2 researchers from iaelyon – Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 are laureates of a Horizon 2020 project aimed at migrant integration

An international and interdisciplinary study of migrant integration through participatory housing initiatives

The research project MERGING aims above all to examine existing integration policies and initiatives on the European, regional and local level, but also the individual practices in which housing plays an important role. As Catherine Mercier-Suissa points out, “it consists of doing a comparison of different case studies on their treatment and integration and identify the best practices”.
This first step will lead them to design and put in the place participatory pilot initiatives aimed at integration through housing, with the Quatorze association, and test them in three EU countries: France (Lyon), Spain (Valencia) and Sweden (Gothenburg).
 

A piloting tool for public policies

“The final objective of MERGING is to measure the long-term effects of participatory initiatives linked to housing and demonstrate the factors which favor or block pathways for migrant integration”, explains Catherine Mercier-Suissa. “The goal is to propose recommendations to public actors on a local, national and European level for migrant integration, based on factual data.”

MERGING will therefore be a collaborative tool used for public policies on mainland France, which combine :

• Migration policy
• Emergency housing
• Strategies for inclusion of migrants and poverty reduction
• Housing First policy 

 

Favoring a participatory and collective approach

In order to ensure the success and longevity of the project, all the stakeholders will be involved in the construction (or renovation) of housing : migrants, landowners, volunteers, NGOs, businesses…

 

A multidisciplinary consortium

6 university partners

• Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 - iaelyon and Magellan Research Center: economics and management
• Université Rennes 1 and EHESP: health and sociology
• Università di Bologna (Italy): education and management
• Universitat de València (Spain): sociology
• University of Gothenburg (Sweden): political sciences
• Malmö University (Sweden): economics

4 associated partners

• Lyon Ingénierie Projets (LIP), Lyon 1): assisting in the development and management of the project
• Quatorze (France/Spain) : Created in 2007, the Quatorze association transforms, develops and promotes social architecture and solidarity for agile and resilient territories.
• Social Business Earth (Lugano, Switzerland) : Training of volunteers working in NGOs
• Collectif d’échanges pour la Technologie Appropriée - COTA (Bruxelles): a specialized cabinet of consultants in the evaluation of public policy

 

The project in video

Production : PAVM - Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3
 

About the leaders of MERGING

Noémie DOMINGUEZ is an associate professor in management sciences at iaelyon - Université Jean Moulin and a researcher at the Magellan Research Center. Her research has mainly focused on the internationalization strategies of SMEs and on international entrepreneurship. She is head of the Research Chair “Internationalization of SMEs”, created in partnership with two industrial SME of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. She is also the co-Learning Director of the Master of International Management.
noemie.dominguez@univ-lyon3.fr



Catherine MERCIER-SUISSA is an associate professor and thesis supervisor in economics at iaelyon and a researcher at Magellan Research Center. She is head of the  DU passerelle - Étudiants en exil program (a program aimed at exiled and refugee students and their integration into French higher education) and the FAIRE program. Her research has mainly focused on Chinese direct investments in Europe, as well as the internationalization of SMEs and more specifically on the delocalization and relocalization of PMEs. She also works on migratory policies and on ways of integrating migrants into European businesses.
catherine.mercier-suissa@univ-lyon3.fr



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