Inaugural Lecture Prof. Dr. Lilian Tsourdi

Migration is a salient societal issue at the forefront of global, regional, and national legal and policy developments. European societies demand their governments protect refugees but are also fearful of the consequences of migration; national economies need migrant workers but increasing legal mobility opportunities is contentious; societal diversity is enhancing but individuals are expected to integrate.

Interweaving her experience as practitioner and as legal and empirical researcher, Professor Lilian Tsourdi retraced the evolution of scientific thought and of policy on European migration law and governance, as well as outlines future directions for her Chair. In her lecture, Lilian drew from interdisciplinary concepts at the intersection of legal and political science, and from legal, policy, and empirical research, to rethink European migration law and policy through three seminal concepts: constitutional foundations; administrative governance; and soft enforcement.

The inaugural lecture was preceded by a two-day interdisciplinary conference featuring research in law, socio-legal studies, anthropology, public policy, and international relations on migration law and governance that will result in the publication of A Research Agenda for Migration Law and Governance volume (Edward Elgar, forth. 2027, edited by Lilian Tsourdi).

The full video of the inaugural lecture can be found here.