PhD students from all over the world meet to learn more about climate change and migration
During the last week of May, about 15 doctoral students from around the world gathered at the School of Global Studies for a campus week where climate change and migration were in focus. The campus week was the part of the course "Climate change and Migration: Interdisciplinary perspectives" given within the framework of the Swedish Research Council's research school in migration and integration.
The Swedish Research Council's research school in migration and integration is a collaboration between the University of Gothenburg and Linköping University and offers research training and networking opportunities for PhD students writing their theses on migration and integration. Central to the research school is its interdisciplinary character and a total of 10 courses are held where current and historical issues around migration and integration are treated from different theoretical and methodological angles and with lecturers from different disciplines.
- "Many students and doctoral students write their theses in migration research. For them, courses are needed that provide the opportunity for further education in the field," says Andrea Spehar, Director of the Center for Global Migration (CGM) and one of the initiators of the research school. "At the same time, migration and integration are multifaceted phenomena that cannot be understood through a single discipline lens. By bringing together many departments and faculties, we can create a complete environment for research and teaching in migration and integration"
At the same time, migration and integration are multifaceted phenomena that cannot be understood through a single discipline lens. By bringing together many departments and faculties, we can create a complete environment for research and teaching in migration and integration
The course Climate Change and Migration: Interdisciplinary Perspectives held this May addressed the complex relationship between migration and climate change and addressed both social and political as well as ecological drivers of migration, how these interact with different types of governance as well as climate and mobility justice, policy development and the work of international actors.
The course leaders Anders Burman and Andréas Litsegård are both active at the School of Global Studies, but the course lecturers came from different universities and disciplines.
- "We live in a time where environmental changes drive population movements in an unprecedented way. This course gives students tools to analyze the relationship between climate change and migration from different perspectives and methods," says Andreas Litsegård, one of the course leaders. "As far as we know, no other doctoral course has been held in this subject before, which makes the course unique. For doctoral students writing their essays on climate and migration, the course has therefore been a great source of inspiration, especially the campus week which gave the students the opportunity to share ideas and experiences and support each other".
We live in a time where environmental changes drive population movements in an unprecedented way. This course gives students tools to analyze the relationship between climate change and migration from different perspectives and method
The doctoral students who took the course came from different disciplines but all write their theses in the field of climate change and migration. The interdisciplinary approach that has been central to the course curricula is also reflected in the backgrounds of the students themselves as well as in their work.
- "I have an undergrad on communications, and my masters is on environmental international policy. Therefore, doing a PhD in anthropology made a lot of sense for me, as I felt it could integrate the two different social sciences I already knew about; however, this view is not widely accepted. After this course, I have better arguments to support why interdisciplinary work is important and positive. Further to this, learning about interdisciplinary frameworks in the course, as well as working with them, has given me actual tools to show how this can be done. That is going to be key for my work from now onwards", says Sol Sanguinetti-Cordero, who came from Peru to attend the campus week.
After this course, I think I have better arguments to support why interdisciplinary work is important and positive. Further to this, learning about interdisciplinary frameworks in the course, as well as working with them, has given me actual tools to show how this can be done. That is going to be key for my work from now onwards.
Victor Cabral from Brazil is writing his PhD in International relations on climate migration in Latin America. - "This is still a topic that is little discussed in Brazil outside of law studies [...] The course helped me to reinforce the choices I made [...] Having a background in Geography and International Relations, I know the importance of interdisciplinary perspectives for my thesis and having the positive reinforcement of our classes has helped me to perceive gaps in other scientific fields that I can seek to fill", he says.
The overall responses from the students have been overly positive.
- "For me, this course has been very enlightening and has broadened my view of the field of climate migration, says Sol. "Being able to get lectures from experts on the field and key researchers was amazing. Besides the new knowledge about climate migration, I will bring back with me a network of other researchers who work on climate migration from different academic perspectives as well as friends! It has been an amazing bonding week, getting to know my classmates, and sharing the challenges we face together from different parts of the world and different field, but ultimately all of us with the same goal."
Besides the new knowledge about climate migration, I will bring back with me a network of other researchers who work on climate migration from different academic perspectives as well as friends
Victor emphasises how the course has made him more secure in how to proceed with his work. - "I had doubts about my research object, the empirical cuts I would like to make, and the most useful methods for my research question, all of which were resolved during the course. Now, I know how I should proceed with my PhD thesis, and my advisor was relieved to know that I feel more secure and confident with my research", the says.
I had doubts about my research object, the empirical cuts I would like to make, and the most useful methods for my research question, all of which were resolved during the course.
During the autumn of 2024 and during 2025, six more courses will be held within the framework of the graduate school. The courses are open to doctoral students from all over the world and course information is available on the graduate school's website. At the time of writing, applications are open for the course "Migration and Intersectional Perspectives" which will be held in the Autumn, also with a campus week in Gothenburg.
Read more about the course "Migration and Intersectional Perspectives" and on how to apply.
The Graduate School in Migration and Integration is run by two main partners: the Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO) at Linköping University (LiU) and the Department of Sociology and Work Science (SOCAV) at the University of Gothenburg (UGOT). At UGOT the school also benefits from close cooperation with the Centre on Global Migration (CGM), the Department of Law and the School of Global Studies.
By drawing upon the expertise at both Linköping University and the University of Gothenburg, the graduate school offers several courses, some of a comprehensive nature, others more specialised. Our programme includes courses on ethnicity, nationalism and racism; intersectional perspectives; mixed methods in migration research; theories of international migration; climate change; migration and law, citizenship, civil society and the welfare state; housing segregation; political economy; and migration and labour market integration.
The school incorporates a wide range of research directions, specializations and theoretical and methodological approaches and attends to international migration and integration from contemporary as well as historical perspectives. Our course programme also benefits from a broad experience with inter- and multidisciplinary approaches, mixed, qualitative, quantitative, and participatory methods.