Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2025
19 - 21 November 2025, Vienna, Austria
Demographic Perspectives on Migration in the 21st Century
Migration is a highly debated yet divisive topic in today’s public and policy discourse. In low fertility societies, migration is the main driver of population change and is essential for maintaining a stable labour force. Although it is often presented in simplistic terms, migration is a complex phenomenon shaped by the interplay of multiple drivers and barriers, making it difficult to analyse and predict. Local and global crises, including extreme events driven by climate change, can trigger large-scale mobility both within and across borders.
Demographers have contributed significantly to measuring migration, assessing the contribution of immigrants to population dynamics, and studying population heterogeneity amidst increasingly complex and rapidly shifting migration patterns. Considerable advances have also been made in understanding the differences in migrants’ demographic behaviour, how these evolve as they integrate into host societies, and how life transitions interact with the migration process. Demographic projections and scenarios are essential tools for assessing the long-term implications for future population dynamics, labour markets and socio-cultural diversity, providing important insights for evidence-based policymaking. Much of this research has focused on the destination countries, while implications of emigration in developing regions remain less explored. Likewise, the experiences and challenges of those who lack the means to migrate and remain immobile have received limited attention, despite significant challenges to their livelihoods and well-being.
The Wittgenstein Centre Conference on “Demographic Perspectives on Migration in the 21st Century” invites scholars from around the world to explore these critical intersections, and to foster discussions on the demographic drivers of migration and the profound demographic transformations it sets in motion in both origin and destination societies. We welcome research from various disciplines, including but not limited to demography, economics, sociology, geography, and environmental sciences. Submissions should focus on current and forward-looking analyses, methodological innovations and modelling of migration as well as comparative research investigating demographic outcomes of different groups of migrants in both origin and destination societies. Topics include but are not limited to:
- Novel methods for estimating and forecasting migration
- Migration and (subnational) population change
- Life course transitions and migration
- Comparative studies of immigrants’ demographic behaviour
- Climate and environmental migration, and immobility
- Demographic and labour force outcomes of migration processes
We are pleased to announce our keynote speakers:
Jakub Bijak (University of Southampton)
Yuliya Kosyakova (University of Bamberg)
Pre-conference training workshop for early career researchers
Wednesday, 19 November 2025, 9:00-12:30
Migration in times of crises: Using geospatial data to study the migration impact of environmental and sociopolitical hazards
This interactive training workshop focuses on the analysis of migration processes in the context of environmental and sociopolitical crises. Led by migration experts from the Wittgenstein Centre, the 3.5-hour session will provide participants with hands-on experiences on the use of geospatial data to analyze and model the impacts of environmental hazards and conflict events on migration patterns. Participants will engage in practical exercises and gain exposure to novel migration data products, analytical tools, and methods. In addition, the workshop will provide participants with an overview of migration projection and forecasting approaches and discuss challenges in the modeling of future migration in the context of increasing environmental and political uncertainty.
The training workshop is free of charge and open to all registered early career participants (master, PhD, and junior postdoc level) of the Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2025 on "Demographic Perspectives on Migration in the 21st Century".
Registration is required via the conference registration website.
Online registration will be available from September 2025.
More information here.
