An interesting panel discussion was held at ESOF on 5th of September. The session brought together internationally renowned scientists to discuss the migration of highly skilled individuals and the prospects of international scientific mobility in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The migration of highly skilled individuals is one of the most complex migratory phenomena with diverse socio-economic implications, both for the countries of origin and of destination. Europe experiences its specific patterns of such migration, most prominently the migration from the European East and South towards the North and West as well as re-migration from the West towards the East. Further, highly skilled immigration into Europe from Asia, Africa, Russia and the Middle East has gradually increased. Brain Drain is a terminus used to describe the emigration of highly skilled individuals from less developed countries towards countries with higher living standards and / or better professional-social prospects.

Brain Gain is a terminus used in antithesis to Brain Drain in order to describe the intake of highly skilled individuals. The traditional analysis of migration working with push factors (determining individuals or groups to leave) and pull factors (attracting individuals or groups to come) shows its limitations when it comes to the high and rapid variations of Brain Migration. Particularly higher education, research and innovation experience a quasi-borderless dynamic. Additionally, the transnational character of such migration becomes visible, e.g. through transnational networks, academic diasporas, financial and knowledge remittances into the country of origin or through an international contextualisation of professional and private life.

All these aspects fall under the umbrella of Brain Circulation – a terminus of the post 1990s used to describe an alternative to unidirectional migration of the highly skilled.

The event was jointly organised by the Institute de France – Académie des sciences, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Italian National Academy of Sciences Lincei, the Italian National Research Council, the Polish Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

You can watch the session here