News

The Netherlands Institute of Government has kindly awarded me the 2016 Best PhD Supervisor Award. I'm very honoured and owe many thanks for my PhD's for this award, as they actually do all the work themselves! See link for the jury report. 

Together with the Department of Security and Justice and the Scientific Council for Government Policy, Erasmus University will organize this year's Immigration Conference. The aim of the conference is to get policymakers and scientists to meet around shared research interests. This year's conference will focus on the topic 'Governance of Migration and Diversity.' More information to follow soon. 

The new Leiden-Delft-Erasmus master Governance of Migration & Diversity has begun. Our first class has 22 students from all over the world. For more information, see www.mastergmd.nl 

Erasmus University Rotterdam will host the 2017 IMISCOE annual conference. The conference will focus on the urban dimension of migration & diversity, covering topics such as the refugee situation, intra-EU mobility, the politics of migration and the economic implications of migration & diversity for cities. The conference is to take place from 28-30 June 2017, and I will be chairing the Conference Committee. More information to follow soon!

This article, co-authored by Mark van Ostaijen and me, is an outcome of the Urban Europe project IMAGINATION on the urban consequences of intra-EU mobility. It has now been accepted for publication in the journal Critical Policy Studies. More information will follow soon. For more on the IMAGINATION project, see www.project-imagination.net. Click here for link to the article. 

Scholten, P., Collett, E., and Petrovic, M. (forthcoming) 'Mainstreaming migrant integration? A critical analysis of a new trend in integration governance', in International Review of Administrative Sciences.  

This is the introduction to a special issue of Comparative Migration Studies that hosts a conversation between leading scholars from various disciplines and perspectives on the relation between immigration, welfare state, cultural diversity and nationhood. The focal point of the discussion is a lead article by the political philosopher Will Kymlicka, which refers to a ‘progressive’s dilemma’ (see also Banting 2010) between support for social solidarity and cultural diversity.

As of April 1st 2016, I will be scientific advisor for the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). As part of a WRR project on migration-related diversity, I will work at the WRR for 2 days a week for a one year period. The WRR is a scientific advisory body for government policy that has a tradition of involvement in the area of migration and diversity. In fact, my career as a scholar began with a research to science-politics boundary work around the first WRR reports in the field of migration (1979, 1989, 2001). Happy now to be part of the next (and very timely) reflection of the WRR on this topic. More information to follow soon. 

Soon to be published: Geddes, A. and Scholten, P. Politics of Migration and Immigration in Europe. London: Sage. This book analyses and compares responses by European countries to international migration in its various forms and examines collective responses at European Union (EU) level. We assess why, how and with what effects European countries have developed policies that seek to regulate entry to their territory (immigration policies); what it means when they then seek to ‘integrate’ these migrant newcomers (immigrant policies); and the causes and effects of common EU migration and asylum policies.

This Thursday, the next presentation is scheduled for the new LDE master program on Governance of Migration and Diversity. The presentation is to take place (Thursday 31st of March), 21:00-21:30, in room T3-31 at campus Woudesteijn of Erasmus University Rotterdam. 

De mythe van tijdelijkheid rond de komst van vluchtelingen en migranten moet doorbroken worden en we moeten accepteren dat integratie structurele aandacht nodig heeft. Dat stellen sociale wetenschappers dr. Arjen Leerkes en dr. Peter Scholten van de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam  in hun essay Landen in Nederland: de vluchtelingenstroom in integratieperspectief, dat zij schreven in opdracht van het Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid. 

Download het volledige rapport hier. 

As part of the project on Migration, Environment and Climate Change (MECLEP), a new policy brief has been issued based on our fieldwork in the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam. The policy brief deals with relocation as a possible adaptation strategy to environmental stress. It shows that under specific circumstances relocation to less vulnerable areas in the Mekong River Delta can provide an alternative to migration to larger urban areas such as in particular Ho Chi Minh City. Click here to download the policy brief.

As of September 2016, a new master program will be launched: "Governance of Migration and Diversity." The master involves a cooperation of Erasmus University Rotterdam (including the The Hague based Institute for Social Studies), Leiden University and Delft University of Technology. I will be Head of Programme. 

The second part of our double issue on Policy Analysis at Times of Austerity is online now. This latest special issue was edited together with Frans van Nispen, and covers in particular the socio-economic dimension of the crisis, whereas the first part covered the migration crisis. The issue features various contributions, a.o. by Nikos Zahariadis, Marleen Brans, Geert Bouckaert, Valerie Pattyn, Menno Fenger, Lucia Quaglia and Frans van Nispen. 

For access to the introduction of the special issue, click here. 

The book 'Integration processes and policies', edited by Penninx and Garces-Mascarenas, contains a new book chapter that I've co-authored with Rinus Penninx. The book chapter focuses on 'The Multilevelgovernance of Migration and Integration.' It combines a policy science and sociological perspective on how EU, national and local governments interact in the governance of migration and integration issues. Click here for Open Access to the book.