The Local Politics of Attention: Local policy agendas in a comparative and historical perspective (NWO, Dutch Science Foundation)
Local government has its own democratic legitimacy in the Dutch decentralized-unitary state. Yet, we know very little about how local policy agendas have evolved over the past decades, and what the specificities of local policy agendas are in comparison with the national policy agenda. What sorts of policy topics have been in the focus of local policy agendas, what distinguishes policy agendas in specific cities and to what extent have local and national policy agendas over the past decades converged or diverged? Exploring these issues will not only reinforce our understanding of the development of local policy agendas, but also contribute to the ongoing debate in the Netherlands and beyond on the democratic legitimacy of local government. To these aims, this research provides an analysis of the ‘local politics of attention’ over the last 25 years and a systematic comparison of the found patterns of attention between a number of (large, medium-sized and small) cities in the Netherlands and between the local and national level. The project is funded by the Dutch science foundation (NWO) as part of its research programme on Contested Democracy. See: link.

AMICALL: Attitudes Toward Migrants, Communication and Local Leadership (EIF project)
Attitudes to Migrants, Communication and Local Leadership (AMICALL) is an eighteen-month transnational project. It is funded by the European Union’s Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals (European Integration Fund –EIF) under its Community Actions 2009 programme; COMPAS (Oxford University) coordinates the overall project, while EUR leads an important workpackage within the overall project. It specifically responds to Priority 3 of the 2009 programme: “Promote the role of civil society organisations and the local authorities in shaping integration strategies.” Led by a partnership of six European research institutions, with the Council of Europe as an associate partner, the project seeks to provide a platform for the sharing of good practice and the development of new strategies for the promotion of positive attitudes towards migrants and towards migrant integration at the local and regional level. Thus it addresses two core areas of integration policy and debate: the role of local and regional authorities (LRAs) in integration, and the importance of communication and public attitudes. For more info: see link.

IMPACIM: Impact of Admission Criteria on the Integration of Migrants (EIF project)
IMPACIM is an eighteen month project, funded by the EU fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals. The aim is to investigate the impact of admission criteria that impose restrictive conditions of stay (in particular those relating to jobs, services, benefits and voting), on the economic, social, cultural and political integration of third country nationals in four EU Member States: Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. These countries were chosen for their differing labour market and welfare systems, differing restrictions on access to jobs, services, welfare benefits and voting, and differing categories of family migrant to which those conditions of stay apply, in order to compare the impacts that different patterns of entitlement and restrictions can have on integration outcomes. The project is coordinated by the Center on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) of Oxford University; the Erasmus University team is responsible for coordination of workpackages on local admission policies. More info: see link.

PROSINT: Promoting Sustainable Integration Policies for the Future (EIF project)
International research project on the connection between Migration and Integration Policies and the effects on patterns of integration of TCN’s. The project is coordinated by the ICMPD (International Center for Migration Policy Development) in Vienna, and funded by the European Commission Integration Fund for Third Country Nationals and the Dutch Department for Housing and Spatial Planning Peter coordinates the Dutch case within this project, which will be implemented together with Prof.dr. Sawitri Saharso from Twente University and Prof.dr. Han Entzinger from Erasmus University In addition, Peter coordinates the international comparison of pre-entry admission policies. More info: see link.

States, Knowledge and Narratives of Immigration: The Construction of Immigration in European Policy Making

Project together with Prof.dr. Andrew Geddes (Sheffield University) and Dr. Christina Boswell (Edinburgh University), based on a series of ESRC meetings in the UK and the IMISCOE conference on “Research-policy dialogues on migration and integration in Europe’ in the Netherlands. 

Framing Immigrant Integration: the Dutch research-policy nexus in comparative perspective
This involved an international comparative research that extends on Peter’s PhD thesis that analysed research-policy dialogues in the Dutch case. The comparison included French, German and UK research-policy dialogues. 

Migration and Integration Politics in the Netherlands
Preparatory Study for the Dutch Council for Social Development (Raad voor Maatschappelijke Ontwikkeling), together with Prof.dr. Han Entzinger. Part of larger project of the Council for Social Development on integration politics, segregation and social relations in the Netherlands. Click here for the full report. 

The Local Politics of Attention in Rotterdam
Empirical study of agenda dynamics and policy change in the City of Rotterdam. This project has now been followed-up by the larger comparative project on local policy agendas in a number of Dutch cities.

Constructing Immigrant Policies. Research-policy relations and immigrant integration in the Netherlands (1970-2004)
PhD research project, completed in 2007. See link.