KARACHI, PAKISTAN: The Area Study Centre for Europe (ASCE) at the University of Karachi (UoK) and the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Pakistan jointly organized a research findings presentation symposium on “Economic Migration – A Comparative Study, its Implications and Challenges” at the Royal Rodale Club, Karachi on 25 November 2020. The symposium was organized for the students of ASCE and UoK to present their research findings emanating from a six-month long academic grant project supported by HSF Pakistan.
H. E. Holger Ziegeler, German Consul General, Karachi who was the chief guest at the event said:
Refugees and migrants, getting from crisis mode into the shaping of migration - this is one of the great policy challenges in our times. Research is the first necessary step to provide us with understanding and tools.
Dr. Uzma Shujaat, Professor at ASCE, briefed the audience about the topic and gave an overview of the research project. She said:
Research on internal migration covers a wide range of issues with regard to the reasons, distances of moves as well as the process of decision-making. Given the rich field of relevant research objectives and the substantial developments in migration theory, it is apparent that the availability of a broad set of data including detailed information on various aspects of life is one of the key factors for the ongoing progress in the analysis of internal migration development.
The other speakers included Dr. Khalid M. Iraqi, Vice Chancellor, UoK, Amir Niazi, Chairman, New World Concepts, Yasmin Hyder, Chief Executive Officer, New World Concepts, and Dr. Steffen Kudella, Resident Representative, HSF Pakistan.
A total of six grant holders along with their respective supervisors presented and discussed their research findings. The presentations covered various aspects and dynamics of economic migration to and from Karachi. Each student interpreted the significance of their empirically grounded projects while commenting on how their core arguments added to the existing literature on the broader theme of economic migration in Pakistan.
The event was attended by approximately 20 participants. All COVID-19 SOPs mandated by the Government of Pakistan such as social distancing, the use of face masks, and hand sanitizers were diligently followed and complied with.
For more information on the event including pictures and speakers quotes please visit: https://twitter.com/HSF_Pakistan. For more information on HSF’s work in Pakistan please visit: https://pakistan.hss.de. Press contact: islamabad(at)hss.de