Non-Western Migration Regimes in a Global Perspective MARS

MARS project is funded by the European Commission’s MSCA Staff Exchange Program. Through researcher and expert exchange between the project beneficiaries and associate partners, MARS addresses the need to sufficiently integrate the existing research on and coverage of non-western migration dynamics and regimes to research agenda and to comparative migration studies.

The idea of MARS is based on the notions that despite ever-growing migratory processes towards non-Western migration locales, the mainstream migration research and literature remains largely focused on the study of migrants’ experiences, migration processes and dynamics, and immigration policies in the context of the Western liberal democracies in North America, Western Europe, and Australia. Major non-Western migration destinations elsewhere in the world remain underrepresented by existing theories and comparative research within migration studies—including those top migrant-receiving countries such as Argentina, China, Colombia, the Gulf states, Malaysia, Russia and Turkey.

The project is intended to enhance knowledge and scientific understanding about global, regional and national governance of migration and mobilities and thereby contribute to the global and national efforts to facilitate safe, regular and orderly migration.

MARS consortium is coordinated by the Lund University in Sweden and includes altogether 8 European Universities and Organizations, as well as 11 associated partners operating in Central Asia, Middle East, North and West Africa, Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Gulf States and Latin America.

The project’s PI at UEF is Joni Virkkunen at the Karelian Institute. Researchers of the different UEF departments participate in the exchanges of the project.