ETMU Conference 2026: CFP is open
The call for papers for the ETMU conference 2026 is now open and we warmly invite paper submissions. The conference will take place at Åbo Akademi University in Turku.
MigScene is the convenor for the session “Migrant kinship networks – Legal and policy frameworks in shaping family life and belonging in a host country” in the ETMU 2026 Conference.
Conference theme
The conference explores the role of trust, mistrust, and distrust in migration and processes of belonging. Trust shapes how people move, where they settle, and how they relate to societies, institutions, and communities. At the same time, trust is shaped by inequalities, discrimination, and racism, and may be contested, fragile, or even exploited. Mistrust can also be protective or foster solidarity. As a concept and experience, trust is contextual, relational, and dynamic. Despite its importance, it remains relatively understudied in migration research. The ETMU 2026 Conference brings together diverse perspectives on how trust is conceptualised, experienced, and researched.
What kind of contributions are we looking for?
We invite contributions that take a broad, multifaceted approach to trust and its possible associations, including recognition, protection, belonging, equity, anti-racism, risk, trustworthiness, reliability, accountability, the rule of law, love, hope, refusal, and control. We are interested in how trust is shaped among people (social trust), how individuals navigate their relationships with institutions (institutional trust), and how institutions trust one another (inter-institutional trust). This also includes past, present, and future visions of trust, as well as projects for communal, intercommunal, and inter-institutional trust-building. We also invite contributions that focus on building strong, sustainable relationships between research and activism.
We welcome papers that address trust in migration- and belonging-related research, policy, advocacy, art, and/or activism. We also welcome non-governmental organisations to send in papers that are not necessarily based on research but that connect to the conference themes.