The European Sirius Project, coordinated by Glasgow Caledonian University, has staged a key event in Brussels.

The project, funded to the tune of €2.5million under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research programme, is seeking to encourage evidence-led approaches to the integration of migrants and refugees in the EU.

GCU’s Professor Simone Baglioni is the principal investigator of the UK team and the coordinator of Sirius. He holds a Chair in Political Science at Glasgow Caledonian University. He has studied political science and sociology at the University of Florence and at Sciences Po Paris and holds a PhD in political science from the University of Geneva.

The most recent Sirius public initiative took the form of a policy workshop in Brussels. The well-attended event was organised in collaboration with the leading Brussels-based think tank, CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies), which is a forum for debate on EU affairs, with an exceptionally strong in-house research capacity and an extensive network of partner institutes throughout the world. CEPS hosted the event.

Professor Baglioni said: “The workshop’s speakers, representing key European/global stakeholders such as the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Trade Union Confederation, The Confederation of German Employers, and the International Organization for Migration advocated for policies and narratives that are more respectful of newcomers’ aspirations, rights, and capabilities and although being aware of the political climate they did point to potential avenues for policy change”.

Already there have been offers of support if SIRIUS wishes to replicate the workshop in the European Parliament. One attendee from the European Commission said the event had been “excellent, targeted, easy-to-understand, thoughtful and with provocative presentations.”