Migration is a critical issue of our times, and a major interdisciplinary field of enquiry in the social sciences; it epitomises the notion of ‘global studies’.
For more than a decade, SCMR has led the way in providing rigorous, evidence-based research to document the richness and diversity of the ‘migration experience’. Our research findings have multiple purposes: to contribute to the body of academic knowledge on migration; to counter ill-informed views and prejudices over migration; and to provide the policy community with relevant data. With increasing globalisation, migration has become a key element in north-south relations, and in the domestic politics of many developed and developing countries. It is also central to issues of identity and citizenship, and to the formation of pluralistic, hybrid and cosmopolitan societies. Whilst the dynamism of some migration streams may have stalled during the current global recession, debates over migration will undoubtedly continue in the future.