Time for action: integration policies in Scotland post Covid-19

Following the Covid-19 pandemic a new approach is needed to unleash the benefits migrants, refugees and asylum seekers bring to Scottish society and the Scottish economy. This is an often-overlooked area as discussions around migration tend to be driven by a Westminster agenda. 

Drawing on Scottish democratic principles and human rights this event explores the potential for inclusive employment, entrepreneurship and innovation that can be generated both for and by new arrivals in Scotland. Evidence presented from three projects; the Brexit and Covid Project (The Open University), the SIRIUS project (University of Parma and Glasgow Caledonian University) and the GLIMER Project (Glasgow and Edinburgh University) will underpin discussions. 

Following the event organisers plan to draft a policy paper. Drawing on research, lived experiences and plenary discussions this will highlight the opportunities and longer-term benefits of a coherent policy in relation to migrant, refugee and asylum seekers in this area. 

Register here

Programme

Speakers

Carol Howells

Carol Howells is a member of the Open University Law School. She has written a wide range of courses for the Open University, including materials for OpenLearn, the OU’s LLB, BABs, LLM degrees and Executive Education. The OU Law School has students in all four UK Nations. Her research includes work on the role of law in society, the role of devolution in the UK, constitutional issues, legal history and legal education. 

Dr. Francesca Calo

Dr. Francesca Calo (PhD) is a Lecturer in Management at the Department of Public Leadership & Social Enterprise, Faculty of Business Law, The Open University. She research social enterprise and third sector organisation, impact evaluation methods and social innovation for the integration of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Prior to join the Open University, she has been the main researcher for the UK and project manager of the EU H2020 funded project SIRIUS focusing on integration of migrants, refugee and asylum seekers in the labour market. 

Dr Hilary Collins

Hilary is a senior lecturer in executive education with research interests in the economic and cultural role of the creative industries. She researches academic identity and the future of work. 

Professor Simon Lee

Simon Lee is Professor of Law at the Open University (since 2015) and is also Emeritus Professor of Jurisprudence, Queen’s University, Belfast (since 1995, having served there as Professor of Jurisprudence from 1989). He has served as Director of Citizenship & Governance Research at the OU (2016-2018) and has guided OU Law towards its first entry in the REF, for REF 2021. He is currently a Co-Investigator on the #AstrobiologyOU project, funded by Research England for £6.7million, addressing the question, ‘Are we alone in the Universe?’. He writes on contemporary issues such as the overlap of law and politics in UK democracy and lockdown, with David Dennis.

Professor Simone Baglioni

Simone Baglioni holds a Chair in Sociology in the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Parma, Italy. Previously, he was Professor of Politics in the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University, UK and has held academic positions at the Universities of Geneva and Neuchatel in Switzerland, and Florence and Milan-Bocconi, in Italy. Professor Baglioni’s research interests include labour migration, asylum, changes in the labour market (unemployment and precarity), civic engagement and civil society. He acts as an expert and evaluator for the EU, the ESRC UK, the Belgian and the Polish National Research Councils. He is currently the Principal investigator and the coordinator of the SIRIUS H2020 project (www.sirius-project.eu), and the PI for the UK case of the MATILDE H2020 project, both focusing on migration issues.

Dr Timothy Peace

Dr Timothy Peace is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Glasgow where he has been teaching since July 2017. Prior to this, he was a Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the University of Stirling. His research deals with the politics of migration and he has recently been a co-investigator on the GLIMER (Governance and the Local Integration of Migrants and Europe’s Refugees) project.