Migration experts from the University of Birmingham and Waseda University are launching a major new research partnership that will examine a shortage of skilled and unskilled labour in the UK and Japan - .
Tokyo
Migration experts from the University of Birmingham and Waseda University are launching a major new research partnership that will examine a key challenge faced by both the UK and Japan - a shortage of skilled and unskilled labour.
After leaving the EU on 29 March, Britain faces the prospect of looking for labour beyond Europe, whilst, one month after Brexit, Japan opens its doors to large scale labour migration for the first time and is faced with the new challenge of diversification.
The universities’ partnership brings together British and Japanese researchers with expertise in social sciences, arts and humanities – with Birmingham's Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) and Waseda University’s Institute for Asian Migrations (IAM) at its heart.
Backed by funding from the UK’s Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), the partnership begins with a workshop in Brussels, in June, when key IRiS and IAM academics outline five key research themes that will unite leading scholars in migration and superdiversity studies with early career researchers.
Professor Jenny Phillimore, of IRiS, commented: “Japan and the UK have many political, economic and social differences, yet share one major challenge: a shortage of skilled and unskilled labour. Both have resisted mass migration but now understand that future prosperity depends on access to foreign labour.
“As Britain re-embraces labour migration and Japan’s relatively homogenous society faces an influx of migrants, our nations have much to learn from each other. The University of Birmingham and Waseda University each have world-renowned expertise in migration and superdiversity. We’re looking forward to establishing a new era of Japan/UK scholarship.”
IRiS and IAM are well-networked in their countries and form the hub of the new research network. They will open a call for research papers to other migration academics within the UK and Japan – aiming to secure an equal number of Japanese and UK scholars co-authoring papers.
“At a time that Japanese society is opening up, this collaboration presents a great opportunity to also link Japanese academia to the outside world,” said Professor Gracia Liu Farrer, Director of IAM. “Migration and diversity research is rapidly developing in Japan. IAM is a new institute. We hope to gain many inspirations and know-hows by working together with IRiS and the UK migration researchers.”
The project will share existing knowledge and develop new ways of thinking to explore key questions identified in the Brussels workshop. A subsequent call for research papers will lead to a five-day Tokyo symposium, in December, which will unite leading scholars in migration and superdiversity studies with early career researchers, policymakers and practitioners.
The project complements a strategic joint research partnership between the Universities of Birmingham and Waseda, started in 2016, that is producing collaboration across areas such as robotics, corpus linguistics, atmospheric environmental science, urban studies, language education, creative writing and Shakespeare.
