Working on Europe Academy: Migration and well-being

Session 5: Migration and well-being: implications for attracting and retaining highly skilled migrants

Lecturer: Julia Reinold

Migration and well-being are linked in various ways. For example, well-being can be a reason for migration and migration can have consequences for the well-being of migrants and those left behind in the country of origin. This lecture sheds light on the complex relationship between migration and well-being, including related concepts such as quality of life, life satisfaction and happiness. Drawing on recent research from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, the lecture will furthermore highlight the importance of well-being for attracting and retaining highly skilled migrants and discuss the role of policy.

Pre-attendance materials:

– Hendriks, M. (2015). The happiness of international migrants: a review of research findings. Migration Studies, 3(3), 343–369. 

– Hooijen, I., Meng, C., Reinold, J. & M. Siegel (2017) Competition for talent: retaining graduates in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, European Planning Studies, 25:12, 2212-2231, DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2017.1354976

– Weinar, A., & Klekowski von Koppenfels, A. (2020). Highly-skilled migration: between settlement and mobility: IMISCOE short reader. Springer.

– World Database of Happiness

Specific Learning Outcomes:

– Gaining an overview of different forms of migration, their drivers and effects.

– Getting insights into the global and European competition for talent and the role of migration in mitigating skills shortages.

– Understanding the migration-well-being nexus.

Julia Reinold is a PhD candidate at UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University’s Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross border cooperation and Mobility (ITEM) and will start her position as postdoctoral researcher at Studio Europa Maastricht in November 2022. For her PhD, Reinhold studied the motivations of highly educated migrants to move to and remain in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine as well as their experiences living in this border region. Prior to starting her doctorate, she worked as a research officer for UNU-MERIT’s Migration Group. In this position, she contributed to various research projects commissioned by European Union institutions, as well as international and development organisations. She obtained both her bachelor’s degree in European Studies and her master’s degree in Public Policy and Human Development at Maastricht University.

* After attending this lecture students will receive a Certificate of Attendance upon request