Comparing and Contrasting EU Border and Migration Policy – Are They Exemplary? 

In 2016, Director Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly at the University of Victoria was able to leverage BIG’s SSHRC funding to secure a Jean Monnet Network Grant from the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Comparing and Contrasting EU Border and Migration Policy – Are They Exemplary?  expands the BIG network to include Dr. Birte Wassenberg at the University of Strasbourg in France, Dr. Edward Boyle at Kyushu University (connected with Dr. Ken Endo and Naomi Chi at Hokkaido University) in Japan and Dr. Can Mutlu at Bilkent University in Turkey (now at Acadia University in Canada). At UVic, Dr. Brunet-Jailly works closely with EU Migration expert Dr. Oliver Schmidtke.

The Network hypothesizes that answers to the migration crisis are shaping Europe’s borders, migration and related security policies in exemplary manners and should be studied in comparative perspective and context.  Activities are aimed at engaging graduate students, young researchers and professors at each partner institution, along with the policy makers in each region.

Click here for a CBC interview with Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly on migration and Europe (in French).

Network Partners     

University of Victoria, Canada (lead) – Brunet-Jailly, Schmidtke
University of Strasbourg (France) – Wassenburg
Hokkaido University / Kyushu University (Japan) – Endo, Chi, Boyle
Bilkent University (Turkey) – Mutlu (now at Acadia U)

Activities:

Four workshops to meet with policy makers in each country

– The Humanitarian and Migration Crisis in Europe: A challenge for EU borders? University of Strasbourg, May 22 2017

– Brussels Workshop on Irregular Migration & External Border Security in Europe & beyond November 14 2017

– Workshop: Immigration Policy and Border Security in Japan, Hokkaido University, Japan April 22 2018

– Canada Workshop: Canada’s border and migration policies in comparative perspective, Victoria, November 13

International Conferences to present research findings and liaise with policy makers

– BIG and the Network @ The Association for Borderlands Studies Annual Conference, San Diego, April 24-27, 2019

– International Conference, Ottawa, December 7-8

Database of border, migration and related security policies, so that comparison of EU with the rest of the world is systematic and possible.

Open Online course to teach how the EU border, migration and related security policies evolved during the migration crisis. (See EUS 490 @ UVic).
Check our Opportunities page for more information – offered in Fall 2018: European Borders without Walls.
See an introductory video!

The Network also includes a grant program for students at each of the Network partners and will produce a series of publications coming out of the workshops in each region.