Life Strategies of Young Migrants in Ageing Societies
Exploring the intersection of migration, ageing, and life strategies across Europe.
Tracing the life trajectories of young migrants
Exploring the Lives of Young Migrants in Ageing Societies
The project Life Strategies of Young Migrants in Ageing Societies (LYMAS) explores how young mobile persons navigate their lives in ageing societies across Europe. Demographic changes are reshaping communities, policies, labour markets and impact personal lifes. Young mobile individuals are often regarded as crucial in this process, as they are expected to fill workforce gaps and help address population decline in many EU countries. Yet, despite being seen as a solution to aging populations, they remain contested and frequently marginalized actors in these transformations. Set against this context, we ask the question: How do young mobile persons experience and react to demographic changes and how are they affected by broader societal and political adaptation processes?
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Key Areas of the Project
Analysis of Migration, Labour Market, and Demographic Ageing Policies
Biographical Research on Life Trajectories of Young Mobile Persons
Participatory Filmmaking Workshops with Young Mobile Persons
ABOUT THE PROJECT
What is LYMAS?
LYMAS is a collaborative project including research teams at the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (Germany), the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), the University of Wroclaw (Poland) and the Management Center Innsbruck (Austria). Each team works on local case studies, investigating the experiences, strategies, and life trajectories of young mobile individuals in light of societal ageing. By exploring local contexts, intergenerational relationships, and migration policies, LYMAS seeks to understand how young mobile persons contribute to and are affected by broader societal transformations. We use interviews, participatory methods and policy analysis to enable cross-country comparisons and shed light on the intersection of migration and societal ageing.
Participatory Filmmaking
Telling stories through film
Navigating a new environment, searching for a job, pursuing creative projects, or grappling with the bureaucratic hurdles of migration – the experience of being young and a minority in an ageing society can be told from many perspectives. In the LYMAS project, we therefore put a strong emphasis on the experiences and stories of young mobile persons themselves. Participatory methods aim to make the process of “doing research” more collaborative and accessible for participants. Together with filmmaker Dr. Sezen Kayhan, we conduct a series of participatory film workshops in each location. Participants plan, shoot and edit short documentary films that capture their perspectives. The project explores collaborative approaches to convey stories beyond texts and numbers.
Publications & Events
Recently Added
In the LYMAS project, we agreed to use the term “young mobile person/individuals” or
September 2024 was a busy month in the project. While one part of the
In March 2024, the LYMAS team gathered in Wrocław, Poland. The four national teams
Program Founder
The project is funded by the VolkswagenStiftung (Volkswagen Foundation) as part of the research programme ‘Challenges and Potentials for Europe: The Greying Continent’.
Project Partners
LYMAS is conducted in cooperation between the German Center for Integration & Migration Research (Germany), the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and the University of Wroclaw (Poland) and the Management Center Innsbruck (Austria).
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Connect with our research team
Have questions or want to learn more about LYMAS? Reach out to us—we’d love to hear from you!
