The core activity is the research project “Transnationalism as a Social Resource among Diaspora Communities”, funded by the Academy of Finland in the period 2016-2020 (Academy project no 295417). The project studies transnational ties and practices of immigrant and diaspora communities. It provides information about the processes whereby social resources can bridge the divide between migrants’ new home countries and societies of origin. This project examines how social resources are mobilized as social or political action among members of diaspora communities both in the societies of settlement and departure. The case studies include Filipino migrants in Finland and their family members back home; second generation Kurds active in Kurdish diaspora organisations in Finland and France; and Finnish migrants in Western Europe and North America. The results provide information on the scope, nature and intensity of migrant communities’ transnational engagements in or towards Finland. It also sheds light on the structural factors that impede or facilitate the creation and maintenance of such engagements. See Research for more information on the Academy project.
The MIDI research group and Professor Östen Wahlbeck also constitute the Finnish research partner in the HORIZON 2020-project CEASEVAL - Evaluation of the Common European Asylum System under Pressure and Recommendations for Further Development. Funded by the European Commission in 2017-2019 (Grant Agreement No 770037). See CEASEVAL for more information