Annual DATAMIG Project Conference: Critical Insights into the Datafication of Migration

Co-organized with the Peace Institute, the annual conference of the European COST Action DATAMIG took place at the Faculty of Social Sciences on June 5–6. The event focused on discussions around data-driven migration governance and strategies of resistance. It was hosted by the Vice-Chair of the Action, Mojca Pajnik, in collaboration with Barbara Beznec and Lori Šramel Čebular.

Over the two-day program, participants from universities, research and civil society organizations, and artistic collectives from more than ten countries engaged in conversations on various aspects of datafied border control, data justice, and creative forms of resistance.

Key thematic highlights included:

• Discussions on the development of the book Migration Data Matters, which conceptualizes core terms such as datafied border, surveillance regime, asylum data, and others.
• A workshop on tools for researching migration data governance, where participants tested methodological approaches for critically mapping surveillance practices.
• A roundtable on the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, where speakers delved into the implications of new European regulations, digital surveillance, and the erosion of rights for people on the move.
• A seminar marking the 10th anniversary of the “long summer of migration,” titled From Corridor to Buffer Zone: Reinforcing Borders in the Balkans, which featured critical discussions on the re-fortification of borders in Southeastern Europe.
• Participants highlighted the significance of decolonial epistemologies and resistance within practices of solidarity.

As part of the event, we organized the migrant tour “A City for Everyone”, led by licensed tourist guide with migrant experience, Aigul Hakimova.

More about the project: https://data-mig.eu/