Volunteering for Refugees in Europe:
Civil Society, Solidarity, and Forced Migration along the Balkan Route amid the failure of the Common European Asylum System
Principle Co-Investigator with Dr. Serhat Karakayali
Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, University of Osnabrück, Germany
Funded by Gerda-Henkel Stiftung, July 2016 – June 2017.
Amid rising numbers of asylum seekers arriving in the EU and migrating along the Balkan route in 2015, state, EU and traditional NGO institutions failed to adequately receive, register and care for the new arrivals. Instead, volunteers stepped in to provide humanitarian assistance. They are locals as well as citizens from other European countries who engage with the crisis for a variety of reasons, in a range of contexts and with varying consequences. This research project will examine personal motives, social structures and political conditions of volunteering for refugees in countries along the so-called Balkan route: in Greece, in Slovenia, and in former Yugoslav countries. Based on political process tracing, sociological-ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews with volunteers, officials, locals and refugees we will devise country reports that will create the basis for a comparative study. Thus, we will interrogate whether we can witness in this refugee policies ‚from below‘ the creation of a particular, pro-immigration and human rights based European civil society or social movement.

Ehrenamtliche Flüchtlingsarbeit (EFA) – Motive und Strukturen
Voluntary Work with Refugees – Motives and Structures
Principle Co-Investigator with Dr. Serhat Karakayali
Berliner Institut für empirische Integrations- und Migrationsforschung (BIM), Humboldt Universität
Institutional structures for the reception of asylum seekers and refugees in Germany have reached their limits due to constantly growing numbers of applicants. Thousands of volunteers have since taken on central duties in regard to reception, support and integration. They work with asylum seekers and refugees by offering counselling or teaching, providing administrative or practical help or establishing networks.
This study inquires why people in Germany volunteer for refugees and asylum seekers and why they invest time and efforts to support them. What are their motives and what are the contexts in which volunteers help refugees with arrival, integration and the engagement with the receiving society? The study asks what the solidarity with refugees is based on and how it is translated into active support. Which role do social, political and historical frameworks play?
As part of the study, data is collected with the help of internet-based surveys from volunteers working with refugees as well as from organisations that work with these volunteers. So far, two surveys have been conducted, in the autumns of 2014 and 2015. The findings  contribute to understanding how volunteers perceive their own role and how they relate to refugees. Beyond volunteering, this study will also contribute to examining factors that more generally lead to empathy with refugees.
More Information: http://efa-studie.weebly.com/

New ‚Recipe‘ in Refugee Protection?
Developments and the Current State of Germany’s Resettlement Program
Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, University of Osnabrück, Germany
Funded by Fritz-Thyssen Foundation, April-Dezember 2013.

In this research project I examine the ways and motives behind the implementation of a regular resettlement program by which the federal government of Germany pledged to resettle 900 refugees between 2012 and 2014. In addition to the historical development towards this policy the actual practice of resettlement will be analysed under the criteria of refugee protection. The project is set within the lager context of the Common European Asylum System and the relationship between Global Refugee Policies and national politics of migration.