"Linking Northern Communities socially, culturally and economically: East European Immigration in Scotland".
Prof. Dr. Karin Friedrich as Principal Investigator, and a team consisting of academics from the University of Aberdeen and Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, as well as members from migrant organisations in Scotland, have been awarded £18,000 for a programme of knowledge transfer events to take place between October 2014 and March 2015.
This programme will focus on the importance of understanding social, cultural and economic parameters of integration of migrants into Scottish society, and how awareness of common links of heritage and its influence on identity can improve and ease the integration of migrants into their new environment. The comparison of different migration waves over time, as well as the comparison of experiences of different groups of East European migrants will facilitate a dialogue between academics, policy-makers, charities and migrant communities and ensure a better coordination of their endeavours at community-level.
Our goal is to apply models and develop resources for future policy-making and improve understanding of the potential social, cultural and economic benefits that could be derived from the integration of these communities. Novel approaches will include outreach to schools which are under pressure from large numbers of Polish and other East European pupils, a public seminar on 'Transnational Biographies' of people that shaped a shared East European-Scottish heritage into the present, policy papers for MSPs in the cross-party group on Poland in the Scottish Parliament, seminars including the business community on particular features of the East European migrant market, and "Community Cafes" on the sustainability of business and tourism from Eastern Europe to Scotland.
Further details are available under http://www.scottishinsight.ac.uk/Programmes/Programmes20142015/LinkingNorthernCommunities.aspx