Centre for Global Migration Studies (CeMig)
Migration is one of the most pressing and complex issues of the 21st century. The Centre for Global Migration Studies (CeMig) brings together scholars of
Göttingen Campus from six different faculties, plus the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MPI-MMG). Together they study the complex challenges of migration on a global scale under very different thematic and regional foci, that by engaging in interdisciplinary collaboration and by pooling together diverse methodological approaches. CeMig strengthens research and teaching in the area of Migration Studies in addition to establishing innovative forms of knowledge transfer.
Mai
- 07.05.2025: 13th Migration Research Lab: “Conducting Qualitative Research in Contexts of Violence”
- 15.05.2025: Online-Lecture: "European Border Regime and Authoritarian Transformation of Europe” (English; online via Zoom) Part of the Online-Lecture Series „Border Regimes on the Move - On the Reorganization of Europe, Migration and Labor Ten Years after the Summer of Migration“
- 22.5.2025: Guest-Lecture:“Migration and the Myth of National Purity in Hate Speech”
June
- 21.06.2025: Panel discussion as part of the Night of Science: „Von der Grenze zur Fabrik: Soziale Kämpfe um Asyl und Arbeit” (German; Central Lecture Hall, Platz der Göttinger Sieben, ZHG 007)
Further information about upcoming and past events can be found on the Eventspage.

Interdisciplinary Research Group
Public Health and migration from a global and interdisciplinary perspective
The research group aims to address how the “protection of life” and the “right to health” are defined, encoded and implemented in relation to migrant populations and post-colonial minorities, as well as which ethical, social and political questions arise from this practice.
With regard to the right-to-health approach in global norm-building, we focus on how international and regional organizations define the nexus between migration and health. The research group is particular interested in the question of whether the right-to-health norm helps them to establish a focal point for international action, enabling them to better influence national policies. It analyzes how global standard-setting occurs and how it influences the regional and domestic level.
More Information can be found here.

ENLIGHT Network
Imagine: Interdisciplinary Migration Network for Equitable Future
Imagine is network within the European University Alliance “ENLIGHT” and funded by the European Union.
Together and in exchange with non-university social partners, the aim is to develop an agenda for future-oriented migration research and education in the midst of increasing social polarisation. The objective is to develop new analytical approaches and methods for research, teaching and knowledge transfer that will enable future knowledge production beyond the sole problematisation of migration, as is prevalent in the public and media debate.
In this thematic network the CeMig is partnering with the International Public Law Centre (IPL) at the University of Bern, the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR) at the University of Ghent, the Human Migration and Mobility Lab (HuMM) at the University of Groningen and the Institute for Cultural Research (ICR) at the University of Tartu.
Further information can be found here.

Science Space
›Future of Migration‹ (2025-2029)
The Science Space ‘FuturMig’ (2025-2029) deals with ideas and strategies for shaping the future of migration society in political, media and social debates, areas of practice and migration research. In ‘FuturMig’ CeMig cooperates with The Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück (coordination), the Centre for Educational Integration (ZBI) at the University of Hildesheim, the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media, Georg Eckert Institute (GEI), Braunschweig and the Friedland Museum.
›FuturMig‹ focuses in particular on educational contexts – pre-school institutions, schools, universities, civil society initiatives, museums and memorials. In addition to the creation of various knowledge formats for university and (extra-)school educational work (such as a certificate program), participation formats and interventions are tested in a real-world laboratory on history and remembrance culture at the Museum Friedland, and debates are held with social organizations and groups.
At the Göttingen site, Prof. Andrea Bogner, Prof. Sabine Hess, Prof. Alexander Nagel and Prof. Kerstin Rabenstein are involved in the ›FuturMig‹ science room.
More information can be found via the following link: https://www.imis.uni-osnabrueck.de/forschung/3_migrationsgesellschaften/futurmig.html.

Online-Lecture Series:
„Border Regimes on the Move: On the Reorganization of Europe, Migration and Labor Ten Years after the Summer of Migration“
March – November 2025, Thursdays, 5:15-6:45 CE(S)T (special events*** excluded).
What dynamics characterize border regimes and migration conditions ten years after the “summer of migration”? In view of the ongoing migration debate, it is urgently necessary to ask ourselves this question. In an attempt to find answers, we are taking a broad European perspective in this series of events. We want to discuss the dynamics of the political and economic preconditions of European migration policy. We assume that these dynamics are shaped by transnational and European center-periphery relations. We understand the border and migration regime both as the result and motor of geopolitics on the European continent and as a catalyst for the recomposition of migration. What is essential here is the tension between the so-called free movement of goods and labor and border closures.
We want to make a contribution to the ongoing debate on the connection between border regimes and racism or the racist re-centering of the European project, as it is also being driven by growing right-wing populist movements across Europe. The central aim is to explore how the tension between the recruitment of (migrant) labor in the context of extremely segmented labor markets and jobs on the one hand and isolation and deportation on the other can be explained and how it will develop in the future.
The program, the registration form and further information can be found
here.

Cooperation
City Lab – Paths to a Colonial-Critical City
The "City Lab" is located at Wilhelmsplatz 3 in Göttingen. It is a cooperation project between science, cultural institutions and civil society groups, which has set itself the goal of researching and coming to terms with Göttingen's colonial history. Since May 2023, it has offered a space to gather different perspectives, network knowledges and shape commemoration. In addition to addressing the colonial history on site, the project also aims to make anti-colonial resistance and colonial continuities more visible up to the present day. All Göttingen residents are invited to contribute and participate.If you would like to find out about the upcoming events or if you would like to get involved with your own initiative, please contact stadtlabor@uni-goettingen.de.
The Stadtlabor is currently organising the lecture series "#Decolonize your University! – (Um-)Wege zur kolonialkritischen Universität Göttingen". The programme and specific dates can be found here.
The "City Lab – Paths to a Colonial-Critical City" was funded by the "zukunft.niedersachsen" program of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and is a cooperation project of the Institute for Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, the Institute for Diversity Research and the Centre for Global Migration Studies at the University of Göttingen in cooperation with Göttingen Postkolonial, Development Policy Information Center Göttingen (EPIZ), PLEA e.V., BoatPeopleProjekt, Literarisches Zentrum Göttingen and others.
More information can be found here: https://www.stadtlabor.uni-goettingen.de

DFG Research Training Group with Doctoral Positions
"Mobility Rights in the Global Context of Multiple Crises"
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has funded the establishment of a Research Training Group entitled ‘Mobility Rights in the Global Context of Multiple Crises’.
In times of crisis such as these, the number of people forced to flee war or persecution is higher than ever. At the same time, migration itself is increasingly being viewed as a political crisis. The Research Training Group brings together twelve researchers from the Faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law at the University of Göttingen to pursue the question of how, in this interplay of migration and crisis, mobility rights worldwide come under pressure, and how they might be stabilised. The interdisciplinary exchange makes it possible to analyse how migration movements are regulated and how migrants are struggling for rights. However, it also shows that the law itself is the subject of social and political debate and how politics is made through law.
As part of the Research Training Group, 10 doctoral positions are being advertised.
Further information (in German) can be found on the project website, in the press release of the University of Göttingen and the DFG.