The Migration and Integration Research Team

The Migration and Integration Research Team was established at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen in 2019 as a follow-up to international projects. The aim is to ensure the practical application and evaluation of the achieved results and to continue research, application and networking activities in an interdisciplinary perspective and with international participation. The departments of Middle Eastern Studies, Sociology and Anthropology of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and the University of Bayreuth are particularly involved in the activities of the team.

  • Through its activities, it creates a supportive and sustainable institutional network between local actors from public administration, the non-profit sector and universities, which serves in jointly addressing societal challenges.
  • It works on analyses and strategies on the thematic complex of migration and integration that can be applied in the Czech-German border region as well as in other areas.
  • It develops cross-border cooperation to reduce the information deficit and strengthen the still insufficient coordination of activities.
  • It is an interdisciplinary platform for cooperation and contributes to the integration, harmonisation and coherence of immigration and integration policies in the Czech Republic and the Czech-Bavarian border area.

Projects

Migration and integration in the Bavarian-Czech border region: analysis, cooperation strategies and solutions (2017-2020): https://mintegration.zcu.cz/

(Migrace a integrace v bavorsko-českém příhraničním regionu: analýza, strategie spolupráce a řešení (2017-2020)

  • Cross-border Cooperation Programme Czech Republic - Bavaria ECA Objective 2014-2020
  • The project explored the impact of migration on the region and brought together representatives of academic, governmental and non-governmental institutions from both sides of the Czech-Bavarian border in the field of integration.
  • Special emphasis was placed on cross-border exchange. The aim of the project was to formulate practical recommendations based both on field research among migrants and on the experience of a wide range of institutions involved in daily work with migrants.
  • The objectives included the exchange of experiences and the joint application of solution strategies, the strengthening of cross-border coordination in the context of migration and integration, joint adaptation and solution strategies, the transfer of results into practice, communication between the host society and migrants, the analysis of political, administrative and civil society institutions in the context of "migration and integration" in the Czech-Bavarian border area, Analysis of obstacles and experiences in the field of cooperation to date, exchange, harmonisation and development of cross-border strategies and examples of good practice, their application in practice in the context of migration and integration issues, enabling cross-border coordination of information flows and activities, as well as the creation, harmonisation and implementation of adaptation strategies between transit and host regions.

Arrival Regions: Exploring social innovation approaches for the social and economic integration of non-EU nationals (2019–2022): https://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/Arrival-Regions.html 

  • Interreg Central Europe Transnational Co-operation Programme
  • The aim of the project was to design and test in practice social innovations in regions facing an increase in the number of non-EU foreigners.
  • The objectives of the project included analysing the situation and collecting good practices, implementing pilot projects (in the case of the ZČU "Coordination Centre for Integration Activities for the Tachov Region"), preparing manuals of preventive tools and transferable solutions.

Evaluation of the success of the process of integration of foreigners in the long term (2020-2023): www.epic-integrace.cz

  • Programme for the Support of Applied Social Science and Humanities Research, Experimental Development and Innovation ÉTA, Technology Agency of the Czech Republic
  • The main objective of the proposed project is to create a tool for the evaluation of the integration process of foreigners and subsequent increase in the efficiency of integration work.
  • The basic point of the research will be the analysis of the functioning of the State Integration Programme (SIP), which is implemented by the Administration of Refugee Facilities
  • Ministry of the Interior (SUZ MV). The research will map and define the indicators that are crucial for the success of the integration process and the developed methodologies will provide instructions on how to fulfil these indicators in order to make the integration work more effective.
  • The project includes proper training of the integration staff of the SUZ MV in the use of the new methodologies in planned workshops. We will also introduce these workers to other aspects of integration work. We will also introduce the methods of application of the outputs to the staff of other relevant government organisations and NGOs.

Course on cultural specifics of selected ethnicities and nationalities for the Prison Service of the Czech Republic (2020)

In 2020, five three-day courses were held for participants of the Prison Service Academy in Stráž pod Ralskem

Lectures focused on understanding the cultural specificities of minorities in Czech prisons: Muslims and people from the Middle East and North Africa, people from sub-Saharan Africa, Vietnamese, Roma.

Within the framework of the projects being implemented and prepared, cooperation with a number of relevant actors is taking place, including the Administration of Refugee Facilities of the Ministry of the Interior, OAMP, Regional Development Agency of the Pilsen Region O.p.s, The Regional Education Centre and the Language School with the right of state language examination, the Human Resources Centre of the Pilsen Region, the National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic-Regional Workplace Pilsen, the University of Bayreuth, People in Need o.p.s., the Diocesan Charity Pilsen, the City of Bor, the Centre for Support of Integration of Foreigners - Pilsen Region, the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig and others.