Interdisciplinary Migration Research Unit (IMRU) – Interdisciplinary Migration Research Unit

George Blog

New blog article: Behind Walls: How Accommodation Facilities Disappear from Public View

George Kandylis traces the evolution of Greece’s temporary accommodation facilities for migrants, from the relative openness and rich public data of their early years to today’s walls, security measures and near-total silence, showing how spatial exclusion is now matched by an exclusion from information. (01.09.2026)

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Media and Migration

New edited volume: Media and Migration in Southeastern Europe: Shaping Narratives and Policies

IMRU coordinator Angelo Tramountanis has co-edited, with George Pleios, Ioanna Kostarella and Naya Kalfeli, Media and Migration in Southeastern Europe: Shaping Narratives and Policies (Routledge, 2026).

The volume examines the complex interplay between migration, media representation, and policy formation in Southeastern Europe, and traces recurring patterns in migration coverage since the post-2015 “crisis”, from securitized, crisis-driven reporting to the marginalization of migrants’ own voices.

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The Greek Current

Angeliki Dimitriadi at The Greek Current podcast

Angeliki Dimitriadi joined The Greek Current podcast, hosted by the Kathimerini daily, to discuss the events in Ceuta, Spain.

Her analysis covered the role of rumours in triggering migration movements, and the instrumentalization of large-scale crossings on two levels: by Morocco, as leverage against Spain, and by European states, which used the incident to push for harder-line migration policies. (08.08.2026)

Listen to the podcast

L’ Express

Angelo Tramountanis at L’Express Newspaper

Angelo Tramountanis spoke to French newspaper L’Express, in an article by Charles Carrasco, on the evolution of Greece’s reception and detention infrastructure — highlighting how newer facilities (Closed Controlled Access Centers – CCACs) increasingly rely on AI-driven monitoring and video surveillance. (08.08.2026)

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Chelioudakis blog

Beyond the Border: How AI-enabled Surveillance Tools Turned Social Media into a Migration Control Apparatus

Eleftherios Chelioudakis traces how an AI-enabled social media surveillance tool, cancelled by Frontex in 2019 following data protection scrutiny, quietly resurfaced 28 months later through a Hellenic Coast Guard procurement, raising serious concerns about mass surveillance, regulatory oversight, and the growing reach of border control into everyday digital life.

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Dimitriadi blog

Angeliki Dimitriadi at NOS (Dutch Broadcasting Foundation)

Angeliki Dimitriadi spoke to the Dutch Broadcasting Foundation (NOS) on the near-total freeze in asylum registration in Greece since the entry into force of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum on 12 June. (25.07.2026)

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Dimitriadi blog

Blog Article: The EU’s new Return Regulation: rhetoric, reality and the limits of externalisation

Angeliki Dimitriadi argues that as the EU turns to externalisation and return hubs, the evidence suggests these measures will not deliver the returns they promise, while Greece’s own data tells a story far removed from the political rhetoric.

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Securitised Humanitarianism

IMRU Advisory Board Members in Securitised Humanitarianism

Angeliki Dimitriadi and Eva Papatzani contributed chapters to the edited volume Securitised Humanitarianism: Social Policy and the Refugee Issue in Greece (2015–2025). (in Greek)

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Iris Book

New Greek edition: The wretched of the sea. Women and border in the Mediterranean (Camille Schmoll)

IMRU Advisory Board member Iris Polyzou (National Technical University of Athens) has co-edited, with Dina Vaiou, the introduction and scientific review in Greek of Camille Schmoll’s book, The wretched of the sea. Women and border in the Mediterranean. Topos editions, 2026.

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Datamig

IMRU at Datamig Workshop in Istanbul

IMRU Coordinator Angelo Tramountanis presented on Greece’s role as a testing ground for EU border technologies at the Datamig Workshop “Technologies of Externalisation in EU Migration Governance” (Işık University, 22 May 2026).

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Skleparis blog

Blog Article: To understand migration attitudes in Greece, look to the past

Dimitris Skleparis argues that while attitudes toward migration are often explained by present-day fears, new evidence from Greece suggests that how past suffering is remembered, and interpreted, matters even more.

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Skleparis Book

Across the Aegean: A Century of Forced Migrations Between Greece and Turkey, 1922–2022

IMRU Advisory Board member Dimitris Skleparis (Newcastle University) has co-edited, with Violetta Hionidou, Across the Aegean: A Century of Forced Migrations Between Greece and Turkey, 1922–2022 (Routledge, 2026).

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Why IMRU?

Blog Article: Why IMRU? Addressing the Migration Knowledge Problem in a Polarised Environment

Angelo Tramountanis outlines the rationale behind IMRU’s establishment, tracing the gap between decades of rigorous migration research and a public debate increasingly dominated by security narratives and disconnected from solid evidence.

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