Brussels Interdisciplinary Research centre on Migration and Minorities

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Brussels Interdisciplinary Research centre on Migration and Minorities

BIRMM is a centre of expertise working on migration, minorities and diversity related topics. It joi

10/11/2025

⏰ Last chance to register!

Next session of the Critical Approaches to Race Seminar — organised in collaboration between REPI Recherche et Etudes en Politique Internationale, GERME - Université libre de Bruxelles, LAMC (Université libre de Bruxelles) and BIRMM (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).

✨ Amit Puni (Kingston University)
📖 British Indian Educational Success: A Critical Race Theory counter-story to the Rishi Sunak celebration of racial triumph
📅 13 November, 10:00–12:00
📍 ULB, Institut de sociologie, building S, floor 12, room Rokkan (also online)
💡 Free attendance – everyone welcome!

👉 Info & registration (for in-person or online attendance):
https://birmm.research.vub.be/car-seminar-with-amit-puni

25/09/2025

📷 Snapshot from the first CAR Seminar Series 2025-2026

Yesterday, we kicked off our seminar series with the screening of “Tout Contact Laisse Une Trace” (ZinTV, 2024) at Pianofabriek in Brussels.

The screening was followed by a rich discussion with participants and audience members, reflecting on memory, resistance, and the power of storytelling.
A huge thank you to all who joined us and made this first seminar such a meaningful evening.

Stay tuned for updates on our next CAR Seminar! 👀

09/09/2025

📣 We’re kicking off the 2025–2026 edition of the Critical Approaches to Race (CAR) seminar series!

We are happy to invite you to the screening of "Tout Contact Laisse Une Trace" (ZinTV, 2024). This powerful composite film retraces the journeys of non-white, Afro-descendant, and African people, uncovering the colonial legacies inscribed in Brussels, from Gaza to Goma. Directed by Nizar Saleh Mohammed Ali and created through a collective process, the film confronts discourse with lived voices and challenges the city’s colonial memory.

After the screening, join us for a discussion with members of the filmmaking collective and researchers.

📅 Wednesday 24 September, 18:30–21:00
📍 Pianofabriek – Rue du Fort 35, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels

This event launches a new season of the CAR seminars, a space for dialogue on race, colonial legacies, and social justice.

We look forward to welcoming you!

More info and registration here👇
https://birmm.research.vub.be/movie-screening-tout-contact-laisse-une-trace

03/09/2025

📢 Have you read it yet?

The second edition of BIRMM’s Policy Brief Series is here and it tackles one of the most pressing issues in EU migration governance. In “The EU’s Return Regulation: Negotiating on the Basis of Evidence, Not Narratives”, Lina Vosyliūtė and Florian Trauner highlight how the European Commission’s 2025 return proposal was launched without an impact assessment, despite introducing highly controversial measures.

Key takeaways:
- The Commission’s 2025 Return Regulation proposal was made without an impact assessment, despite major human rights implications.
- The last comprehensive evaluation of EU return policy dates back to 2014.
- The European Parliament should insist on evidence-based policymaking and a rebalancing of inter-institutional responsibilities on impact assessments.
- EU return policies based on simplistic and unchecked narratives are likely to lower return rates and to legitimize demands of far-rights parties.
- Simplistic narratives, rather than evidence, risk lowering return rates and legitimizing demands of far-right parties.

This brief calls for negotiations on the EU’s return regulation to be guided by robust evidence, not political urgency.

Read the full brief here 👉 https://zenodo.org/records/16966998?utm_source=BSoG+Master+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=29596cff78-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_08_27_07_59&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-29596cff78-

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03/07/2025

🚨 New BIRMM Spotlight Interview

How do we measure something as complex and hidden as irregular migration?

In our latest BIRMM Spotlight Interview,Omar N. Cham sat together with Prof. Tuba Bircan to explore how the MirreM Project is pushing the boundaries of data, ethics, and policy in Europe. From using mortality data as a proxy, to engaging civil society across borders — this interview is packed with eye-opening insights.

