The 2025 EuMIGS Winter Workshop took place from February 17th to 19th in Osnabrück. This three-day event, organized by the local EuMIGS coordination team at Osnabrück University, brought together 16 EuMIGS double-degree students and 13 non-double-degree students, as well as 12 coordinators from seven partner universities.
Critical cartography was the central theme of this year's winter workshop. Following the opening and welcome session in the morning of February 17th, students and coordinators were divided into four discussion groups, where they exchanged about the students’ ongoing master's thesis projects. After lunch, participants attended an engaging lecture titled "Beyond Boundaries: Rethinking Maps Through Critical Cartography" by Dr. Nora Küttel from the University of Bremen. With commentary by Dr. Sophie Hinger from Osnabrück University, the lecture shed light on how maps can both reproduce marginalization and oppression while also serving as powerful tools for empowerment, visibility and alternative narratives. To conclude the first day, attendees participated in a critical city tour "Behind the Façades - Layers of Remembrance: A Critical Walk Through Osnabrück’s Contested Past" led by Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass (IMIS, Osnabrück University) (for details, please see: https://nghm.hypotheses.org/32396). This walking tour provided historical and sociopolitical insights into Osnabrück’s urban landscape.
On the second day, students took part in an intensive mapping workshop, "Studying Migration (on the Move)" led by Dr. Nora Küttel. This hands-on session encouraged students to create visual elements that represented their discussion themes, which they later presented in the afternoon session. Simultaneously, EuMIGS coordinators held structured meetings in three sessions and discussed the operational and academic processes of the EuMIGS consortium, as well as the necessary steps for upcoming projects.
The final day of the workshop hosted a hybrid panel on reflexivity in migration studies. Panelists Andreas Pott (Osnabrück University), Faten Khazaei (Northumbria University, Newcastle), Camille Schmoll (School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris), Inken Bartels (Osnabrück University), and Jens Schneider (Osnabrück University) engaged in an insightful discussion with a wider audience of students and researchers from IMIS, Osnabrück University. Before concluding the workshop with a final lunch, students and coordinators gathered for a feedback session. Double-degree students emphasized how valuable it was to meet in person once again with their fellow Double Degree students and coordinators as well as to exchange with students who are studying in the regular programmes of the partner universities. They also highlighted how the EuMIGS discussions and events provided crucial insights for shaping their master's thesis plans and methodologies.
This was the third and the final winter workshop financed within the framework of the Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership (KA220-HED) by the European Commission, following the previous workshops at the University of A Coruña in 2023 and the University of Liège in 2024.