We asked our researchers to pick one of their publications from 2025 and share why it stands out for them. Here's what they replied!1) Let's start with the introduction to a Special Issue on "#RefugeeSponsorship & Complementary Pathways" edited by our refugee sponsorship research team (Jenny Phillimore, Marisol Reyes, Gabriella D'Avino, Natasha Nicholls). It's the... Continue Reading →
A new report has revealed major gaps in UK public understanding of irregular migration, which is shaped by political media narratives rather than facts. A new report published today (11 December), by researchers at the University of Birmingham, reveals widespread misconceptions among the UK public about irregular migration, which includes all unauthorised methods of entering... Continue Reading →
We are delighted to announce our seminar series for this academic term. All seminars are free and open to the public. They will be held in Room 1150, Muirhead Tower, University of Birmingham. In the first seminar on 20 October, Nando Sigona examines the migration agenda of the Labour government in its first year in... Continue Reading →
Nando Sigona, University of Birmingham In her address to the Labour party conference, the new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, confirmed plans to overhaul the rules for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). These include increasing the time someone must live in the UK to be eligible for ILR from five years to ten. ILR is the... Continue Reading →
In a new analysis piece for OpenDemocracy, Nando Sigona and Stefano Piemontese draws on the I-CLAIM research in the UK with food delivery riders to examine how the cosying up of Home Office and platform employers is impacting on food delivery workers. https://nandosigona.info/2025/08/08/the-home-office-is-everyone-delivery-riders-caught-between-algorithms-and-immigration-raids/?page_id=5535
David Stark and Lisa Goodson, IRIS, University of Birmingham A policy turning inwards At the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity (IRIS), we examine migration and superdiversity through empirical research grounded in lived experience. We do this from Birmingham, one of the UK’s most ethnically diverse cities and a place where migration is... Continue Reading →
New report titled "Humanitarian Visas in a Hostile Environment" offers first-hand insights into the experiences of individuals arriving in the UK through the Hong Kong BN(O) and Ukraine visa schemes and shows that ‘significant concerns persist’ around the restrictions faced by visa beneficiaries. Researchers from the University of Birmingham and Lancaster University, draw on qualitative... Continue Reading →
To mark the 6th anniversary of the 2016 Brexit referendum we spoke with Dr Djordje Sredanovic (Free University of Brussels), author of Implementing Citizenship, Nationality and Integration. In this analysis, Sredanovic compares and contrasts the experiences of citizenship and integration policies in the UK and Belgium. In-depth interviews with officials show both the everyday application... Continue Reading →
To mark the sixth anniversary of the 2016 EU referendum we are launching today EU citizens in the UK after Brexit, a new MIGZEN Research Brief based on the responses to the MIGZEN survey of 364 EU/EEA citzens who live or have recently lived in the UK. The survey reveals that Brexit has significantly and, for most, negatively affected how... Continue Reading →
We are delighted to share the new website of the NODE network. The network is led by us at the University of Birmingham and the Institute for Asian Migrations at Waseda University and was initially funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council and the Japan Foundation. Together with the information of the network... Continue Reading →
Conversations with Iris: Podcast on migration, diversity and displacement
The Age of Superdiversity 