Navigating Return Migration – What Next? Diplomacy, Infrastructures, and Pathways Beyond Final Conference

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We are pleased to invite submissions for the international conference "Navigating Return Migration: What Next? Diplomacy, Infrastructures, and Pathways Beyond" - the culminating event of the Horizon Europe GAPs Project. This two-day symposium will critically examine the ethical, historical, infrastructural, and diplomatic dimensions of return migration while centering migrant experiences. It will take place on January 22-23, 2026 at Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey.

Check out the call for papers for details on submission by clicking the button below:

This final conference of our EU-funded project seeks to bridge the critical gaps between policy frameworks, implementation practices, and returnees' lived realities. Recent scholarship has challenged conventional voluntary/forced return binaries, revealing that returns—whether incentivized, imposed, or encouraged—exist within complex trajectories of migration, power, and governance.

The conference creates an interdisciplinary forum for scholars, policymakers, practitioners, artists, and activists to engage with pressing questions about return migration in contemporary global contexts.

Key Themes:

·       Return Infrastructures: Institutional actors, technologies, and implementation challenges

·       Migration Diplomacy: Power dynamics, international relations, and policy transfers

·       Aspirations & Reintegration: Return motivations and post-return integration processes

·       Public Attitudes: Media representations, political discourse, and social narratives

·       Legal Frameworks: Rights protections and evolving EU policies

·       Global South Perspectives: Governance approaches, challenges, and innovations

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