Cooperation

Research, educational, publishing and other goals can not be fully implemented without the cooperation with other institutions and individuals. Scientific cooperation of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies is realized through membership in international organizations, research networks, research projects, communication through the journal Migracijske i etničke teme and finally through the institution of visiting researchers.

The Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies actively participates in international research projects. The new field of cooperation includes the research of process of Croatia’s accession to the European Union and its consequences. In cooperation with the Austrian Institute for International Relations, the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies participates in the project "The South-Eastern Enlargement of the European Union – Between Utopia and 'Realpolicy'". The goal of this project includes the development of the EU enlargement scenario to the South-Eastern Europe. The project will explore and evaluate the Union’s program and institutional efforts and measures, its explicit and implicit programs directed towards conflict prevention and control in the South-Eastern Europe. Potential conflicts and problems within the EU connected to the South-Eastern enlargement are also a part of research issues and goals.

In 1991, the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies organized with the help of its scientific adviser Silva Mežnarić and in cooperation with professors Otto Feinstein ( Wayne State University ), Heribert Adam ( Simon Fraser University ) and Kogile Moodly ( University of British Columbia ) the course "Divided Societies" at the Interuniversity Center in Dubrovnik . The objective of this course was to gather all important lecturers and researchers in the field of ethnicity, to concentrate and pass on all available knowledge and data to active young researchers from the region and the world and to compare ethnic conflicts and disagreements in different parts of the world. What made the course even more interesting was the fact that it was organized in a region which once again became relevant to those who study ethnicity, nations, nationalism and transnationalisation. However, the activities of the IUC and the course itself were suspended due to the war and the occupation of Dubrovnik and were re-launched in 1997. Since 2000, the course "Divided Societies" has been held regularly in April at the IUC in Dubrovnik , assembling lecturers and researchers of all generations and from all continents as well as postgraduate students and motivated undergraduates of the University of Zagreb , Wayne State University from Detroit and numerous other universities from Europe , Canada , the USA etc. The associates and junior researchers of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies actively participate and regularly attend the course. The course "Divided Societies" is one of the best attended and best evaluated courses of the IUC Dubrovnik.

The Association of European Migration Institutions – AEMI was founded in 1989 as an association of Scandinavian institutions (museums, archives, documentary and research centers) which deal with migration issues. The association was officially founded in 1991 by adopting the first statute as a network of European organizations dealing with documents, research and presentation of European migrations. At the Stavanger Conference in 2002, thirty member institutions represented sixteen European countries ( Denmark , Luxemburg , Portugal , Slovenia , Norway , Finland , Sweden , Poland , Italy , Northern Ireland , Czech Republic , San Marino , Island , Great Britain , France , and Croatia ). The Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies joined the AEMI in 1999 during the Association's annual meeting in Portorož. Today, the AEMI represents a wide European forum of institutions dealing with migrations and diaspora from different aspects. Through its regular annual conferences, AEMI enables the institutions to get acquainted with each others' activities, to exchange knowledge and experiences and to work together on particular topics i.e. common projects. Annual meetings usually consist of two parts: seminars and workshops focusing on specific topics and a business part. Besides the topics primarily related to the history of European emigrations and returned emigrants, seminars organized by the AEMI presently also cover issues of modern migrations from and to Europe as a necessary expansion of interest in the field of migration research. The first issue of AEMI Journal Emigrant Agents and Return Migration in European History was published in 2003.