20 Jul PERCEPTIONS at the 18th IMISCOE Annual Conference

PERCEPTIONS partners presented first insights of our empirical research at the 18th IMISCOE Annual Conference, which took place between 7-9 July 2021. The project team has organised two panels dedicated to the project, under the topic of “Migrants’ perceptions of the EU. Imaginaries, policies and symbolic management across Europe and beyond.”

Chaired by Valentina Cappi (Università di Bologna) and Pantelis Michalis (Center for Security Studies – KEMEA), the first panel had four presentations:

• Mapping Migrant Perceptions of the EU. Presenting the outcomes of a systematic literature review and stakeholder mapping in the context of PERCEPTIONS. – Karen Hough & David Pannocchia (CENTRIC, Sheffield Hallam University), Miriana Ilcheva & Leda Valerieva Kuneva (Center for the Study of Democracy)
• Practices, tools, and measurements on addressing (mis) perceptions of migrants towards Europe: What is out there? Presenting findings of current practices. – Theoni Spathi, George Kampas, Dimitra Papadaki & Katerina Georgakopoulou (Center for Security Studies – KEMEA)
• New and old “threats” to sending and receiving countries and to both. The migration and security nexus revisited. Presenting findings on threats currently identified by security practitioners. – Rut Bermejo, Isabel Bazaga & Manuel Tamayo (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos)
• Securitization of Migration: Changing “Perceptions” of Europe Abroad. Looking at policy measures after the 2015 ‘migration crisis’. – Madalina Rogoz & Nesrine Ben Brahim (International Centre for Migration Policy Development) & Elena Ambrosetti (Sapienza University of Rome)

Chaired by Diotima Sarah Bertel (SYNYO GmbH) and Sergei Shubin (Swansea University), the second panel had five presentations:

• Information Campaigns: the role of journalists in disseminating narratives about Europe in The Gambia. – Valentina Cappi, Pierluigi Musaro, Gabriele Puzzo & Alagie Jinkang (University of Bologna)
• Across the Strait: migrants’ narratives on Europe in Morocco and Spain. Findings on patterns of narratives in migration journeys. – José María González Riera & Patricia Bueso Izquierdo (Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies – University of Granada)
• Migrants’ imaginaries and lived realities in Cyprus. Outcomes of interviews with migrants in Cyprus and the observed imaginaries of Europe. – Fiona-Katharina Seiger (Erasmus University
  Rotterdam), Aria Louis & Elizabeth Kassinis (Caritas Cyprus)
• A Belgian case study on migration trajectories and life after migration: Is there a mismatch between imaginaries and lived realities? Insights on narratives of information campaigns. – Rut Van Caudenberg, Lore Van Praag & Amal Miri (CeMIS, University of Antwerp)
• The symbolic management of migration in the UK. Outcomes of interviews with policymakers and practitioners in the context of PERCEPTIONS. – Petra Saskia Bayerl & Karen Hough (CENTRIC – Sheffield Hallam
  University), Kahina Le Louvier (Northumbria University)