Horizon Europe - Cluster 2 - Destination 3 - " Decision-making processes of (aspiring) migrants"

The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of between EUR 2.00 and 3.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 9.00 million.

Research and Innovation Actions

The conditions are described in General Annex B. The following exceptions apply: Due to the scope of this topic, legal entities established in all member states of the African Union are exceptionally eligible for Union funding.

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

- Enhance EU migration policy by shedding light on micro- and meso-level drivers of migration. 

- Assess how far policies take into account behaviours of migrants when aiming at regulating migration. 

- Show how migration decisions change along the journey, and at what stage policies are more likely to play a role in shaping migration outcomes.

Scope:

Studies on macro-level determinants of migration have linked structural factors and a number of social processes to migration outcomes. However, there is a scarcity of research that considers the way in which meso-social and micro-individual levels interact with each other and with macro-level determinants, and play a role in shaping decisions to migrate, or not. Proposals should develop analyses of decisions taken by individuals to stay in their place of origin (village, city, country and region) or to leave. They should therefore consider the individual micro-level of decision-making, and should also consider the timing of such decisions and the drivers of the aspiration to migrate or lack thereof.

Proposals should also take into consideration individual perceptions of structural factors (e.g. socio-economic, political, climate-related) and the way in which they influence such decisions.

Proposals should also combine such micro-level analyses with meso-level considerations of the context in which such decisions are formed, with due attention for differences across socio-demographic characteristics (e.g. gender, age, education level, socioeconomic status, ethnicity). Research may take stock of the available literature on the role family households play in shaping decisions to migrate, but is encouraged to go beyond, looking at societal drivers including local, regional and national politics and dynamics, events, narratives, histories and cultural and diaspora ties.

Proposals should also consider how decisions to migrate are dynamic and adapt to different contexts in time and place. In such sequence of decisions, different drivers of decision-making may intervene at the different phases of the migration cycles and journeys, which proposals should consider. Consideration should be given to the role played by the availability, or lack of, legal channels for migration, when opting for an irregular alternative, and the information available on such options.

Proposals may also focus, where relevant, on the role of smuggling and trafficking networks and on past experiences and traditions of return migration. The analyses developed should shed light on the capacity of migration policies to effectively shape and/or affect migration journeys, and at what stage this occurs or may occur. Analyses should also evaluate the extent to which policies implemented consider the behaviours of migrants. Projects are strongly encouraged to develop innovative and participatory methodologies, including behavioural approaches to studies of individual decision-making. International cooperation is strongly advised, in particular with African countries.