Research projects

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Research fellow: Sonja Reinhold, Theresa Wagner

Duration: 01.11.2020 – 31.03.2023

Publication (German): https://www.bosch-stiftung.de/de/publikation/brennglas-corona

Interview (German): https://www.bosch-stiftung.de/de/wir-muessen-die-kommunen-resilienter-machen

The explorative research project Burning lens Covid-19: Local integration policy in times of a global pandemic is dedicated to give an insight into the impact of the Covid-19-pandemic on local integration policy. It shows new and enhanced challenges for local actors and carves out strategies that are suited to adequately respond to times of crisis. The project team develops concrete recommendations in order to strenthen municipal integration policy and, hereinafter, resilience on the local level. The project is funded by the Robert Bosch foundation.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Research fellows: Lasse J. Morthorst, Dr. Janina Stürner-Siovitz

Duration: 01.11.2021 – 30.11.2023

Project description:

The Research on Migration, Refuge and Integration (MFI) is pleased to announce the approval of another research project: “Equal Partnerships – African Intermediary/Secondary Cities as Actors and Partners in Urban Migration Governance”. The new team explores the opportunities and challenges of collaborative, urban migration governance in African secondary cities. Local, national, and international actors are inspired to build evidence-based ideas and collaborative approaches for equal partnerships in urban migration governance through networking dialogue formats, participatory field research, and collaborative development of policy recommendations.

The project works with a type of African city that has received little attention from researchers and policymakers to date: Secondary cities. These cities are increasingly confronted with the challenges of climate-induced migration, transit migration, and rural-urban migration, but they also hold special opportunities for releasing development potential for countries and regions through urban migration governance.

The project work, funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and based at the Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (CHREN), will start on November 1, 2021 together with German and African partners.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Research fellow: Johanna C. Günther

Duration: 01.02.2020 – 31.12.2024

Website: FFVT – Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Networking and Knowledge Transfer

Project description:

Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Networking and Knowledge Transfer (FFVT) is a cooperation project of the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), the Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (CHREN, University of Erlangen Nuremberg), the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS, Bonn) and the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS, University of Osnabrück). It is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). At FAU, FFVT is led by Prof Dr Petra Bendel and coordinated by Johanna C. Günther. The aim of the project is to establish a sustainable infrastructure for research on forced migration and refugee studies in Germany to facilitate the internationalisation of this field

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Research fellow: Yasemin Bekyol

Cooperating partners: Dr. Tobias Weidinger und Dr. Stefan Kordel, Institute for Geography, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg

Duration: 15.09.2022 – 30.07.2025

Project Website: Gesundheit! Teilhabe im Gesundheits- und Pflegesektor

Project description: 

Due to the increasing need for personnel in the healthcare sector as well as apparent gaps in healthcare provision, specialised personnel from abroad has become indispensable. Their recruitment, but above all their sustainable and long-term employment, depends decisively on the working conditions but also on their social inclusion at and beyond the workplace.

This research project aims to improve conditions for precarious workers with a migration history in the healthcare sector. Ultimately it seeks to analyse how to strengthen their willingness to stay in this highly fluctuating sector. Based on qualitative research as well as coaching sessions and workshops with employees and key actors in the healthcare sector, this project aims to

• define precarious working conditions from the perspective of employees
• gain scientific knowledge on current conditions in healthcare facilities as well as municipalities with regards to equitable employment of care workers with a migration history working under precarious conditions
• give practice-oriented impulses and recommendations for improving the professional and social inclusion of care workers at and beyond their workplace
• support representatives from municipalities, especially those with structural weaknesses, as well as key actors in the healthcare sector with the precise design of concrete measures and packages by means of coaching sessions

Funded by the Mercator Foundation, the project is based at the Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nuremberg (CHREN) and started on September 15^th, 2022 for a duration of three years. Cooperating project partner is the Institute of Geography at FAU

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel, Prof. Dr. Hannes Schammann & Dr. Danielle Gluns, University of Hildesheim

Duration: 01.05.2021 – 30.04.2024

Research fellows: Sonja Reinhold, FAU, and Katharina Euler, University of Hildesheim

Website: https://matchin-projekt.de/en

This project is dedicated to the development of a new mechanism for the distribution and allocation of refugees and asylum seekers from the federal states to the municipalities. To this end, the University of Hildesheim and the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg are cooperating with federal states, municipalities and representatives of refugees. A specially developed algorithm will consider both the individual requirements and needs of those seeking protection on the one hand and the existing structures and resources of the municipalities on the other to achieve a better alignment (“matching”). This shall help to better address the needs of persons seeking protection, to utilize the potential of migration for municipal development, improve integration and participation, and reduce secondary migration. The project is funded by Stiftung Mercator.

For questions regarding the Match’In pilot project please contact: Sonja Reinhold, LL.M.

Study for the European Parliament

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Research fellow: Yasemin Bekyol

Duration: 15.01.2016 – 15.06.2016

Project description:

Commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, this study provides an overview of the implementation of Directive 2013/33/EU laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection. It outlines the legal framework and examines how gender related aspects and the reception needs of vulnerable groups are considered in practice in Munich (Germany) and Brussels (Belgium).

This study included delegation visits to Munich and Brussels with MEPs as well as a comparative qualitative field study in both cities.

