Report on the dissemination of Policy Briefs

How can research on migration aspirations and decision-making meaningfully inform European mobility governance? This report presents how the findings of AspirE have been translated into accessible, policy-relevant knowledge. At its core are six Policy Briefs developed from the project’s data collection and results. Implemented between 1 January 2023 and 28 February 2026, AspirE examined the decision-making processes of aspiring (re)migrants from Hong Kong/ Mainland China, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam to and within selected EU Member States: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Portugal. Through a multi-sited and comparative design, the project analysed how migration regimes in origin and destination countries interact with migrants’ aspirations, intentions, and lived experiences of (im)mobility within the broader EU regulatory framework. AspirE was structured around three core research questions, which guided its empirical work packages and data collection. The six Policy Briefs echo these project objectives because they stem directly from the evidence generated to answer them: (1) to what extent do spatial mobility policies take aspiring (re)migrants’ behaviour into account? (2) What micro- and meso-level drivers shape mobility aspirations and intentions? (3) How does temporality influence (non-)mobility decision-making? This report presents the key findings underpinning each research question while demonstrating their policy relevance for European (im)mobility governance. It also showcases how the six Policy Briefs translate complex empirical results into clear, actionable insights and documents the dissemination and mobilisation strategies undertaken to ensure accessibility and uptake among policymakers and stakeholders. We invite policymakers, researchers, and practitioners working on European (im)mobility to explore the full set of findings and policy recommendations.