BIRMM’s research can be divided into three broad research clusters.
1. Migration and Borders
BIRMM researchers in this cluster analyze and assess various aspects related to migration, asylum, refugees and borders, including the institutional frameworks, policies, and practices across different levels. This research cluster offers a.o. unique research foci on the (external dimension of) EU migration governance, asylum policies and asylum practices, procedures and interviews, practices of border control management and voluntary return procedures, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and the history of cities governing migration in past times.
The BIRMM research cluster on migration and borders benefits from its central location in Brussels, thereby profiting from the close-by European institutions to regularly organize policy-research dialogues with (EU) policy-makers, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
Main VUB research centres and departments: BSoG, DFUTURE, CriS, SHOC, COSMOPOLIS, FRC
2. The Sociology of Migration, Equality and Diversity
BIRMM researchers in this cluster study the 'Hows and Whys" of immigrants’ and ethnic minority citizens’ (un)equal participation in different societal spheres: education, labour-market, health, religion, communication, crime, politics and housing. While doing so, they focus on the study of mainstream institutions, the practices of every day discrimination, and features of the ethnic minority and majority populations. They particularly address the influence of the intersections of ethnicity/race with other discriminatory mechanisms like gender, age, religion, health status, handicap, class and sexuality. This research cluster offers a.o. unique research foci on migrant’s health (a.o. Hadewijch Vandenheede and Wanda van Hemelrijck, in sociology; and the research group 'Research into Diversity in Health Care' at the Faculty of Medicine), methodological development in discrimination testing (a.o. Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe and Dounia Bourabain) and migrants and digital connectivity (Kevin Smets). Within this cluster, the VUB holds a Fatima Mernissi Chair in Gender and Islam (Iman Lechkar), not only promoting research on gender and Islam, but also building bridges between academia and civil society (opinion makers, civil society organisations, artists, activists and different types of stakeholders), thereby reaching a very large and diverse public in Brussels.
Main VUB research centres and departments: Interface Demography, TOR, IES, POLI, RHEA, Crime and Society, CEMESO, BRIO
3. Migration, Diversity and the City
BIRMM researchers in this cluster try to understand how formal and informal regulations developed to cope with these challenges influence patterns of integration and conflict, neighbourhood disintegration and urban renewal. This research cluster offers a.o. a unique research focus on the city governance of migration and diversity in current and present times (19th century, a.o. Bas van Heur, Anne Winter, Nick Schuermans, Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe, Patrick Deboosere). Within this research cluster, active academia-civil society/policy dialogues are set up through the Brussels Academy, an ‘urban and citizens university on the city’. The Brussels Academy recurrently organizes the StadsSalonsUrbains lectures, joining a public or researchers, policy makers and civil society discussing a.o. the governance of diversity in cities.
Main VUB research centres and departments: Cosmopolis, RHEA, HOST, Crime and Society, Interface Demography, IES