On 5/6 February, the Research Social Platform on Migration and Asylum (ReSOMA) project, supported by Horizon 2020, met for its final conference in Lisbon. We as Eurocities are part of this consortium together with several high-profile stakeholders from academia, think tanks and civil society organisations, both from Brussels and beyond. During the past two years, project partners have built a platform for networking through the exchange of knowledge and practice in the field of asylum, migration and integration. From our perspective, ReSOMA has been successful in informing the policy debate also in the interest of our members.
There are two research fields that have highlighted the important role of cities in this area:
- funding for integration at the local level
- cities as service providers to migrant populations.
Going forward, ReSOMA will be integrated in the IMISCOE network of migration scholars to further extend its reach and explore new avenues of better linking research expertise and policy making. The final conference was the starting point for this new chapter and also included more wide-ranging discussions on the coming of age of migration studies and key knowledge questions for the field. Panels looked at different upcoming EU policy intiatives and how these could be linked up with existing or upcoming research. Other important points of discussion were the connections between research and societal stakeholders such as Eurocities and how to build new alliances.
