European countries have witnessed increasing immigration streams and ethnic diversity over the past decades. Recent social science research reports considerable heterogeneity in family forms, employment and housing patterns among individuals with migration family background as well as across migrant generations. Some researchers underline the importance of preferences and human capital, whereas others emphasise the role of structural inequalities. It is equally unclear whether the observed differences are short-term outcomes in a long-term process of cultural and economic integration or rather reflections of different pathways and outcomes for immigrants and their descendants.
This international symposium brings together migration researchers to discuss innovative research on migrants and their descendants. The keynote speaker is Professor Helga de Valk from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI).