Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) conducts a wide variety of research on migration and diversity, spread over many disciplines, departments and research institutes. The application for an institutional membership of the VUB to IMISCOE- the leading European network of migration scholars - has provided a catalyst for a long-discussed creation of an interdisciplinary ‘VUB onderzoeksgroep’ in which researchers can meet, exchange and bundle forces. This interdisciplinary group, called the ‘Brussels Interdisciplinary Research centre on Migration and Minorities (BIRMM)’ has therefore been created in January 2018. It joins over 60 VUB researchers from 7 disciplines (political science, law, sociology, criminology, social geography/urban studies, communication sciences and sociology) working on migration and diversity related topics. BIRMM is coordinated by Prof. Ilke Adam and Prof. Florian Trauner (both IES-VUB) and a board of delegates with one representative per research centre or department.

Main VUB research centres and departments involved in BIRMM are: the Institute for European Studies, and particularly its research cluster Migration, Diversity and Justice (IES); the Sociology Department, with its research centres TOR and Interface Demography; the Political Science Department (POLI); BRIO, the centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Brussels, the Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research, the RHEA Centre for Expertise on Gender, Diversity and Intersectionality, the Criminology department with its research centre Crime & Society, the Law department, with its research centre FRC (Fundamental Rights and Constitutionalism) and the Department for Communication Sciences, with its research centre CEMESO (Culture, Emancipation, Media and Society).