Call for participation
DATAMIG WG 3 Laboratory Training School
Methodologies of accessing state information: interventions for transparency and accountability of datafied migration control
21-22 September 2026
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 5, 1050 Brussels, Room: Van Gogh
Local host: Research Professor Kevin Smets
This training school focuses on methodologies of accessing and making state information and documentation about datafied migration control regimes public, and the knowledge politics involved in probing the inner workings of opaque border bureaucracies. From Frontex to Europol, the UK Home Office to the German BAMF, much of the everyday work of these institutions takes place behind closed doors and is notoriously difficult to access. Given the opacity surrounding datafied migration and border regimes, methods of accessing and “counter-archiving” otherwise confidential documentary records and bureaucratic paperwork are a critical entry point for challenging this opacity: not just for researchers and investigative journalists, but all those advocating and agitating for migrants’ rights.
Methods of accessing and making otherwise confidential state information public serve a range of objectives: developing a deeper understanding of the design and implementation of bordering practices, scrutinising and shaping the legal and regulatory frameworks governing migration control, forging greater transparency, or collectively mobilising for more accountability.
A central – if arguably under-utilised – tool in this regard is the freedom of information (FOI) mechanism. At both national and EU levels, FOI mechanisms grant citizens the right to access information held by migration and border control agencies. For investigative journalists as well as a growing number of scholars, FOI has taken on a critical function in exposing controversial state action, violations of human rights, and state violence. At the same time, civil society initiatives like Access Info and the German platform “Frag den Staat!” mobilise such mechanisms to push for greater transparency of EU and state institutions and their obligations to respond to citizen’s requests for information.
But there are important limits to how FOI can be mobilised for challenging the opacity of datafied migration control regimes. The everyday workings of transparency mechanisms are often frustrated by legal obstructions, procedural delays, and other bureaucratic strategies of obfuscation. Whether at national or EU levels, there are also growing attempts to weaken FOI mechanisms and to restrict citizens’ FOI rights – integral to the contemporary assault on liberal democratic institutions. In response, NGOs, MEPs, legal scholars and other actors have turned to the courts – using strategic litigation to not only gain access to specific documents, but to push the boundaries of transparency.
FOCUS
The training school is dedicated to methodologies to get access to state information and records from different geographical border zones, regulatory contexts, and policy issues linked with datafied migration and border control regimes. Beyond the question of gaining access, it will also consider how such documentary material can be analysed, interpreted and mobilised not just for research purposes but also for advocacy, activism, and investigative journalism.
Sessions include a training on using the EU ‘access to documents’ mechanism as a critical tool for researching the everyday workings of opaque EU migration and border bureaucracies. Using case studies from Frontex’s PeDRA surveillance programme, European Commission-monitored refugee camps in Greece, to Europol’s implication in the criminalisation of migration – this session focuses on the practicalities and challenges of using the EU’s transparency mechanism, and how it can be harnessed as a productive research method for probing different realms of EU migration governance. The practical aim is to arm participants with an understanding of key legal principles and procedural rules to counter EU institutions’ attempts to deny access to internal records.
Another session includes the sharing of experiences and lessons’ learnt by DATAMIG colleagues using both national and EU FOI mechanisms in researching different dimensions of datafied migration control in Europe.
Furthermore, there will be a hands-on session allowing participants to work individually and collectively on their own specific cases and investigations where they apply or aim to use methodologies to get access to state documentation, including receiving feedback on specific questions and issues.
An additional focus of the training school is strategic litigation in order to enforce getting access to documents. Invited speakers from NGOs will share their initiatives and experiences.
A final session includes an open space dedicated to the theme “Collaborating for resistance: Against the lack of transparency and accountability in datafied migration and border control”. Here the question of transdisciplinary collaboration is key: how can migration scholars, legal experts, watchdog NGOs, journalists, and activists work better together in challenging opaque migration and border control regimes?
Application procedure
Express your interest in participation in the training school until 7 August 2026. Please provide some information (400 words maximum) about your a) experience, interest and motivations for using methodologies of getting access to state documents related to datafied migration and border control regimes and b) indicate for what type of case and country / EU institution you (would like to) use these methodologies.
We inform selected participants by 10 August 2026. In case you are selected for the participation of the training school, we ask you to a) prepare a little research on the relevant FOI legislations and procedures that you need to consider in your case. Please also b) share your specific questions you have for your investigation/research that we try to address collectively. We will ask you to provide these references in a shared folder by 11 September 2026.
Guidance for participants:
If you are new to the world of ‘access to documents’, please make sure to read through this introductory guide before the workshop: https://www.access-info.org/wp content/uploads/EN_ONLINE_Guide_on_access_to_EU_Documents.pdf
References:
Journalistic investigations:
https://wearesolomon.com/en/mag/focus-area/migration/unaccompanied-children-sleep-on-the-floor-in-shifts-in-greece-model-camps/; Unaccompanied children sleep on the floor in shifts in Greece’s ‘Model Camps’. The EU is aware – European Press Prize
Research articles:
Van Isacker, T., & Walters, W. (2025). Rethinking Freedom of Information Research: Selective Flows of Information in Borders and Migration Studies. Political Anthropological Research on International Social Sciences (PARISS), 5(2), 189-210. https://doi.org/10.1163/25903276-bja10060
Stavinoha, L. (Un)making the Frontex PeDRA controversy: freedom of information and the regime of opacity in EU migration management (2026), Security Dialogue, 57(1): 60–72, https://doi.org/10.1093/secdia/xhaf010
Leurs, K., Alajak, K., Dekker, R., & Ali Salah, A. (2025). Encountering the digital border: smartphone screening in the Dutch asylum procedure. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 51(14), 3649–3674. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2025.2513164
Organizing team:
Ludek Stahinova, University of East Anglia Norwich; Nina Amelung, CIES-Iscte, University Institute Lisbon; Kevin Smets, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
