The world is said to experience an age of migration.  This development is expected to continue across many countries. Demographic shifts in society and the workforce have created a growing demand for skilled workers that domestic populations and gains in productivity can only partly meet. The so-called “skilled labour shortage” is only one example of how regulating migration and integration will become a crucial, long-term social and political task. Hence, apart from the continuing demand for people to move across borders in search for new opportunities or in fear of conflict and persecution, there will be a continuing demand for immigration in most recipient countries. In many receiving countries of migration, the feeling that control over migration processes has been lost poses a threat to the general population’s confidence in governmental and political institutions, and this in turn fosters alienation, radicalisation and populist movements. In addition, the integration of immigrants into societies, welfare systems and political systems is at the forefront of public debates in virtually all recipient countries of immigration. Moreover, the integration of immigrants into societies, social systems and political systems is at the forefront of public debates in virtually all immigration recipient countries. Whether they are the origin or recipients of migration, states, societies, economies, national, international and transnational institutions are critically affected by this phenomenon. In this respect, migration and citizenship are at the centre of international research interests. Fundamental and application-oriented scholarly analyses of such processes require the sustained cooperation of numerous disciplines and institutions.

At Deakin University, researchers at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation aim to understand the complex meanings of citizenship, social inclusion and globalisation, and investigate the implications of these forces in our lives and communities.