Centre for Global Migration Studies (CeMig)

Project Initiators

The initiators of the Urban Lab: Migration Moves Göttingen are six social and cultural scientists* from the Centre for Global Migration Studies (CeMig) with their respective research projects as well as cooperation partners from boat people projekt, Museum Friedland and Literarisches Zentrum Göttingen.

  • Prof. Dr. Alexander-Kenneth Nagel (Institute of Sociology, University of Göttingen) is head of the research projects „Interreligiöse Aktivitäten und urbane Governance in der Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr“ (Mercator, 2012-2013) and „Religiöse Diversität und Praxis in Flüchtlingsunterkünften in Niedersachsen“ (own funds, 2016-2018). He is currently involved in a research group initiative on „Zukunftswissen und Religion“ at the University of Kassel on images of history and the future as well as worries of doom in the early modern period.
  • Dr. Anna Haut (Museum Friedland) is a historian and heads the communication and marketing departments at Museum Friedland. She is also responsible for the conception of events at the interface between science and the public.
  • Prof. Dr. Andrea Lauser (Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology and The Ethnographic Collection, University of Göttingen) is head of the joint project "On the materiality of (forced) migration.
    From ‘bare necessities’ to ‘promising things’ (BMBF, 2018-2020).
  • Dr. Anja Johannsen (Literarisches Zentrum Göttingen e.V.) has been managing director and programme director of the Göttinger literature house since 2010.
  • Birte Müchler (boat people projekt) (studied literature and philosophy in Paderborn, Gothenburg and Göttingen. Since 2016 she has been part of the Göttingen independent theatre boat people projekt, which focuses on the themes of flight and migration and strives for comprehensive diversity in the composition of its artistic teams and project partners. Among other things, she is responsible for theatre pedagogical and socio-cultural projects, public relations and project management for various productions.
  • Eva Völker (Museum Friedland) is a freelance journalist. She has many years of experience as a journalist for NDR and other public broadcasters. Eva was in charge of press and public relations at Museum Friedland. In addition to external communication, she was also responsible for the conception of events at the interface between science and the public.
  • Friedemann Yi-Neumann, M.A. is scientific assistant and coordinator at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Göttingen in the BMBF research project "On the materiality of (forced) migration. From ‘bare necessities’ to ‘promising things’"
  • Dr. Lars Klein (Erasmus Mundus MA Euroculture, University of Göttingen) was co-applicant of several European projects, among others "Euroculture - Europe in the Wider World" (Erasmus Mundus 2011-2017), "Europe: Space for Transcultural Existence? (Lifelong Learning, 2011) and co-founder of the research network "Cultural Mechanisms of Inclusion and Exclusion in Contemporary Europe" (U4 Network, 2014-2018).
  • Dr. Peter Birke (Soziologisches Forschungsinstitut, University of Göttingen) is a member of the research project „Refugees@work: Perspektiven der betrieblichen Integration von Flüchtlingen in Niedersachsen“. (MWK, 2016 – 2019).
  • Reimar de la Chevalerie (boat people projekt) has been working for the independent theatre boat people projekt since 2009 as a director, musician and video artist. In terms of content he deals with socio-political topics and the question of the possibilities of political theatre. He strives for comprehensive diversity both in the programme and in the composition of the artistic teams and partners in the projects. He is currently working on interactive theatre formats (real live game theatre) and is developing playable theatre productions.
  • Prof. Dr. Sabine Hess (Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology , University of Göttingen) is head of the continuously working "Labor für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung" (since 2011) with a focus on urban regimes of (post-)migration. As an academic curator, she led the research and exhibition projects „Crossing Munich: Orte, Bilder und Debatten der Migration“ (Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München, 2009) and „Movements of Migration: Ein Wissensarchiv der Migration in Göttingen“ (2012-2013) and co-directed the research project "Gender, Flucht, Aufnahmepolitiken. Prozesse vergeschlechtlichter In- und Exklusionen in Niedersachsen" (MWK, 2017-2020).
  • Samah Al Jundi-Pfaff (Museum Friedland) is the pedagogical director of the creativity workshop „Let’s make it!“.
  • Dr. Serena Müller is scientific coordinator in the BMBF research project "On the materiality of (forced) migration. From ‘bare necessities’ to ‘promising things’"
  • Dr. Steffen Wiegmann (Museum Friedland) is a historian and political scientist with a focus on migration. As scientific director of the Museum Friedland, he dealt with collection strategies and communication concepts in this field and did research on the effects of migration and the history of the Friedland border transit camp. He was curator of the special exhibition on sport and integration in Lower Saxony and Germany "...Entscheidend ist auf dem Platz!".
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Steven Vertovec (Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity) is director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MPI-MMG) and heads the department "Socio-Cultural Diversity". There, among others, the research projects "Cities and the Challenge of Diversity: A Study in Germany and France" (since 2014) and "Addressing the Diversity of Asylum Seekers' Needs and Aspirations" (Volkswagen Foundation, 2015-2019) are carried out.