Institute Research Groups

Jacob Thomas presented his paper “What Ties Individuals to a Society? How (Im)mobility Capital Stratifies International Legal Mobility and Migration” to be submitted to a Q1 journal, and examines how US consular officers assess visa applicants’ (im)mobility capital, revealing counterintuitive findings about immigration intentions and approval rates.

Éva Kovács presented her paper that examines how Hungary’s asylum administration coped with the sudden surge of Ukrainian refugees following the EU’s activation of the Temporary Protection Directive in 2022. It shows that the agency rapidly adapted through informal, frontline learning and workflow improvisation, but structural constraints limited lasting reform. More broadly, the study argues for stronger institutional learning to improve crisis governance in migration management.

Stephen Osborne‘s guest lecture: Contemporary approaches to public administration and management (PAM) have increasingly looked beyond dyadic relationships between the public service organisation and the service user, including network and stakeholder approaches. This presentation argues for a broader approach that looks at the public service ecosystem holistically. Consequently this paper will explore what should an  approach means and what its implications might be for  PAM theory and practice.

Invited Speaker: Joseph Torigian (American University). Title: The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping

About the speaker: 
Joseph Torigian’s main research area includes authoritarian politics and leadership transitions in China and Russia. His first book Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao was published by Yale University Press in 2022. His latest work, The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping, released in June 2025, investigates the life of Xi Zhongxun and the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party.  

Invited Speaker: Daniele Stracquadanio (University or Trento, CEU)

Presented paper: ‘From ice to water: A quantitative analysis of peaceful thawings in non-international frozen conflicts’. 

Beyond the insightful discussion on the research project, the event also served as the launching event for the research group “Identity Politics: Actors and Institutions“. 

Invited speaker: Professor Chloe Thurston, Northwestern University

On 1 December 2025, the Public Opinion on Competing Economic Interest Research Group welcomed Professor Chloe Thurston (Northwestern University) for a lecture on the political development and consequences of mass investment culture in the United States.

Drawing on her forthcoming book Investing in America, Professor Thurston outlined how individual investment became widespread from the mid-1960s onward, reshaping political party strategies, public attitudes toward economic security, and debates around financial risk. She also connected these trends to current issues such as app-based trading and cryptocurrency.

The session concluded with an engaging discussion on how similar research questions could be explored in European and Central and Eastern European (CEE) contexts, where investment practices and political implications may differ.

A short introduction to Professor Thurston’s work is available here: Professor’s short introduction.LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHq0lsNVGuY

Invited Speaker: Kamil Luczaj, CIAS Visiting Fellow.

Title: From Biographies to Policy: Using Autobiographical Narrative Interviews in Higher Education Research

The presentation draws on two recent studies examining the biographies of migrant academic professors from Poland and Hungary – at the intersection of biographical sociology, higher education studies, and migration research. Its main objective is methodological: by focusing on the autobiographical narrative interview method (Fritz Schütze), I demonstrate how this time-intensive qualitative approach can be valuable not only for fundamental academic inquiry but also for policy-oriented research in higher education. The presentation is structured in three parts: the first outlines the key methodological assumptions, the second presents selected case studies, and the final part offers an analytical discussion of the main advantages and limitations of this approach within the context of policy-oriented sociology.

BIO: Kamil Luczaj is a sociologist specializing in migration and higher education. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Łódź, Poland, where he earned his habilitation after completing a PhD at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He has held visiting positions at the University of New Mexico, the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on academic migration, the academic profession, and qualitative methodologies—particularly narrative interviewing and ethnography. His work has been published in leading journals, including Studies in Higher Education, Geoforum, and Higher Education Policy. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies.

The  Global Mobility Research Group had an inspiring presentation by Fanni Beck PhD Student on 2 December 2025,  reframing how we understand migration, success, and the search for a “good life.”

Fanni’s presentation, Periphery Dreams: Migration, Parenting, and Politics, explored the emerging phenomenon she terms “value-rational migration.”

A particularly striking aspect of the presentation was how this mobility trend intersects with evolving parenting cultures in China. Drawing on the classical story of Mencius’ mother moving houses three times to secure a better environment, she illustrated how today’s parents navigate between “tiger mother” and “Buddha mother” models, balancing ambition with wellbeing. The lingering social effects of the one-child policy continue to shape family expectations, emotional burdens, and societal pressures, making these decisions even more consequential.

Fanni’s research, published in top journals such as the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Global Networks, and China Quarterly, offers a nuanced lens on how mobility, family life, and political imaginaries are transforming. As a Junior Fellow at the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies, she continues to bring sharp, thoughtful perspectives to global migration scholarship.

The Global Mobility Research Group welcomed Professor Louise Ryan (London Metropolitan University), a world-leading sociologist and one of the most highly cited scholars globally, who delivered a lecture on 15 December titled Analysing network change over time: using longitudinal qualitative network analysis in research with recently arrived refugees in London.

The lecture drew on three years of longitudinal research with Afghan refugees in London to examine how social ties emerge, change, and acquire meaning in the context of forced migration. Using qualitative social network analysis, Professor Ryan demonstrated how commonality, mutuality, and opportunity enable refugees to build and sustain relationships despite challenging public discourses.

Following the seminar, a thought-provoking discussion engaged participants in reflecting on the findings and their broader implications for understanding social ties in contexts of forced migration.

The Professor’s research frequently combines qualitative and longitudinal approaches to examine how migrants navigate belonging, identity, and opportunity structures over time. Her strong publication record has earned her repeated recognition among the top 0.5% of scientists worldwide in the Stanford/Elsevier Global Ranking of citation impact, and she is consistently listed among the most highly cited scholars internationally.

Google Scholar: : https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D2iHSNAAAAAJ&hl=en

Presentation of Attila Bartha, Gábor Tamás Molnár & Judit Takács (ELTE): Agency, capability or the broader social context? Examining factors shaping involved fatherhood in 25 European countries