Let's get started.
What is the truth behind modern migration?
Where do we start?
There isn't one type of migrant I guess, so you have
the International student who wants to acquire education overseas.
You have the family migrant who wants to join family or get married.
You have the labour migrant who wants to find better jobs,
and then you have refugees and asylum seekers who are forced to actually move
and each type of migrant has their own set of reasons.
So what compels somebody to leave their country?
There are such a wide variety of motives and drivers and factors
that no single theory of migration has ever been able to capture them all
and never will.
I think that's a very interesting point because I think there is a misconception that we can, as
researchers, predict exactly migration numbers and say how many are going to come.
Yeah, when even the richest of countries have trouble getting the precise numbers right.
Yes, exactly!
It's starting from an uncertain baseline.
You're already starting from an uncertain measurement and you don't have theories to help you
because it's so vast and complex a problem and then you're looking into a process that is so volatile
that prediction is just... just impossible.
Something good about the research that is going on here, is that
on our side, we're looking very quantitatively
when can we see statistics of people moving
what can we measure about those areas?
In terms of density of conflicts, economic activity, environmental factors,
you can see what are the patterns that explain that.
I guess there are so many misconceptions about migration
I think this is why people think that modern migration now is so different
while in reality it might not be different from the past.
And the people themselves, change the way they see themselves.
The person becomes a citizen of both country of origin and destination
their identity combines the two elements
which is something that has been looked at since, for a few decades now
but now it is becoming more important than ever I think.
