On 8th October 2025, the INTER.SECT partners in collaboration with the Center for Uncertainty Studies (CeUS) are organising a symposium on the multifaceted uncertainties in the context of migration at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) in Bielefeld.

Migration is a dynamic process that is shaped by an interplay of social, political, economic, and personal factors. It often unfolds in the form of complex, non-linear trajectories, that are characterised by multiple dimensions of uncertainty stemming from various sources. Despite their centrality to the migration experience and the policy responses they generate, the multifaceted uncertainties in this context have to date not been addressed in a comprehensive, systematic manner.

Sparked by geopolitical tensions and fundamental shifts in migration governance at both national and international levels, increasing attention is being paid to how uncertainties shape and are shaped by migration. Building on conceptual insights and practical experiences from the ongoing ERC-funded project INTER.SECT, this one-day symposium seeks to draw on uncertainty as a lens through which to examine, and eventually better understand, contemporary and future migration dynamics and related responses. It will offer a space for science, policy, and practice to engage with uncertainties on three interlinked levels:

  1. Subjectivities across the migration trajectory: Individuals on the move experience a multitude of uncertainties, which stem from the imperfect knowledge about place-based conditions and the unpredictability of the future. Engaging with migrant perspectives and their agency of shaping their future reveals what forms uncertainty in this context takes, how it is managed by migrants and what impacts it has, including on health and well-being.
  2. Migration regimes and global governance: Policy responses to migration are shifting towards massive restrictions. In an attempt to exert control over (real or constructed) uncertainties for state actors, migration regimes are increasingly seeking to contain rather than progressively manage migration. This entails a drift to policies that enforce extra-territorial hot spots, immigration bans, and deterrence measures, or discontinue resettlement programs by divesting from multilateral or supra-territorial institutions and norms that promote ordered and managed migration in respect of both national sovereignty and human rights.
  3. Evidence generation: Researchers in the field of migration have to navigate different unknowns that stem from various sources, including unforeseeable and rapid policy changes affecting study protocols, plans, and programmes. Combined with inherent population dynamics, fragile data systems, and lacking population denominators, empirical migration research faces numerous uncertainties, which are re-enforced by dynamic and increasingly hostile political contexts but also by rigid scientific funding policies. Practical examples from the conduct of empirical studies illustrate these and other challenges but also offer ways for productively dealing with uncertainty.

By bringing together theoretical constructs, empirical evidence on lived migration realities, as well as personal experiences from research, policy and practice, this one-day conference will generate a platform for exchange, discussion, and networking with the aim to ultimately gain a better understanding of the forms and workings of uncertainty in the context of migration as a highly topical theme.

The symposium programme can be accessed through the download link below.

Registration: intersect.study[at]uni-bielefeld.de

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