As part of the ERC project INTER.SECT, the symposium “Shifting Grounds: Rethinking and navigating the uncertainty of migration trajectories, governance regimes, and research” took place on 8 October 2025 in cooperation with the Center for Uncertainty Studies (CeUS). The event provided a platform for interdisciplinary exchange on the topic of uncertainty in the context of migration. Nearly 50 participants from academia, civil society, and international organisations discussed how uncertainty serves as an analytical concept in migration research and policy, and how it can be used productively and constructively. In three thematic plenary sessions and a poster walk, diverse contributions examined subjective experiences of uncertainty along migration trajectories, the role of global governance structures, and challenges in knowledge production.

Following the introduction by Prof. Dr. Kayvan Bozorgmehr, who described uncertainty as a determinant of health as well as a political and methodological phenomenon, Prof. Dr. Herbert Dawid, representing CeUS, provided a conceptual framework: uncertainty is context-dependent, shaped by perspective, relational, and requires interdisciplinary dialogue.

The first thematic block, “Subjectivities across the migration trajectory,” highlighted—through the account of the NGO Here to Support (represented by Fanny van der Vooren and Hamo Salhein)—how precarious living conditions shape the everyday lives and health of undocumented migrants, but also how dialogue and community can create safety and thus certainty, including regarding existing rights. Eilin Rast then presented findings from the conceptual review conducted within the scope of INTER.SECT on uncertainties in the context of migration trajectories and links to health.

During the poster walk, insights were offered into uncertainties in specific migration contexts, providing empirical examples of the conceptual aspects of uncertainty discussed in the morning. In addition, interdisciplinary perspectives from the Graduate School “Health Policy and Systems in Contexts of Uncertainty” were presented, and uncertainty as an opportunity in nursing practice was discussed.

In the second plenary block, “Migration regimes and global governance,” Dr. Santino Severoni of the World Health Organization and Dr. Poonam Dhavan of the International Organization for Migration discussed how international organisations are responding to current global dynamics and the destabilisation of multilateral systems, navigating between political steering, humanitarian principles, and the need for data-driven, resilient approaches in the field of migration. Drawing on the EU research project QuantMig, Dr. Federica Zardo demonstrated that European migration policy not only attempts to contain migration-related uncertainty (e.g., arising from unpredictable migration dynamics and insufficient data) but also produces uncertainty for those who take migration decisions.

In the final block, Prof. Dr. Kayvan Bozorgmehr, Marita Selig, and Armin Küchler shared experiences with the multifaceted and inherent uncertainties in migration-related research practice, including from previous projects (RESPOND and NEXUS) and the ongoing project “Resettlement: Life in the Country of First Refuge and in Germany (RED).” The block concluded with a methodological contribution by Prof. Dr. Simon Kühne, who outlined the challenges of sampling and weighting in empirical social research and the uncertainties associated with them.

Across the presentations and discussions in the plenary and small groups, uncertainty was applied as a lens at various levels and from different perspectives. The ambivalence of uncertainty became evident, showing that it can have both negative and positive facets—for example, as a starting point for hope, adaptability, and new spaces for action. It also became clear that migration policy itself generates uncertainties, raising the question of how uncertainty can be handled productively at the political level. From a research perspective, the challenge lies in operationalising uncertainty and making it empirically measurable. The day concluded with an intensive exchange on these and other open questions and with the planning of a joint publication that will further develop the symposium’s key insights and theoretical impulses.