Four major new research projects will investigate how migration is shaping the UK’s future. Supported by £1.5 million from the Nuffield Foundation’s Racial Diversity UK (RDUK) fund, the studies will examine key questions around demographic change, post-Brexit settlement and belonging, temporary migration pathways, and public attitudes towards climate-linked migration, generating robust, independent evidence to inform policy and public debate.
Migration has significant implications for communities, public services, the economy and population change, but the issue is often characterised by strongly held views and competing claims. The new studies will improve understanding of migration and its impacts across the UK.
The funded projects bring together researchers from leading universities and policy organisations.
- Projecting future ethnic diversity and social attitudes in Britain, led by Professor Alan Manning at the London School of Economics, will provide the first comprehensive projections of how the UK’s ethnic diversity is likely to evolve over the coming decades, offering new insight into the demographic makeup of the country a generation from now, and the impact on values, beliefs and attitudes.
- Temporary migration and conditional settlement in post-Brexit Britain, led by Professor Nando Sigona at the University of Birmingham, is investigating who can settle permanently, and how immigration policies are affecting migrants’ experiences, opportunities, and sense of belonging.
- From rivers of blood to rising seas: attitudes to climate migration, led by Dr Neema Begum at the University of Nottingham, is exploring public attitudes towards climate-linked migration and how views are influenced by race, colonial legacies, and perceptions of responsibility for climate change.
- Exploring experiences and impacts of journeys to settlement, led by Marley Morris at the Institute for Public Policy Research, is following migrants’ experiences on the path to permanent settlement to better understand how policy affects integration, well-being, belonging and long-term social cohesion.
Migration is one of the most significant issues shaping contemporary Britain, and one of the most prominent and polarising in public and political life. Understanding it better should be a national priority. Questions about who comes, who gets to stay, how communities change, and what we owe to countries shaped by our colonial past are viewed through different experiences, beliefs and perspectives. By funding independent research through RDUK, we aim to support better-informed discussion, policymaking, and public understanding of migration and racial diversity across the UK.Liz Gilfillan, RDUK Programme Head
