The research project BROAD-ER: Bridging the Migration and Urban Studies Nexus received 1.4M € from the European Commission Twinning Action fund (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03).

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Ricard Zapata-Barrero is one of the Principal Investigators (PI), and two new GRITIM-UPF researchers have been incorporated after an open and objective call: Rafik Arfaoui as postdoctoral researcher, and Diletta Marcucci as doctoral researcher.

Prof. Ahmet Içduygu, Director of MiReKoc at Koç University  (KU, Istanbul, Turkey; project coordinator) and Prof. Jan Rath at the Department of Sociology of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) are the other PIs. The project will run for 36 months from November, 2022.

BROAD-ER aims at building a Research Excellence Network which will foster interdisciplinary research and education at the nexus of migration and urban studies. The project will cover three main dimensions, the Internationalization of Cities (MiReKoc - Turkish Team), Establishing New Relations between the National and the Local and increasing autonomy from National Government (GRITIM-UPF - Spanish Team), and Detachment from Formal Governance by Independent Actors (UvA - Dutch Team). The three top-class Universities will cooperate thanks to the complementary knowledge, skills, and expertise.

BROAD-ER will offer scientific and research management training activities to researchers including research proposal management, and key transferable skills (ethical issues, diversity, equity and inclusion, scientific outreach, entrepreneurship, technology transfer, etc.) while addressing research excellence in the project’s fields. The training plans will be complemented with mobility activities allowing the establishment of networking structures. The project will result in multiple (joint) publications in high-impact top-tier journals, an increased capacity to attract research funding and undertake proposal management, and an updated open and transparent recruitment process for researchers.

The BROAD-ER Team

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From left to right: Ceren Kulkul, Ahmet İçduygu, Norma Schemschat, Pelin Kılınçarslan (sit), Hacer Gören (sit), Gülşen Doğan, Ricard Zapata-Barrero, Jan Rath, Birce Altiok, Rafik Arfaoui (virtual presence), Diletta Marcucci (virtual presence).

The GRITIM-UPF Team made up of Ricard Zapata-Barrero (PI), Rafik Arfaoui (postdoctoral researcher) and Diletta Marcucci (doctoral researcher) will contribute to the project specifically by focusing on the analysis of establishing new relations between the National and the Local levels and increasing cities autonomy from the National Governments.

The GRITIM-UPF Team

​  Ricard Zapata-Barrero (Principal Investigator)

​  Rafik Arfaoui (Post-doc)

​  Diletta Marcucci (PhD)

The Spanish Team comprehends also: Zenia Hellgren, Carmen Geha, Lorenzo Gabrielli, Nena Mocnik, Gemma Aubarell, Gemma Pinyol, Dirk Gebhardt, and Camden Bowman. 

Spanish team publications related to BROAD-ER 

Ricard Zapata-Barrero (2023) Urban migration governance under the resilience lens: conceptual and empirical insights, Ethnic and Racial Studies, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2023.2166793

Ricard Zapata-Barrero (2023) Urban resilience and migration governance in Tunisia’s unstable political environment, Mediterranean Politics, DOI: 10.1080/13629395.2023.2180851

Spanish team activities related to BROAD-ER

Ricard-Zapata Barrero gave a lecture “Urban resilience and migration governance: Setting a research programme” on 25th July 2023 at the 1st BROAD-ER International Summer School at Koç University (Istanbul, Turkey)

BROAD-ER activities

The 1st BROAD-ER International Summer School: “Cities and International Migration: Themes, Concepts, Approaches” will be held in Istanbul on 17-28 July 2023.

The BROAD-ER Wednesday Seminar Series will start on 29 March 2023.

The BROAD-ER Article Writing Workshop for Early Career Researchers on 8 June 2023.

The BROAD-ER Women in Science Webinars will start on 12 June 2023.

Media exposure

La Vanguardia, a local newspaper in Barcelona, released on 11 January 2023 an article on BROAD-ER, describing the main features and goals of the project.

UPF published a piece of news on BROAD-ER, in which Prof. Ricard Zapata-Barrero better explains the contribution of GRITIM-UPF and the project's activities. The news is available in Catalan, Spanish, and English.

BROAD-ER is already active on   and .

Twitter tag: @Broad_er

[A newsletter and website will be launched.]

More news about the project will come shortly.

​This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation under agreement No. 101079254. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.                                                                                                     

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