Institute for Research into Superdiversity

16/09/2026

We’re delighted to share news of a new IRIS research project, Temporary Migration and Conditional Settlement in Post-Brexit Britain, funded by the Nuffield Foundation’s Racial Diversity UK programme.
The project is a collaboration between IRIS (Nando Sigona (PI), Angelo Martins Junior and Laurence Lessard-Phillips), Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), Migrant Voice and Work Rights Centre and examine how the UK’s post-Brexit turn towards temporary migration and conditional settlement is reshaping racial diversity, migrants’ lives, community relations and public perceptions.
The 24-month project starts in January 2027. More info here:

This project will explore how the UK’s post-Brexit migration policies shape inequality, belonging, and...

05/06/2026

When immigration control becomes Higher Education policy, Nando Sigona on the latest Home Office rules for universities and what they mean for students
https://nandosigona.info/2026/06/05/when-immigration-control-becomes-higher-education-policy/

New Home Office rules measure universities through immigration compliance metrics while ignoring how surveillance and immigration control shape international students’ lives and chances of su…

15/05/2026

New article based on data on immigration enforcement operations in Birmingham between 2023 and 2025.
The data reveal a sharp increase in raids following the change of government in July 2024, but also limited enforcement outcomes: around half of visits resulted in no arrests, and only a small proportion led to removals.
But the impact of the raids must be understood beyond the numbers: for the authorities it reinforces the 'tough on migration' narrative, for migrant communities, local businesses, and workers in sectors such as food delivery, where immigration hashtag increasingly intersects with digital surveillance and platform work they mean worse working conditions and less protection from abuses, as the findings from the I-CLAIM research show.
“The Home Office is everyone” became a recurring phrase in our fieldwork, capturing how border enforcement now extends deep into everyday life.

PRESS & MEDIA “The Home Office is everyone”: Immigration Raids in Birmingham under Labour FOI data reveal rising raids, limited outcomes and growing impacts on migrant communities by Nando Sigona Freedom of Information data on immigration enforcement operations in Birmingham between April 2023 a...

01/05/2026

Thank you very much to colleagues at Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi for hosting Nando Sigona and Angelo Martins Jr for an insightful visit to the exhibitions “Diversidades Amazônicas” and “Brasil: Terra Indígena” during their research visit to Belem as part of the Connect Amazonia initiative:

Professores do Reino Unido conheceram as mostras com objetivo de fortalecer parceria, que visa promover intercâmbios multidisciplinares sobre as questões climáticas e o futuro da Amazônia. Também parceira, a Uepa acompanhou as atividades no Parque Zoobotânico.

28/04/2026

New episode of Conversations with Iris is out! Nando Sigona speaks with Nandita Sharma about the figure of the migrant.

1 like. "Boundaries of membership and the figure of the migrant: Conversation with Nandita Sharma"

27/03/2026

Latest video from the I-CLAIM team. To find out more, explore the www.i-claim.eu website, it it a trove of gems!

04/03/2026

Next IRIS talk is on 26 March, 2-3.30pm at University of Birmingham. Our guest speaker is professor Vicki Squire, author or Making and Unmaking Global Citizenship (2025). To register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-and-unmaking-global-citizenship-iris-talk-tickets-1984389225592

04/03/2026

Who is allowed to belong in Europe – and who is treated as permanently “irregular”?

Racial Logics of Irregular Migration in Europe: Policy, Perception, and Precarity shows how visa rules, employer-tied permits, welfare conditionality and everyday bureaucracy turn racism into a concrete system that governs the lives of migrant workers across Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK.

The report - written by IRIS staff in collaboration with European Network Against Racism - ENAR as part of the www.i-claim.eu project - uncovers how racialised migrants and minorities face surveillance, exclusion from welfare and the labour market, and are pushed into highly exploitative work in sectors like agriculture, domestic work and food delivery.

Nando Sigona
Stefano Piemontese
Laurence Lessard-Phillips
Emmanuel Achiri

https://zenodo.org/records/18693465

03/03/2026

New episode of Conversations with Iris
We speak with Michelle Pace, author of Unwelcome to Denmark (Manchester University Press, 2025). Recommended listeninf for Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ;)

Conversations with Iris: Podcast on migration, diversity and displacement · Episode