Application Deadline – 15th July 2021 at 10pm

A four-day online training seminar for PhD researchers in final stages of completion or having been granted the doctorate within 3 years specialized on migration (or equivalent professional experience), refugee and human rights studies to be hosted by the Migration Policy Centre, European University Institute and CEPS as part of the ASILE project, a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Description and topics covered
The first ASILE Virtual Training Seminar will focus on refugee and asylum governance from an international comparative perspective by exploring the interaction between legislation, policies and practices that have been developed in different countries and world regions in order to implement the United Nations Global Compact for Refugees (UN GCR), and their compatibility with human rights and international refugee law.

The UN GCR calls for more equitable and effective arrangements for responsibility sharing. It states that it is to be grounded in international refugee protection and international human rights instruments. The UN GCR places protection as an overall guide of application. The ETS will take the GCR guiding principles as points of departure. Adopting an interdisciplinary, multi-actor and multilevel perspective, this ETS examines the characteristics of international, regional and country-specific asylum governance instruments and arrangements in light of international and regional human rights and refugee laws.

Some questions that will be addressed in the Training Seminar are:
What is the scope and legal/political nature of the UN GCR, and its relations with the UN Global Compact on Migration? How is this relationship being addressed in different world regions? What are the main human rights and international protection issues and challenges characterizing the parallel implementation of the GCR and GCM?
What is the scope/legal political nature of the EU Pact on Migration of 2021, what is its relationship with the UN Global Compact on Refugees and the UN Global Compact on Migration? How does the UN GCR fit into current European Union policies, and more specifically the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum? What are the key issues related to the implementation of the EU Pact on Migration in the context of the UN GCR and UN GCM?
What are the characteristics and impacts of emerging international systems and regional governance regimes on refugee protection and asylum, and their links to the implementation of the UN GCR?
Which is the role of international organisations, civil society actors and national parliaments in the implementation and accountability of the UN GCR?
Which are the emerging policy practices and projects that countries are adopting in order to implement the UN GCR? Do they present any promising features that could be transferred or considered as promising in other world regions during the implementation of the GCR? Which actions are being taken in some of the main refugee receiving countries? Which are the similarities and differences between regions in developing and implementing the GCR guiding principles?

Learning outcomes

Participants will:

• Develop enhanced understanding of the dynamics of refugee and asylum governance in different parts of the world, and in Europe
• Expand their ability to explore policy solutions to forced migration challenges
• Know more about the kinds of actors that are involved in international protection and global asylum governance and their different roles and interactions
• Gain tools to develop new ideas building from promising practices and evidence-based tools for the development of asylum policies
• Engage in an international academic-policy dialogue about current and future global asylum governance approaches within the scope of the UN GCR

Methodology

This online training seminar will adopt an innovative, comparative perspective combining high-level academic insight with the views and insights of early career researchers. This will enable participants to hone their knowledge and upgrade their skills in understanding the specific features of refugee and asylum governance in diverse world settings, while also developing an enhanced understanding of key comparative themes across regions. This online seminar will provide the participants with intensive training sessions facilitating specialization on these topics.

The structure of the training seminar will be as follows:
Total time per day: 2.15 hours.

• The training seminar will combine presentations by academics and high-experienced practitioners with theparticipation of the attendants. The attendants will receive a 20-minute video before the lecture, which will allow to apply a participatory methodology.
• There will be two plenary sessions with high profile speakers.
• There will be four panels with trainers and a number of panels composed of a maximum of four papers by the students and two discussants acting as commentators and reviewers of the papers being presented (1 hour).

The Training Sessions will allow the attendants to present their own research and to deepen their knowledge on the subjects covered by the project together with the partners of the network as well as external experts, academics and practitioners.

Eligibility

• PhD researchers in final stages of completion or having been granted the doctorate within 3 years, or equivalent professional experience;
• A strong research background in international migration and asylum, and human rights;
• An excellent working knowledge (speaking and writing) of English;
• The availability to attend the entire programme. Yet flexible arrangements will be provided;
• Participants are required to present at the training seminar a research paper that will be presented and commented by the rest of the participants during the training seminar;
• We encourage the participation of researchers coming from the six case-countries of the ASILE project: Canada, Bangladesh, Brazil, Jordan, South Africa and Turkey;
• The participation of refugee and migrant scholars will be promoted.

Applications
To apply participants will need to submit:

• An extended abstract of their proposed contribution (1 page maximum)
• A clear explanation of why and how they will benefit from participation (maximum 1 page)
• A CV (max. 4 pages)
  Application Deadline – 15th July 2021 at 10pm

More info: https://migrationpolicycentre.eu/events/asile-executive-training/