ABOUT MIGREL RESEARCH GROUP
MIGREL is distinctly interdisciplinary research group, consisting of social scientists, historians, religious scientists and theologians, with a research interest on topics related to migration, religion and intercultural relations. Most of us are associated with VID Specialized University, which is located in the cities of Oslo, Stavanger, Sandnes and Bergen in Norway.
MIGREL has existed since March 2017. Kari Storstein Haug was appointed as the group's leader. The already established group at VID «Cracks and in-betweens: Religion, Migration and Transnational Relations» joined as part of MIGREL. With the establishment of MIGREL, the group's thematic focus was expanded to include intercultural interactions and relationships, and the group was expanded with more researchers with main affiliation to the Center for Intercultural Communication (SIK). Over the past year, the group's expertise in this field has been further strengthened.
Since the beginning, the group has succeeded in securing internal funding for several PhD positions and has therefore had a steady influx of these. Most of the projects in MIGREL have therefore been / are PhD projects.
Major projects include Cracks and in-betweens (internally funded), Doing family across borders (FAMAC) (funded by the Norwegian Research Council) and Labor market affiliation among newly arrived refugees in Rogaland. Between ambition and reality - MAVI. (financed by the University Fund Rogaland).
We have had ambitious plans to apply for external funding and have, among other things, participated in Horizon 2020 applications, without reaching all the way up. As can be seen from the group's annual reports, MIGREL has a large international network and many of the group's researchers publish a lot. Based on the research group's work, we have prepared an elective at PhD level on migration and religion, as well as courses at bachelor's and master's level. The syllabus contains publications from several of the group's members (eg Gunhild Oddens (on leave from MIGREL while she is vice-rector) textbook in international migration.
Future plans: Several of the group's members are involved in the MAVI project, so it will be a main focus in the future. Develop networks and work with topics related to migration and welfare (in collaboration with Univeristy of Stavanger) with a view to developing applications for external funding (Horizon Europe?). End the Cracks and in-betweens project (possible book project). Otherwise, there are several of the PhD students who are in the final phase or have submitted their PhD who are interested in helping to develop new projects, so we are planning to have a strategy meeting in December 2020 to discuss what we should do next. We also have a candidate working on developing a postdoc project (Marie Curie) on migration and Covid-19.