Bringing Together Expertise on Migration and Minorities
BIRMM is the Brussels Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Migration and Minorities at VUB. We unite over 130 researchers from 12 disciplines to tackle pressing issues of migration, diversity, and inequality. As a recognized Network for Societal Impact through Research (NSIS), we combine academic excellence with real-world engagement—working in close collaboration with civil society to make research matter.
Who We Are
At the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), research on migration and minorities is rich and diverse, spanning a wide range of departments and academic disciplines—including political science, law, sociology, criminology, geography, medical sciences, communication sciences, linguistics, psychology and educational sciences, philosophy, and history. BIRMM brings together this wealth of expertise, creating a dynamic and collaborative research community.
Before BIRMM’s establishment in January 2018, this expertise was dispersed across many research centres. In response to former VUB Rector Caroline Pauwels’ call to "break down the walls between disciplines" and amplify the university’s voice in key societal debates, a group of committed professors launched BIRMM as a bottom-up initiative. Just a year later, in 2019, BIRMM was formally recognized as an Interdisciplinary Research Platform (IRP).
In its first five years, BIRMM evolved into a leading centre for research and public engagement on migration and minorities, both in Belgium and internationally. Our work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, co-creation with migrant- and minority-led organizations, and outreach beyond academia.
BIRMM is led by Prof. Ilke Adam (BIRMM director), together with the executive committee: Dr. Hannah Vermaut and Dr. Laura Westerveen (BIRMM Coordinators), Prof. Florian Trauner (BSoG), and Prof. Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe (BRISPO). Our governance also includes a board of delegates, with one representative from each affiliated research centre.
Since 2024, BIRMM has been recognized as a VUB Network for Societal Impact through Research (NSIS). This reflects our mission to enhance the societal relevance and impact of migration and minority research. Our activities include co-creating accessible science communication tools with 22 external partners, and fostering meaningful dialogue between researchers, policymakers, and civil society at all levels of governance.
The main VUB research centres and departments involved in BIRMM are: the Centre for Migration, Diversity and Justice; the ECHO Media, Culture and Politics Research Group; the Crime and Society (CRIS) Research Group; Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research; the Social History of Capitalism (SHOC) Research Group; the Fundamental Rights Research Centre (FRC); the Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS); the Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings (CLIC); the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy; the Research Centre for Democratic Futures (DFUTURE); the Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies (BRISPO); the Participation and Learning in Detention (PALD) Research Group; the Multidisciplinary Institute for Teachers Education (MILO); and the Brussels Research Centre for Innovation and Learning in Diversity (BILD).