How do aspirations to migrate change over time?

Welcome to our research project on the Dynamics of adaptive migration aspirations in Nepal and beyond (DYNAMIGS)

Learn more

The project

DYNAMIGS is a PhD research project led by Josef Neubauer. The project seeks to understand how young people’s wishes and goals to migrate and stay change over time. We study these processes among young Nepalis living in Nepal, Portugal, and Austria. We also aim to learn how people’s changing migration aspirations affect their wellbeing.

Questions

How do aspirations to migrate or stay change over time, and what mechanisms drive these changes? ➔ We seek to learn about these processes among people living at their country of origin and people living in a different country abroad.
How do people’s changes in migration aspirations shape their wellbeing, and the wellbeing of their communities in origin contexts? ➔ We explore the links with different forms of wellbeing, including living conditions, health, relationships, and life satisfaction.

Methods

We combine online surveys with interviews and participant observation.

Cases

We do research with Nepalis aged 18-35 in four places: Kathmandu Valley (Nepal), Gorkha district (Nepal), Lisbon (Portugal), and Vienna (Austria; through DIAMOND)

Partners

University for Continuing Education Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria
Centre for the Study of Labour and Mobility, Social Science Baha, Kathmandu, Nepal
Iscte–Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

Funding

Gesellschaft für Forschungsförderung Niederösterreich (FTI22-D-005)
Kooperative Entwicklungsforschung, BMBWF/OeAD (KoEF191)

The extension: DIAMOND

Through additional funding from the Kooperative Entwicklungsforschung (OeAD), we expand DYNAMIGS: the add-on project Development implications of adaptive migration aspirations in Nepal and beyond (DIAMOND) allows us to collect additional data and conduct further in-depth analyses on the two-way links between migration aspirations and wellbeing. Through DIAMOND, we add Vienna (Austria) as a case study to investigate how aspirations to stay, return, or move onward change over time among young Nepali migrants living at different destinations. This allows us to conduct comparative analyses of Lisbon (Portugal) and Vienna (Austria) as destinations, and investigate the role of differing policies and opportunities on migrants’ aspirations to move on, return, or stay.

Research areas

Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Gorkha district, Nepal

Lisbon, Portugal

Vienna, Austria

Team

Josef Neubauer

University for Continuing Education Krems

Samiksha Neupane

Social Science Baha

Lea Müller-Funk

University for Continuing Education Krems

Jeevan Baniya

Social Science Baha

Mathias Czaika

University for Continuing Education Krems

Arjun Kharel

Social Science Baha

Publications

You will find all project publications and outputs here.

Contact

hello@dynamigs.org

DYNAMIGS–DIAMOND project
Josef Neubauer
Department for Migration and Globalisation
University for Continuing Education Krems
Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Straße 30
3500 Krems
Austria