The Centre for research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations – CEIFO – was founded at Stockholm University in 1983. As a research forum for migration and ethnic relations research, CEIFO was one of the first of its kind in Europe. The Centre’s overarching task has been to interdisciplinary research the areas of migration and ethnic relations. CEIFO’s research mainly focuses on the understanding of the societal phenomenon’s underlying processes and social conditions.
Tomas Hammar was CEIFO’s first director 1983-1994. Hammar also became Sweden’s first professor in International Migration and Ethnic Relations in 1988. Charles Westin then 1994 became the director and second professor of the centre, a position on which he stayed until 2008, when he was succeeded by Erik Olsson, who has been the director since then. During these 28 years, large amounts of research reports, books and articles has been published, pertaining to the around hundred projects who has been completed during this time. Even if CEIFO’s research has had a very wide spread (in the context of our area of research) it has had a few “historical focuses”. If the governmental politics and actions in migration-issues was the main thrust for early CEIFO work, then the research tended more toward an interest about identity, exile and discrimination during the latter half of the 1990 and early 2000. During the last years the interest for transnationalism, diaspora and gender has been well articulated in CEIFO’s research. Read more about CEIFO research and publications.
A long-term goal for CEIFO has been to establish imer research (International Migration and Ethnic Relations) as an acknowledged research.-field both nationally and locally in Stockholm’s University, as well as producing solid research. CEIFO has had limited funding from Stockholm’s University which has been distributed in the form a one professorship and one lecturer and on administration. Except conducting our research, our scientists has had the task to initiate research, search for grants and recruit other researchers who is maintained through external grants and tasks. CEIFO has therefore recruited scientists and PhDs from many disciplines staying at CEIFO during varying intervals of time. Even if opportunities has been limited, education has also taken place at CEIFO, in the form of masters-courses and tutelage of PhDs. In the year 2011, CEIFO also became a part of the CoHaB consortium that will establish a EU sponsored training network, mainly focusing on younger scientists, in diasporic studies.( COHAB – LÄNKAS)
CEIFO has also been thoroughly represented in other Nordic and international initiatives, as the Nordic Migration Research Association or the large European network IMISCOE. The centre have been the main organizers at many large conferences and seminars, as late as 2009 we arranged two large international conferences (LÄNK) and received many excellent researchers as visitors from several of the leading imer-departments in the world. For different reasons, in 2011 Stockholm’s University took decision to dissolve CEIFO as a research institution. At the same time Department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University has decided to initiate a research-program in “Transnational migration”. With this as a platform to continue parts of CEIFO’s research has also been constructed.
