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SOEP staff members join the Berlin Institute for Empirical Research on Integration and Migration (BIM)

Report of April 3, 2014

The Berlin Institute for Empirical Research on Integration and Migration (BIM) started its work at the Humboldt-Universität (HU Berlin) in early April

Situated in the heart of the capital city, the Berlin Institute for Empirical Research on Integration and Migration (BIM) develops basic scientific principles and empirical data aimed at providing a factual basis for debate on integration issues in Europe, and investigates how integration and migration processes in Germany and Europe have unfolded so far and how they are likely to develop in the future. The BIM is designed for cooperative research and aims at building a broad base for establishing integration and migration research in Berlin. Through its research, the BIM transfers information and findings into the worlds of politics, civil society, and the media. Within the BIM, researchers from widely diverse scientific disciplines such as sports studies, psychology, and medicine work together with those from the social sciences, education, ethnology, and economics. The BIM, which is based at the HU Berlin and works closely with researchers at DIW Berlin and Charité, is jointly funded and supported by the non-profit foundation Hertie-Stiftung, the German Football Association (Deutschen Fußball-Bund, DFB), and the Federal Employment Agency (BA). The Federal Goverment's Representative for Migration, Refugees, and Integration, State Minister Aydan Özoğuz, will chair the Advisory Board of the BIM.

Martin Kroh, Deputy Director of the Research Infrastructure Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at DIW Berlin and Professor at HU Berlin, will be Co-Director of both the department "Foundations of Integration and Migration Research" and the department "Labor Market, Migration, and Integration" at the BIM. Ingrid Tucci will also be contributing her expertise on the topic of migration and integration at the BIM.

The BIM research department "Labor Market, Migration, and Integration" focuses on the labor market trajectories of migrants and their children. "Assimilation into the labor market is not only a key motivation behind immigration to Germany; it is also an important indicator of immigrants' integration into German society" says Martin Kroh. "Despite the importance of the issue and the numerous studies that have been published, we still do not know all the factors that determine successful labor market assimilation."

Based on the SOEP data, which were expanded last year in cooperation with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) to include a new migrant sample, researchers in the "Foundations of Integration and Migration Research" and the "Labor Market, Migration, and Integration" departments work to close this research gap.

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