The study is available online:

Bekyol Yasemin, Bendel Petra (2016): “Reception of female refugees and asylum seekers in the EU – Case study Belgium and Germany”, Study for the Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, Women’s Rights & Gender Equality, Brussels, 54 pages. Zur Studie.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Research fellow: Yasemin Bekyol

Duration:01.08.2020 – 31.03.2021

Website: covid-integration.fau.de (German)

Project description:

The study, conducted by FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg in participation with the University of Hildesheim, funded by the Mercator Foundation, examined the impact of the pandemic on migration movements and on integration in Germany. COVID-19 spread extraordinarily quickly and, among other things, severely restricted mobility and migration, especially in the short term. In addition to a health crisis, Covid-19 has also led to an economic crisis, the extent of which we cannot yet grasp. For many population groups, access to economic participation, housing, nutrition and education was restricted. Based on a comprehensive desktop research as well as on scenario-building, the study drafts a picture of the future based on the question: “How does integration in Germany look like in 2030?” The aim was to develop several plausible scenarios with experts on the medium-term future of migration and, above all, integration in Germany. In addition, the study aimed at generating recommendations for action on the basis of these scenarios and finally problematised the question on how political decision-makers and social actors can set course in order to meet the particular challenges of integration policy in crisis situations.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel, Prof. Dr. Yesim Erim, Prof. Dr. Silke Jansen, Prof. Dr. Nicolas Rohleder

Research fellows: Mojib R. Atal, Andrea Borho, Felicitas Hauck, Lucía Romero Gibu

Project website: Verbal Violence against Migrants in Institutions (VIOLIN)

Duration: 01.04.2019 – 31.03.2022

Project description:

VIOLIN is a cooperation project of political science, linguistics, health psychology and psychosomatics.

In this project, the focus was on hidden forms of exclusion and symbolic violence in the institutional environment towards migrants. The aim of the project was to make this form of violence visible and to develop a comprehensive model for the integration of migrants in new socio-cultural environments from the knowledge gained.

The project is financially supported by the STAEDTLER Stiftung.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel und Prof. Dr. Hannes Schammann, University of Hildesheim

Research fellow:  Sandra Müller, M.A.

Duration: 01.09.2017 – 31.05.2020

Project description:

How do municipalities in urban and rural regions in Germany organize the reception and inclusion of immigrants? Can we identify institutional change in local integration politics after the massive arrival of refugees in 2015 and 2016? How can we explain the divergence/convergence of institutional settings? To what extent can urban and rural communities learn from each other? These are some of the research questions we will answer by analysing approximately 100 municipalities and districts (Landkreise) in Germany. In particular, we will focus on ‘urban-rural-comparisons’ and the divergence/convergence between regions that differ significantly regarding their economic prosperity.

The project will run from September 2017 until end of January 2020 and is funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Publications (German): 

Publication of the study on the website of the Robert Bosch Foundation: Studie.

1.7.2020: Article at Migazin: “Studie: Kommunen haben Integrationsmanagement verbessert”. Zum Artikel.

30.6.2020: Article at Neue Wiesentbote: “FAU: Zwei Welten? Integrationspoltik in Stadt und Land” ein Artikel. Zum Artikel.

Foundation-funded study

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Research fellow: Daniel Riemer

Duration: 01.01.2016 – 31.05.2016

Project description:

Reception, accommodation, access to healthcare, education and information as well as work and leisure of refugees are key areas when it comes to refugee integration at the level of Länder and municipalities. There is a considerable need for information on good practices and for networking of already existing projects in these areas. Given the current “crisis mode”, municipalities, volunteers and service providers do not have the time and capacities to develop criteria for good practices and to review already existing integration projects for their possible transferability.

Thus, this planned project “Learning from each other: Best practice examples in municipal refugee policy” comes in. Based at the Central Institute for Regional Research at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and building on a prior pilot project conducted on the needs of refugees themselves, this project aims at developing criteria for the selection of good and best practices, followed by research and categorisation of a large number of innovative practice projects in the federal territory and an in-depth study of selected projects on the ground.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel und Prof. Dr. Hannes Schammann, University of Hildesheim

Staff: Dr. Janina Stürner-Siovitz und Dipl.-Soz. Christiane Heimann

Duration: 01.04.2018 – 31.10.2021

Website: in progress

Project description:

This innovative academic project evaluates the impact of transnational cities’ networks on European migration policies and develops guidelines in cooperation with politicians and practitioners to strengthen their work in the European multi-level governance system. To this end, the activities of formal and informal transnational cities’ networks are examined. A special focus is placed on the EUROCITIES network, from which the movement of Solidarity Cities originated. This movement aims at demonstrating cities’ political leadership in light of integration and relocation challenges within the European Union. Besides, the EUROCITIES build the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, which is the European umbrella organisation of municipal associations in the member states. This study analyses both network activities and strategies of individual network members, such as Athens (Greece), Barcelona (Spain), Essen (Germany), Gdansk (Poland), Ghent (Belgium), Leeds (United Kingdom), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Palermo (Italy). A mixed-methods approach is applied, combining the analysis of policy documents and expert interviews. The latter include interviews with experts of the EUROCITIES network as well as the local and the EU level. The guiding research question of this study is: How can local bottom-up agenda setting address the current migration governance crisis of the European Union in a transnational way? Hence, the aim of the project is threefold. Firstly, it offers insights into the strategies the different cities pursue and the transnational relations they use in accordance to their interests. Secondly, it evaluates the mechanisms initiated by the municipal associations with regard to their specific target. Thirdly, guidelines are developed in cooperation with politicians and practitioners and published in policy briefs, which are presented in a final meeting in Brussels. Due to the current brisance of this topic, its highly innovative perspective on the making of EU migration policies and the lack of research in this area, this project will set a milestone in understanding the role and power of municipal associations in a newly unfolding sphere of European multi-level migration governance.