Read or watch the full interview here: https://birmm.research.vub.be/birmm-spotlight-interview-measuring-irregular-migration-with-professor-tuba-bircan-0

02/07/2025

📢 Have you read it yet?

The first edition of BIRMM’s new Policy Brief Series is out, and it starts with a sharp warning. In “World Refugee Day 2025: Don't Let National Emergency Measures Become the New Standard of EU Asylum Policy”, Prof. Florian Trauner sounds the alarm: EU member states are increasingly relying on national emergency measures to shape asylum policy – a trend that risks fragmenting the EU’s asylum system and eroding fundamental rights.

Key takeaways:
- Asylum policies shaped by crisis response risk becoming permanent
- Security concerns are overshadowing human rights
- The revised EU asylum laws may be cementing this trend

This brief calls on policymakers to ensure emergency measures remain exceptional, not the norm.

Read the full brief here 👉 https://zenodo.org/records/15650051

06/06/2025

📢 Join us for the final CAR seminar of the academic year!

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Omar Jabary Salamanca, research fellow at Université libre de Bruxelles, for a powerful talk on the epistemologies that shape our understanding of the world, and how settler colonialism functions as both a conceptual and political force.

In this session, we explore the revolutionary life of settler colonialism, its role in Palestinian liberation struggles, and its place in broader anti-imperial and internationalist movements.

📅 June 11th | 10:00 – 12:00
📍 VUB/BSOG - Pleinlaan 5, 1050 Brussels

Free entry – just email [email protected] to attend.

More info can be found here👇
https://birmm.research.vub.be/palestine-between-colonial-epistemologies-and-liberation-worldmaking

14/05/2025

📢 Join us for an engaging lunch-time seminar on the legal thickening of EU borders!

As part of the Borders and International Mobility (BIM) Seminar Series, we are excited to welcome Prof. Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche, Professor of Law at the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3. In this seminar, she will explore how states are using legal strategies to thicken borders, both as zones and lines, through externalization and internalization.

🍽️ This will be a lunch-time seminar, and food will be provided!

📅 27th May, 2025 | 12:00 - 13:30
📍 VUB/BSOG - Brussels

🔗 More details and registration here: https://birmm.research.vub.be/bordering-ordering-othering-ordering-the-legal-thickening-of-eu-frontiers

06/05/2025

🌟Flashback to an inspiring morning at BIRMM for the Critical Approaches to Race seminar series.

We had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. F. Zehra Çolak and Dr. Zakia Essanhaji, who led a powerful session titled “Rethinking Methodology as a Technology of Social (In)Justice?”.

They challenged us to reflect on how traditional research practices can perpetuate inequality — and opened space to imagine what it means to conduct research with and for marginalized communities. Themes of refusal, joy, care, and answerability resonated deeply and sparked rich dialogue in the room.
Huge thanks to Dr. Zehra Çolak and Dr. Zakia Essanhaji, and to everyone who joined and contributed with such thoughtfulness.

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09/04/2025

📢 Join us for a critical seminar on rethinking methodology as a technology of social (in)justice in academia!

As part of the Critical Approaches to Race Seminar Series, we are honored to welcome Dr. F. Zehra Çolak and Dr. Zakia Essanhaji. This seminar examines how conventional research methods can reinforce exclusion and injustice in knowledge production. Drawing on a podcast project with racialized scholars, our speakers explore what it means to embrace an ethics of refusal and answerability—redirecting research toward liberation rather than harm.

Through this seminar, we’ll reflect on how to co-create non-exploitative, justice-oriented research practices that center marginalized communities.

📅 24th of April, 2025 | 10:00 - 12:00
📍 VUB

🔗 More info here: https://birmm.research.vub.be/seminar-with-zehra-colak-zakia-essanhaji

Adres

Pleinlaan 2
Ixelles
1050

Website

http://birmm.research.vub.be/

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