First annual event went off with a bang – watch the recording

2024 June 02

PREMIUM_EU's digital open-house was widely anticipated, with  over 120 sign-ups, four external panelists and five speakers from the PREMIUM_EU team eager to present the knowledge foundation we are laying out in our first year. Holed up in a studio setup hosted by the Danish Statistics Centre, the first annual event was held in direct extension of our consortium meeting in Copenhagen. Minds fresh from two days of knowledge calibration, the PREMIUM_EU team was thrilled to see the event campaign working, as the online audience trickle in before kicking off the programme.


The social-media side of migration


"We can for example measure how many Facebook users who used to live in the UK now live in New York City". Event speakers Maciej Danko and Jisu Kim from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, opened with an introduction to the Human Migration Database - one of three legs PREMIUM_EU stands on. Understanding brain-drain based on both migration, regional development and policy is ultimately what will lead to the development of an interactive policy-recommendation tool.

Danko and Kim unveiled a more detailed look at migration flows through new social media data sources, using Facebook's advertising platform. "Ultimately this information could influence migration policy", said Danko, as these are nuances that could make it easier for decision-makers to tailor their policies based on more precise migrant-profiles.



The dilemma of understanding policy impact


"Are people attracted to regions because they are strong or are the regions strong because people are attracted to them?". Peter Meister-Broekema from the Hanze Centre for Development and Cooperation brought in the regional policy side of the project. The schism between coincidental regional development and the impact of migration is the chicken-or-egg dilemma that PREMIUM_EU is trying to solve by studying how policies affect both.

Peter outlined the problems the project faces by trying to analyse “impact”, highlighting the value of zooming out academically and looking at a wider picture of regional development, including migration. "It's a blurry mix of policies that really allows you to live a better life, not strictly a migration policy. If we look at the broader picture, it will say more about impact".



A migration motivation framework


PREMIUM_EU team member Dilek Yildiz from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis took on the task of laying out the characteristics of migrants, both in terms of the classics: age, sex, country of origin and education – as well as less tangible demographic traits, like the integration effort of migrants.

Of the 1 million people who emigrated from the EU to non-EU countries, the majority move for the same reasons. Motivation patterns can be found. Dilek showed the audience exactly how the characteristics of migrants affect their motivations and which short-term and long-term impacts that has for the places they migrate to and away from.

Connecting migration motivations to the development of a region is a core focus of PREMIUM_EU’s research. Dilek presented the model that will translate the demographic data into a framework for better understanding that connection, ending her talk by cracking the window to let in the projection possibilities that also comes with this data bridge.



A panel of policy predictions


Whether migration will be to fuel to drive forward or burn down the future of left-behind regions was the final point on the programme. Moderated by our policy-lead-researcher Peter Meister-Broekema, he welcomed five panelists to the digital stage:

  • Christian Broen, Urban Planner, Gulborgsund Region, Denmark

  • Louise Lyng Bojesen, Chief contingency manager and Head of the Department of Nature, Environment and Recreation, Bornholm, Denmark

  • Paweł Chmielinski, President of the Board, European Rural Development Network

  • Tuba Bircan, Head of AIMS Lab: Migration & Society Research Unit, BRISPO, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

  • Leo Van Wissen, Senior Researcher and former director of NIDI, Project Manager of PREMIUM_EU


 



 

A good mix of three policy practitioners and three academics, including the moderator, the panel was off to a good start by getting the decisionmakers’ perspectives on the municipal side of population changes – not just migrants coming in, but also people leaving. Louise from Bornholm Denmark shared her struggle with juggling both local attractiveness-strategies to attract workforces while adapting to depopulation and having to cut down services to the public. Christian from Guldborgsund, Denmark mirrored these experiences while crediting PREMIUM_EU for the attempt to mitigate some of this chaos, with a policy dashboard: “Thanks for the effort of trying to make a dashboard for policy makers. I think that it sounds hard but we could really use it.”

Young people moving to the cities and growing urban housing needs and infrastructure expansions are predictable, but what Pawel from the European Rural Development Network brought to the table, was the need for better projections to prepare for depopulation in rural areas. “Yes, the EU is getting older. It is good to live longer but we are going to need more migrants. That’s a fact.”  This was the conclusion of Tuba from the AIMS Lab’s vast insights on the fate of Europe’s future workforce and aging populations.

Meandering from strategies and initiatives to knowledge needs, Peter moderated his way through interesting local examples, inspirational approaches and gloomy predictions with hopeful silver linings. The resounding take-away for the PREMIUM_EU was best put by Pawel Chmielinski: "The importance of migration policy will grow in the future. Premium_EU should be very loud, not only in the research community but to policymakers."



 

The full recording of the event can be found here: