Horizon migration research

This page is where information and easy access to all of our Horizon migration research projects can be found.

EU funded research on migration has grown steadily since 1994, but it was with the framework programme of Horizon 2020 that it took centre stage. The EU dedicated €100 million to research on migration and mobility after taking stock of the research needs emerging from new challenges that unfolded across Europe since 2014,

This lead to 41 new state-of-the-art projects, pushing conceptual boundaries and developing truly international research, with partners and case studies from all across Europe and many different regions in the world.

We fund international research partnerships on migration across the world, with research on 34 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

Horizon Europe now continues to fund key research on migration and mobility, filling the knowledge gaps which are most pressing for policymakers across the EU.

Policy background

The past decade has confirmed the importance of human mobility for countries and societies across the globe. Even more so, it became central in political debates across the EU.

Migration is naturally part of the EU, of its societies, its regional integration and its diversity. In 2019 alone, 3 million migrants legally arrived in Europe. This legal movement of people shows how many opportunities may arise from migration when it is well managed, and how much this is now part of how are societies are shaped.

However, the past decade has also seen an increase in irregular migration in and around the EU, as well an increased flows of individuals seeking asylum, escaping from dire situations unfolding in the EU’s neighbourhood and beyond. In light of all this, new dynamics and challenges unveiled complexities of migration, which need to be better understood in order to better govern it.

This contributed to financing a comprehensive migration research agenda, including migration governance, asylum and forced displacement, migration and development nexus, climate change and migration, migrant integration, narratives and discourses on migration, migration forecasting and modelling.

Publications