and MA students may be accepted upon evaluation of their dossier. 

Fellowships covering travel and accommodation costs are available for qualified applicants. 

Applications are to be submitted by June 15 to migration.institute [at] uwindsor.ca ahs shall include:

• Curriculum Vitae; 
• a 500-word bionote (to be shared with other participants); 
• a motivation letter;
• a short essay/research project (no more than 2,000 words long, including empirical contexts, focus and research questions). 

Accepted candidates will be notified by June 30.

Organizers: Nicholas Harney, Martina Cvajner and Giuseppe Sciortino

Contacts: migration.institute [at] uwindsor.ca