Integration of Asylum Seekers - Ministry of Science Promotes "Urban Field Lab" Project of PH and ZEW

The project "Asylum seekers in Heidelberg - language skills, employment and social inclusion", carried out in cooperation between the Heidelberg University of Education (PH) and the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), is being promoted by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts, as part of the "Urban Field Lab" programme. In the second round of tenders for projects in specific municipalities, the project, in which researchers from the University of Heidelberg also participate, was granted total funding of 1.1 million euros.

In the next three years, researchers aim to cooperate with the towns of Heidelberg, Wiesloch and Sinsheim, and with additional partners, to find out which factors influence the economic and social integration of refugees on a local, and on a regional level. The results from the "Urban Field Lab" aims to help municipalities to successfully integrate asylum seekers. The project is scheduled to start at the end of 2015. Minister of Science, Research and the Arts, Theresia Bauer, welcomed the research plans and the subsequent increased interaction between scientific research and communes, when it comes to creating liveable towns for the future.

Background

Immigration and demographic change, climate-friendly living, new forms of mobility, and the digitalisation of our everyday lives - many such social challenges are particularly acute in urban settlements. With the programme, "Urban Field Lab", the state government is implementing the concept of the real-life, field lab, for the second time, as a central instrument in Baden-Württemberg's strategy to build a sustainable future. Following the first round of tenders in 2013, the Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts has now made a total of around 8 million euros available for a further seven research projects over the next three years, which aim to find suitable solutions for the issues facing agglomerations in the future. The projects were chosen from 27 applications on the basis of evaluations by an independent expert panel.

Contact

Holger Bonin, Phone:+49(0)621/1235-151, E-mail: bonin@zew.de