About the project

Funded by Stiftung Mercator, the project “When Mayors make Migration Policy” has been developed by research teams at the Universities of Hildesheim and Erlangen-Nuremberg in cooperation with the city networks EUROCITIES and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR). Central project activities included field research in Brussels focusing on opportunities and challenges of EU-level city diplomacy as well as the organization of several workshops bringing together local, national and regional actors to exchange perspectives and shape policy recommendations. For the organization of workshops the project benefited from a collaboration with the European Policy Centre (EPC) and the joint EPC-Stiftung Mercator project “Connecting Europe”. Building on a qualitative research design, the project team has developed a wide range of knowledge products including policy papers, studies and journal articles addressed to decision-makers at local, national and EU-levels and the academic community. Furthermore, team members of both universities conducted an evaluation of the “EU Urban Partnership on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees” on behalf of the European Commission.