From 3 to 7 November 2014 took place in Milan (Italy) the METROPOLIS International Congress, “Migration. Energy for the Planet, Feeding Cultures”. This world congress is organised annually since 1996, almost every year in a different place. On this occasion, more than 700 participants from the five continents and a variety of academic, governmental, social, economic and cultural intitutions gathered in Milan (see: http://www.metropolis2014.eu). Within the framework of this congress, on 5 November 2014, Workshop 205 titled “Immigration in Small Towns and Low-Density Rural Areas” took place. This workshop was co-organised by Fátima Velez de Castro, Universidade de Coimbra, and Ricard Morén-Alegret, UAB. Apart from the co-organisers, this session also included presentations from Lucinda Fonseca, Universidade de Lisboa, Michele Nori, European University Institute, and Paulo Espínola, Universidade de Coimbra. This workshop continued a previous session held in September 2011 within the framework of the METROPOLIS International Conference that took place in the Azores Islands, Portugal, and that was co-organised by Ricard Morén-Alegret and Lucinda Fonseca (see previous news below).
On 25 September 2014, in the framework of a 3 months research visit to MIGRINTER laboratory, Université de Poitiers (France), co-funded by Poitou-Charentes Region, Ricard Morén-Alegret presented a seminar titled “British immigration and sustainable small towns and rural areas. Exploring the case of Poitou-Charentes” at Poitiers University’s MSHS. See news on the seminar: http://migrinter.hypotheses.org/1877. And on the research visit in western France: http://migrinter.hypotheses.org/1821 . This research visit to MIGRINTER and the fieldwork carried out in Poitou-Charentes from July to September 2014 it is based on the previous R+D project titled “Immigrants’ integration and the role of a diversity of organisations in achieving sustainable small towns and rural areas” (ref. CSO2009-13909) and funded by the Spanish Government Ministry for Science and Innovation (2010-2013).
On 8 April 2014, the Viva of the PhD Thesis written by Albert Mas (GRM, UAB) and titled Foreign immigration around natural areas. An international comparison between localities of Alt Empordà (Spain) and Alentejo Litoral (Portugal) took successfully place at UAB. This thesis was directed by Dr. Ricard Morén-Alegret (GRM, UAB).
On 22 March 2014, a paper co-written by Dawid Wladyka and Ricard Morén-Alegret (GRM-UAB) and titled “Towards a Mediterranean ‘Superdiverse’ Small Town? Immigration and Sustainability in Empuriabrava Neighborhood, Catalonia, Spain” was presented at the 2014 Urban Affairs Association Congress held in San Antonio (Texas, USA). SA1.01 session. Race, Ethnicity, and Urban Development (see: http://urbanaffairsassociation.org/conference/conference2014/)
On 10 March 2014, Sandra Fatoric (GRM-UAB) presented a paper titled “Climate change vulnerability in coastal proteceted áreas of Catalonia (Spain): The cases of Ebro Delta and Aiguamolls de l’Empordà” in the Conference on European Climate Change Adaptation. Research and Practice, held in Lisbon (Portugal). This presentation took place in the framework of a session on “Coastal areas, marine biodiversity and fisheries. Parallel session A” (vegeu: http://www.adaptationfrontiers.eu)
On 20 February 2014 the Viva of the PhD Thesis written by Sandra Fatoric (GRM, UAB) and entitled Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Mediterranean region. Climate out of balance in Aiguamolls de l’Empordà? took successfully place at UAB. The thesis was submitted on 20 December 2013 and was directed by Dr. Ricard Morén-Alegret (GRM, UAB).
On 27 January 2014 Ricard Morén-Alegret participated in a workshop on migration within the European Union (EU) that took place in Brussels (Belgium).
On 9 and 10 December 2013 the final meeting of the R+D project “Immigrants’ integration and the role of a diversity of organisations in achieving sustainable small towns and rural areas” took place at the UAB Geography Department with the participation of some research team members. The project has been financed from 2010 to 2013 by the Spanish Government’s Ministry of Science and Innovation (reference CSO2009-13909) and directed by Dr Ricard Morén-Alegret. Please, find more information about this project on the following link: Project_Immigrants-Integration.htm
On 28 November 2013 took place the Viva of the PhD Thesis written by Dawid Wladyka (GRM, UAB) and entitled: Inter-Ethnic Experiences of Polish Immigrants in South-Western European Neighborhoods. Comparing Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, and Empuriabrava, Castelló d’Empúries. It was co-directed by Ricard Morén-Alegret and Angels Pascual de Sans (GRM, UAB) and it was rated with an excellent cum laude by the members of the tribunal.
On 26 November 2013, during the afternoon, Ricard Morén-Alegret presented a paper titled “Foreign immigration, intercultural dialogue and sustainability in small towns: The case of Roses, Northeastern Catalonia, Spain” in the Migration, Media and Intercultural Dialogue Conference. This conference was held in Barcelona and organised by the United Nations University Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM).
In August 2013, Ricard Morén-Alegret started a three-month research visit to the United Nations University Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM). Most of the geographic research that he is doing there is associated to the R+D project titled “The integration of immigrants and the role of a diversity of organisations in achieving sustainable small towns and rural areas” (reference CSO2009-13909) and is focused on an examination of different aspects of the cultural side of sustainability in small towns with a significant presence of foreign immigration. On this occasion, he is specifically focusing on the small Mediterranean town of Roses, which has a documented history of migration dating all the way back to Ancient Greece.
During April, May and June 2013 the 11th GRM Anual Seminar Series on Migration took place at UAB. This academic year the seminar series has been specially devoted to “Migration, sustainability, mobility and environmental changes”. On 24 April 2013 an introductory session was presented by Anna Vilaseca and Eduard Trepat, Fundació del Món Rural, FMR (Lleida) and titled “Mobilitat i sostenibilitat en el món rural català. De la transhumància a les migracions”. Furthermore, in the international programme there were the following participants: Sandra Fatoric, GRM-UAB (17 May) with the paper titled “Migration as climate change adaptation? The case of Aiguamolls de l’Empordà (Catalonia, Spain) in an international context”; Dr. Helen Adams, University of Exeter, England (22 May) with the paper titled “Mobility and immobility under environmental change: evidence from Peru and Bangladesh” ; Ethemcan Turhan, ICTA (29 May) with the paper titled “Climate Change Adaptation, Migration and Human Security: A critical vision on circular/seasonal migration from Turkey”; Dr. Navinder Singh, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umea, Suecia (5 June) with the paper titled “Contrasting human and animal migrations in Central Asia and Europe” ; and, finally, Dr. Kees van der Geest, Institute for Environment and Human Security, United Nations University (14 June) with the paper titled “Rainfall variability, food insecurity and migration. Empirical evidence from the Where the Rain falls project”. This seminar series was co-funded by the SGR 2009-2013 programme of AGAUR, it is linked to the R+D project CSO2009-13909 (funded by MICINN, 2010-2013) and it was directed by Dr. Ricard Morén-Alegret (see more information and some pictures in the section “Seminars” of this website).
Foto: Seminari a càrrec de la Dra. Helen Adams
In January 2013, the digital version of a methodological article co-written by Ricard Morén (and related with R+D project reference CSO2009-13909) was published in one of the most important geography journals in the world: Progress in Human Geography. It is an article on migration and the sense of place that includes, among other contributions, methodological considerations and references to the study of immigration in rural areas and small towns. The full details are as follows: Mendoza, C.; Morén-Alegret, R. (2013) “Exploring methods and techniques for the analysis of senses of place and migration”, Progress in HumanGeography, first published on January 18, 2013 as doi:10.1177/0309132512473867. This journal has an impact index of 4.489 and is second in the world ranking for Geography (2/72), according to the JCR for 2012 published by Thomson Reuters in 2013.
Along 2012 the bulk of the fieldwork of the R+D project titled “Immigrants’ integration and the role of a diversity of organizations in achieving sustainable small towns and rural areas” (2010-2013) was completed. This project is funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and it is coordinated by Ricard Morén. After focusing fieldwork on Alt Empordà county (Catalonia, Spain), fieldworks were carried out in Warwickshire (England), North-Western Peloponese (Greece), Alentejo Litoral (Portugal) and the South-East of South Australia (Australia). During 2013 more results from this project will be displayed.
On 25 October 2012 Josepha Milazzo presented a paper titled “Inmigración internacional y desarrollo de territorios (semi) rurales mediterráneos. Comparación de los bolivianos en Cataluña (Alt Empordà) y de los marroquíes en Córcega (Plaine Orientale)” in the international congress El valor de lo rural. This academic gathering was held in Zamora (Mexico).
On August 3 2012, Albert Mas presented in the XIII World Congress of Rural Sociology held in Lisbon the paper “International immigration around natural protected areas. Exploring some localities in Alt Empordà (Spain) and Alentejo Litoral (Portugal)”, co-written with Ricard Morén-Alegret.
On July 27 2012, Albert Mas presented in the IX Coloquio Ibérico de Estudios Rurales held in Lisbon the paper “Inmigración internacional entorno a áreas naturales protegidas. Explorando algunas localidades del Alt Empordà (España) y el Alentejo Litoral (Portugal)”, co-written with Ricard Morén-Alegret.
The article “Vulnerability to the effects of climate change and adaptation: The case of the Spanish Ebro Delta“, co-authored by Sandra Fatoric, has been published in 2012 and it has become one of most downloaded articles of the journal Ocean & Coastal Management (Impact Factor: 1.524. 5-Year Impact Factor: 1.661). See: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ocean-and-coastal-management/most-read-articles/
Several GRM members participated in the 2012 American Association of Geographers Congress that took place in New York city. On February 25 Ricard Morén-Alegret presented a paper co-authored by himself, Dawid Wladyka and Albert Mas on Foreign immigrants’ integration in Barcelona, Roses and Castelló d’Empúries. Additionally, on Februery 26 Dawid Wladyka presented a paper co-authored by himself and Ricard Morén-Alegret on Polish immigrants in Catalonia.
From the 12th to the 16th of September 2011 the 16th International Metropolis Conference took place in Ponta Delgada (Azores Islands, Portugal). The following GRM members participated in the workshop “Immigrants’ integration and sustainability in small towns” (wokshop 311): Albert Mas, Dawid Wladyka, Sandra Fatoric and Ricard Morén-Alegret (co-organizer and chair of the workshop). During the workshop, some of the work in progress carried out within the framework of the research project “Immigrants’ integration and the role of a diversity of organisations in achieving sustainable small towns and rural areas” (2010-2012) was presented and discussed. This project is directed by Dr. Ricard Morén-Alegret and funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (R+D project CSO2009-13909). Please, click here to see the website of the congress and to download the program: www.metropolis2011.org/
At the “Social Mobility and Migration. Multidisciplinary Perspectives” congress on June 21, 2011, Ricard Morén presented a report on the relation between the integration of immigrants in small towns and ruralphilia/ruralphobia. The congress was organised by EURAC and was held in the alpine city of Bolzano/Bozen (Italy). One of the outcomes of this congress was the publication of the following article and monograph in conjunction with other experienced researchers that have studied immigration in small European towns: Medda-Windischer, R.; Danson, M.; Morén-Alegret, R.; Gaye, M. (2012) “Editorial. Social Mobility and Migration”, Migration Letters,9 (3), 193-199.