Belmont Forum Collaborative Research: Migration, Transformation and Sustainability

There is currently unprecedented concern over involuntary migration globally affecting insecurity and human rights. However, both domestic and international migration has enormous transformative potential for individuals and societies. Existing theories of transformation fail to recognize both positive and negative impacts of the movement of people. This gap limits explanations and intervention strategies for sustainability. The objective of this research is to expand knowledge of transformations to sustainability by incorporating specific migration dynamics including: the impact of aggregate flows of people on sustainability; the individual life course dimensions of sustainability; and the governance of migration and sustainability. This project will develop a comprehensive migration-sustainability model and identify insights on sustainability strategies at local, national, and international scales. As part of a large interdisciplinary social-science led consortium from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, this research will build global capacity of social science to explain and engage with migration dimensions of transformations to sustainability.