Only two more days to go and you are still able to register for the FOCUS Final Conference – Living Well Together! Join us on 1-2 June 2022 at La Tricoterie in Brussels or follow our live stream online.

The FOCUS Final Conference will showcase the FOCUS results:

• findings from qualitative and quantitative research,
• the FOCUS Approach to Dynamic Integration, and
• the FOCUS Implementation Guidance.

It will take stock of the past decade of dynamic integration and discuss with other integration practitioners from civil society, academia and policy how the FOCUS results can be implemented in practice – also in the current context of increased migration from Ukraine.

On the agenda:

• Different perspectives on dynamic integration
• Findings from our comprehensive research study exploring socioeconomic and sociopsychological integration in four countries
• Accounts from the FOCUS case studies
• Workshops to experience our Living Well Together Resource and the FOCUS Approach to Dynamic Integration
• A policy roundtable to discuss priorities of integration work in the EU
• A marketplace to discover projects and initiatives

The event will take place at La Tricoterie, a unique event and cultural venue in the heart of Brussels (near Gare du Midi) and will be livestreamed. All information can be found after registration. 

Attendance is free but upon registration only. Sign up here and exchange and network with other attendants via the event page even before the conference.

Speakers include:

• Isabel de la Mata, Principal Advisor for Health and Crisis Management at DG Health
• Katerina Dimitrakopoulou, Head of Sector for Integration, DG Home
• Nour Abdulsalam, Board member, Support Group Network
• Shoresh Ibrahim, Head of international projects, City of Stockholm
• Guglielmo Schininà, Head of MHPSS section, International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• Alison Strang, Senior research fellow, Queen Margaret University

The conference will be hosted by Maria Vincenza Desiderio, Senior Expert on Immigration and Immigrant Integration Policies.

Find the latest draft agenda and speakers’ list on the event page.

Registrations are now open for the FOCUS Final Conference – Living Well Together! Join us on 1-2 June 2022 at La Tricoterie in Brussels.

The FOCUS Final Conference will showcase the FOCUS results:

• findings from qualitative and quantitative research,
• the FOCUS Approach to Dynamic Integration, and
• the FOCUS Implementation Guidance.

It will take stock of the past decade of dynamic integration and discuss with other integration practitioners from civil society, academia and policy how the FOCUS results can be implemented in practice – also in the current context of increased migration from Ukraine.

On the agenda:

• Different perspectives on dynamic integration
• Findings from our comprehensive research study exploring socioeconomic and sociopsychological integration in four countries
• Accounts from the FOCUS case studies
• Workshops to experience our Living Well Together Resource and the FOCUS Approach to Dynamic Integration
• A policy roundtable to discuss priorities of integration work in the EU
• A marketplace to discover projects and initiatives

The event will take place at La Tricoterie, a unique event and cultural venue in the heart of Brussels (near Gare du Midi).

Attendance is free but upon registration only. Sign up here and exchange and network with other attendants via the event page even before the conference.

Online participation will be possible.

Speakers include:

• Nour Abdulsalam, Board member, Support Group Network
• Shoresh Ibrahim, Head of international projects, City of Stockholm
• Ayse Özbabacan, Commissioner for integration, City of Stuttgart
• Guglielmo Schininà, Head of MHPSS section, International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• Alison Strang, Senior research fellow, Queen Margaret University
• Catherine Woollard, Director, European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)

The conference will be hosted by Maria Vincenza Desiderio, Senior Expert on Immigration and Immigrant Integration Policies.

Find the latest draft agenda and speakers’ list on the event page.

Missed the Joint Policy Roundtable ‘Co-designing an Inclusive Europe’ on 1 March?

💻 You can now watch all sessions on the official Youtube channel of the roundtable: Inclusive Europe 2022 – YouTube

😉 The FOCUS session is here: Part 4: (A) Break out session (i): Economic, legal, and social factors and practices of inclusion – YouTube

You would rather get a summary on paper? Read the full report or the brochure summarising main policy recommendations!

📆 Thursday 17 March, 14:15 – 16:00
🏛 Hybrid seminar: zoom and Niagara, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1, Malmö – Sweden

✍️ Please sign up here by 14 March at the latest.

National Integration Evaluation Mechanisms: Ways forward (NIEM) is a six-years long transnational project ending in June 2022, which aims to prepare key actors in the integration field in 14 EU Member States to better face the current challenges and improve the integration outcomes of beneficiaries of international protection.

In the seminar, we present the final Swedish National Report 2021 followed by a panel discussion with invited guests commenting on ways forward and which areas that are in need of more attention in practice and research.

Panelists

• Katarina Carlzén, Länsstyrelsen Skåne
• Henrik Nilsson, NÄTVERKET – Idéburen sektor Skåne
• Erika Löfgren, UNHCR Representation for the Nordic and Baltic Countries
• Giedrė Blažytė, Diversity Development Group, Lithuania
• Peter MacDonagh, FOCUS, H2020 project

The seminar is organized and led by Sayaka Osanami Törngren, Associate professor, Malmö University.

The panel is moderated by Nadeen Khoury and Tawanda Maviga, Reserch assistans, Malmö University.

26 January 2022, 14h-15:30h CEST

This webinar will be organised as an open dialogue on conceptual and methodological challenges in integration research. FOCUS researchers present methodological challenges and lessons learnt from data collection and from conducting comparative research in four countries with distinct characteristics in terms of migration history, policies, opportunity structures and welfare systems.  The focus will be on the three European sites.

Sign up here

Research on integration from the angle of both the receiving and arriving community in three European countries (Croatia, Germany and Sweden) and Jordan has been conducted by the FOCUS research team using quantitative and qualitative methods on data collected through focus groups and a survey.

From a methodological point of view this has been challenging both in the setting up to ensure comparability and also in the analysis of data.

21 June 2021, 15h-16h45 CEST

This webinar will bridge research and practice by discussing the practical implications of social bonds, bridges and links and their relationship to mental health as fundamental element of dynamic integration!

Sign up here

With three experts from research and practice, we will discuss the role of mental well-being and social cohesion for the integration of arriving and receiving communities, moving beyond the overstretched trauma and vulnerability framework and providing concepts and insights to support a community-development approach:

• How can the basic concept of bonds, bridges and links be built in everyday integration practice?
• What are the practical implications of these and other overarching concepts, such as empowerment, social connections or xenophobia, for integration work?
• How can these ideas contribute to activating both arriving and receiving communities?

Join us for our interactive online forum to discuss how participatory and dynamic approaches to integration can improve relations between arriving and receiving communities!

Sign up here

With the kind participation of