Advocacy report: From research to outreach: engaging beyond academia to humanise migration policymaking

Migration is a politically sensitive and widely debated issue, with decisions that profoundly affect migrants’ lives, as well as receiving and sending societies. Yet policymaking in this field is often shaped by abstract categories, aggregated data, and short-term political pressures rather than by people’s lived experiences and empirical evidence. When policies are disconnected from the realities they aim to govern, they risk becoming ineffective. This advocacy report builds on the work of the AspirE research project and starts from a premise: migration policymaking cannot be fully humanised without being grounded in empirical realities. Research makes a difference when it connects with those who shape and experience migration policies. This requires early and sustained engagement beyond academia, supported by diverse and effective outreach activities.