News

Why do people decide to leave their homes and move to another country? What role do public policies play in these decisions, and how can research help policymakers better understand migration dynamics? These questions were at the centre of the public event From Evidence to Action: Understanding Migration Choices in Times of Change, held in Bratislava on March 6, 2026.

The event was organised by the Institute of Forecasting of the Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the European Migration Network Slovakia (IOM Slovakia) and the Migration Policy Institute Europe from Belgium. Around 60 policymakers, researchers, and representatives of professional organisations participated in the discussion.

“Events bringing together researchers, policy-makers and practitioners can cultivate debate about migration and integration policies and contribute to evidence-based and participatory policy-making”, said Lucia Mýtna Kureková from the Institute for Forecasting.  

The workshop presented findings from the European research project PACES (Making Migration and Migration Policy Decisions amidst Societal Transformations), funded by the Horizon Europe programme. Researchers shared insights from comparative qualitative research on how migrants make decisions about whether and where to move, as well as results from an international experiment examining public attitudes towards migrants and migration policies.

Lucia Kováčová (Institute for Forecasting, SAS) in her presentation based on in-depth interviews with African migrants living and working in Slovakia highlighted the potential of Slovakia to become an attractive place for highly skilled migrants if the country improves the access to legal migration pathways and develops an integration eco-system that supports institutional as well as community-based integration.  

The event also included a discussion connecting research with practical experience and current challenges in migration policy.

"The PACES research findings that most of the Slovak population is not polarized about migration and that there is a large silent middle expecting fair and transparent migration policy are not surprising. They confirm our experience with migrant integration at the local level. Additionally, our Trnava Migrant Integration Strategy identifies similar neutral attitudes in which the host society is not explicitly hostile but not proactive either.", said Alan Le Van from ConnecTT Trnava. 

The Slovak Academy of Sciences also presented the PACES project in a podcast broadcast by Radio Slovakia International (STVR). In the episode, Lucia Mýtna Kureková (Institute of Forecasting, CSPS SAS) and Michelle Tatranská (Mareena) discuss how they cooperated in conducting research with African migrants in Slovakia, why it is important to study migration from the perspective of individual decision-making and how research evidence can contribute to more realistic and effective migration policies.

Listen to the podcast (In Slovak)

For more information, please contact: Lucia Mýtna Kureková, Institute of Forecasting, Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences,  lucia.mytna-kurekova@savba.sk