What are the main challenges facing European societies in view of rising cross-border and intra-state migration? What factors drive international and internal migration? How should states, international organisations, and civil society actors respond? Who should be at the table in endeavours to craft a European approach to migration?
This year's CIVICA European Week took place from 25 to 28 June on LSE's campus. Attendees and participants included 80 bachelor students from Bocconi, Central European University, IE University, SNSPA, Sciences Po, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Stockhom School of Economics and LSE, 20 local secondary school students, 5 students from Ukrainian partner universities, as well as 20 faculty and course tutors.
The week kicked off with lectures from Dr Dina Gusejnova from LSE Intenational History on what it means to be European and how migration effects 'Europeanness,' and later a session on migration, work, and social inequality by Professor Lucinda Platt, Dr Isabel Shutes, and Dr Patrick McGovern from LSE Social Policy and LSE Sociology.
Participants discussed migration governance in Europe and heard from experts including Oksana Mikheieva, Borja Santo Porras, Marta Pachocka and Laurence Romani, in a panel moderated by LSE's academic lead for CIVICA, Professor Paul Apostolidis.
Students took part in film screenings, field trips and site visits across London, with presentations at the International Organisation for Migration and ODI.
They heard from the Migrant Democracy Project's Executive Director Lara Parizotto, as well as Dr Omar Hammoud Gallego, an LSE Fellow at the School of Public Policy and consultant on the project.
Getting out of the class room, students went on walking tours of migrant neighbourhoods in London and joined a cookery class coordinated by Migrateful, an award winning refugee integration charity set up by Jess Thompson, an LSE alumnus.
At the conclusion of a packed week, students collaborated during a G20 simulation faciliated by Angelo Martelli from the LSE European Institute, utilising the knowledge and experiences they gained during the week to formulate policy positions around climate change and human mobility.
To learn more about the European week and other CIVICA opportunities, check our dedicated pages regularly.
Photos ©Marina Arcady and Helen Rosemont