DYNAMIG

The EU has different types of policies related to migration. Some aim to limit irregular border crossings, while others seek to protect migrants’ rights, promote regular migration – regulating access to labour markets in EU countries for instance – or improve living conditions elsewhere. But these policies cannot be effective if they do not take into account the preferences, decision-making process and behaviour of affected individuals and groups.

The DYNAMIG project is a three-year project that aims to create a more thorough understanding of how people make decisions on whether or not and how to migrate, and to make EU policies related to migration more effective. It will analyse to what extent policies take into account the factors that shape migration decisions, and look at how effective these policies are in influencing migration decisions.

The project will focus on EU policies and on migrants from African regions, as Africa is the continent where proportionally most people have aspirations to migrate and African countries are central to EU migration-related policies. African migration-related policies will also be a focus of the project, as we cannot look at the effectiveness of EU policies without taking into account African policies, and EU policies can only succeed in managing migration movements if they complement policies of African governments.

We will combine a mix of innovative data collection and quantitative as well as qualitative analysis methods, drawing on a range of social sciences: development economics, geography, media, political science, and sociology. The project’s most detailed data collection will focus on five African countries from three regions: Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria, and Kenya.

Project funding and partners

The DYNAMIG project is financed through the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme and will run from 1 January 2023 until 31 December 2025. The project involves eight research institutes and universities in Europe and Africa, and is led by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

Kiel Institute for the World Economy (Germany)
ECDPM (the Netherlands and Belgium)
Elizade University (Nigeria)
African Migration and Development Policy Centre (Kenya)
Université Mohammed Vi Polytechnique (Morocco)
University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
European University Institute (Italy)
Middlesex University Higher Education Corporation (United Kingdom)

More information

For more information about the project, get in touch with Matthias Lücke (Managing Director) at Matthias.Luecke@ifw-kiel.de or Tobias Heidland (Scientific Director) at tobias.heidland@ifw-kiel.de