The International Integration, Migration and Local Communities Network was established in August 2020 and brings together national and international partners who work in the context of migration, integration and local communities.
Migration is a key aspect of local communities globally and the last decade has shown an increase in strategies and policies which address integration issues in local communities. The conceptualisation and application of integration strategies are increasingly moving away from an assimilation approach towards a two-way integration process.
The International Integration, Migration and Local Communities Network aims to offer a platform for the exchange of best practice regarding two-way integration, collaboration on funding applications and publications and staff/student exchanges.
We offer a MSc in International Social Welfare and Social Policy.
For more information, email Dr Claudia Schneider at [email protected].
Email: [email protected]
Dr Claudia Schneider is Associate Professor in Migration Studies at ARU.
Claudia has led or co-led numerous projects in the area of social integration over more than 15 years, including studies on the socio-economic integration of European citizens in England, on the social, language and academic integration of migrant pupils in England (with Cambridge University and funded by The Bell Foundation), a recent two-way social integration project for the Being Human Festival 2019, (‘Arriving at a new place’) and an integration and diversity project in Harlow (England) which is currently informing the new integration strategy for Harlow.
Claudia is an international consultant in social integration projects and research centres in Norway, Sweden and Germany, facilitating the exchange of innovative integration practice across national borders. Claudia has published widely in the field of migration (forced and voluntary), transnationalisation and integration.
Email: Prof Birgit Ammann is Full Professor in Political Sciences at Potsdam University for Applied Sciences.
Birgit has been training social workers at Potsdam University for Applied Sciences since 2009. She has researched and published on Kurdish communities in Europe in the context of ethnicity and diaspora. Her research has also focussed on the historical transnational Jewish communities in Kurdish areas. Most recently, she has investigated the role of indigenous knowledge among Yezidi survivors of the IS genocidal actions.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Viktoriya Kim is Associate Professor at Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
She is currently carrying out a three-year research project titled 'Community-Building Among Foreign Residents During Crises and Its Implications on the Host Society: The Case of Japan During the COVID-19 Pandemic' alongside a multidisciplinary team based at Osaka University, Ryukoku University and Kyoto Sangyo University. The project analyses the experiences of Filipino, Russian and Brazilian residents who were living in Japan at the time the COVID-19 pandemic started in February 2020, and Japan’s local and national governments’ response to the crisis.
The researchers are assessing short- and long-term institutional and individual vulnerabilities of migrants caused by the pandemic and how these eventually affect the multicultural community building process. The overall impact of this study is to explore how pandemic and crises can be mitigated by strong community, governance and policies.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Padmini Ram is Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, Christ University, Bengaluru, India and Principal Investigator, CLARE, an industry-academia collaboration on the informal economy between a Social Enterprise, LabourNet and Christ University.
She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has taught graduate and undergraduate students, as well as professionals at universities in India and abroad. Her research papers have been published in international journals. As a TED speaker, she delivered a talk on the informal economy titled “Informal or Illegal? Voices from the Fringe!”.
Recently, she authored the book The Affordable Housing Market in India, published by Routledge. She has also authored book chapters and is a journal reviewer for leading publications. As an academic and a practitioner, she is interested in the informal economy and studies it from the perspective of economic sociology, political economy and public policy.
The main aim of this research was to analyse access to services, social integration and community cohesion in Harlow. The research uses large-scale data to explore the wider demographic and socio-economic context of Harlow.
Primary qualitative and quantitative research was conducted to collect data on accessing services, social integration and community cohesion representing multiple voices in the community.
Two online surveys were conducted with residents and community leaders. Residents, community leaders and community organisations also took part in semi-structured online- and telephone interviews. One consultation event with residents took place just before the COVID-19 lockdown.
Arriving at a new place is a core aspect of migration, but stories of arrival are not limited to the migration experience and we all have stories of arrival (e.g. school, workplace, new home) to tell. This exhibition documents younger and older people who define themselves as migrants, non-migrants or global citizens. Together they discover the secrets behind a special object that the other one holds.
The objects unlock stories about arriving at a new place and create bonds between people of different ages, biographies and migration backgrounds. The exhibition presents powerful photographic portraits of each pair holding their objects and audio-recordings of their exchanges. You are invited to tell your own story of arriving at a new place via postcards, recordings or dialogues with other visitors.
A three year research project by a multidisciplinary team at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University.
The first phase of the project aimed to extend the understanding of pedagogic and social issues relating to language development, social integration and educational achievement of children with English as an Additional Language (EAL).
The second phase of the project investigated the role of school assessment, pedagogy and student support in developing the academic achievement of socially disadvantaged, newly arrived migrant children with a view to match their academic and cultural needs to educational provision.
Find out more about the English as an Additional Language project.
Kim, V., Balgoa, N. G., Yamamoto, B. A., 2021. The Politics of International Marriage in Japan (New Brunswich: Rutgers University Press).
Kim, V., Streich, P., 2020. Tabunka Kyōsei without Immigration Policy: The Role of Centers for International Exchange and Their Challenges. Contemporary Japan, 32(2), pp. 1–23. doi: 10.1080/18692729.2020.1770477
Schneider, C., Paraskevopoulou, A., Noble, A, Preston, C., 2020. Research into Ethnic and Culturally Diverse Groups in Harlow (Harlow Council).
Evans, M., Schneider, C., Arnot, M., Fisher, L., Forbes, K., and Liu, Y., Welply, O., 2020. Language development and social integration of students with English as an additional language. Cambridge Education Series (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Kim, V., 2019. International Marriage in Japan: Reconstructing Cultural Toolkits in Marriages between Japanese Men and Women from the Former Soviet Union. Identities. doi: 10.1080/1070289X.2019.1677325
Schneider, C. and Arnot, M., 2018. Transactional school-home-school communication: addressing the mismatches between migrant parents’ and teachers’ views of parental knowledge, engagement and the barriers to engagement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 75, pp. 10-20.
Schneider, C. and Arnot, M., 2018. An exploration of school communication approaches for newly arrived EAL students: applying three dimensions of organisational communication theory. Cambridge Journal of Education, 48(2), pp. 245-262. (online June 2017)
Schneider, C., 2017. A conceptual framework for analysing immigration policy: a case study of recent developments in Germany’s asylum policy. Two Homelands, 45, pp. 11-27.
Schneider, C., 2017. Transnationalisation within school education: the interconnection between actors, structures and mechanisms, Globalisation, Societies and Education, 15(5), pp. 607-620. (online 2016). doi: 10.1080/14767724.2016.1195725
Evans, M., Schneider C., Arnot M., Fisher L., Forbes K., Hu M., Liu Y., 2016. Language Development and School Achievement: Opportunities and Challenges in the Education of EAL Students (The Bell Foundation).
Arnot, M., Schneider, C., Evans, M., Liu, Y., Davies-Tutt, D., Welply, O., 2014. Language Education and Social Disadvantage: School Approaches to the Education of EAL students in England (The Bell Foundation).
Kim, V., 2014. Gender Politics and Its Impact on Female Marriage Migration: Women from Former Soviet Union Countries in Japan. Japan Social Innovation Journal, 4(1), pp. 20–33.