The COST Action CA 22135 DATAMIG (Data Matters: Sociotechnical Challenges of European Migration and Border Control) is a four year COST Action running between 2023 and 2027. DATAMIG focuses on the datafication of migration and border control, which cannot be understood merely as a technical matter. It reconfigures practices and rationalities of migration and border control, it fosters new transnational alliances between academics and civil society actors, and it raises contentious issues linked to datafied migration and border control, such as transparency and accountability. DATAMIG builds on an extensive body of scholarship, insights and experiences. It sets up an integrated research framework, ensures up-to-date research, it keeps track of the highly dynamic and increasingly transnational field of datafied migration and border control, and it fosters research strategies and methodologies that engage critically with securitized, racialized and increasingly violent datafied borders. For further details, see the Memorandum of Understanding – MoU and the Action DATMIG website.
Virtual Mobility (VM) grants consist of a collaboration in an online setting among researchers within the COST Action, to exchange knowledge, learn new techniques, capacity building and new skills, particularly for young researchers. Virtual Mobility grants support capacity building and transfer of knowledge through bilateral/multilateral collaborations; support specific / general topics that can help achieving the Action MoU objectives and deliverables; are very flexible and inclusive networking activities crucial to establish new collaborations or reinforce existing collaborations across disciplines with possible impact on career development; outcomes contribute to the visibility and impact of the COST Actions. VM grantees work on outputs and deliverables of the COST Action, together with a collaborator, who is also a member of the COST Action. The collaborator’s role is to support the grantee by 2-3 meetings to accompany the work progress. Applicants can be researchers (we are encouraging applications from early career researchers, doctoral students or postdoctoral researchers). Up to a maximum of EUR 1300 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant (see details below).
The following topics indicate areas of research of high relevance at the current stage of the Cost Action DATAMIG work in WG 3. The major theme of WG 3 laboratory over the last meetings in Athens (2024), Lisbon (2024), Ljubljana (2025), Paris (2025), Madrid (2026), London (2026) and Athens (2026) has been ‘data troubles’ ´deriving from datafied migration and border control regimes and resistances to it. Throughout the meetings we have collected various contributions from DATAMIG participants and in particular works that engage with collaborative interventions that bring together diverse knowledge of researchers, activists, lawyers, journalists, artists. The following deliverables of WG 3 build on that previous work, and VM grants shall help to carry them out. We invite submissions for VMs that suggest collaborations across DATAMIG members with one grantee per VM and at least one or more collaborators who support the grantee. The VMs are dedicated to grantees who contribute to the realization of the two following deliverables (see also DATAMIG Memorandum of Understanding):
- D3.2 Collection of case studies and best practices of engagement with stakeholders brought together as part of the website.
- D3.4 Artistic exhibit or a documentary portraying the result of the collection of good practices.
In detail, VMs shall contribute to these deliverables in the following ways.
D3.2 Collection of case studies and best practices of engagement with stakeholders brought together as part of the website.
The case collection has been renamed “repository of resistance” and collects diverse interventions related to different forms of resistances to datafied migration and border control regimes which DATAMIG participants have presented over the last WG 3 meetings.
The repository portrays the diverse works of DATAMIG members to a wider audience via its presentation on the website. It covers a wide range of a) epistemic interventions, b) methodologies of change, c) sites of collaborative interventions and d) forms of imagining otherwise. It brings together contributions from academics, and civic actors such as NGOs and activists, journalists and lawyers, creative practitioners, artists, and educators and shows collaborations across different practices of critical and creative thinking and doing. The first edition shall be made available on the website by the end of September 2026. A second edition will follow throughout 2027.
To finalize the deliverable VMs shall contribute by creating
- VM 1: additional conceptual, content management, text and visual editorial work on the entire repository to have the entire collection ready to go online;
- VM 2: an additional contribution to the repository that covers the last meetings´ theme on “the future of resistance and collaborations between academics and journalists” in Madrid;
- VM 3: an additional contribution to the repository that covers the last meetings´ theme on “the future of resistance and collaborations between academics and migrants’ rights advocacy groups” in London;
- VM 4: an additional contribution to the repository that covers the upcoming meetings´ theme on “freedom of information request” and “strategic litigation” in September in Brussels.
VM 2, 3 and 4 shall lead to a report covering the specific meetings´ theme, targeting academic and non-academic audiences. The structure shall include an executive summary (500 words), and include sections such as discussing the key questions and problems addressed, examples of specific interventions and collaborations portrayed during the meetings, identified issues regarding collaborations, methodologies, ethics, positionalities, diverse border struggles and data troubles which emerged, as well as take aways and lessons learnt that may inspire other collaborations elsewhere, future outlooks and avenues on resistances identified during the meetings, as well as references or other useful resources to engage further with the theme.
We encourage candidates to apply who had previous engagements with WG 3 activities throughout the past meetings. Candidates shall demonstrate experiences in science or journalistic communication, and digital (visual) documentation, website construction or management (only for VM 1).
D3.4 Artistic exhibit or a documentary portraying the result of the collection of good practices.
The (virtual) exhibition or documentary shall build on previous engagements of the applicant with WG 3 and clearly relate to the objectives of the ‘repository of resistance’ website (collection of case studies, see D3.3 above) and thus result in a contribution that can be included into the online repository of resistance or facilitates the outreach of the repository further. Contributions can engage with diverse and multiple modalities such as film, sound, photography, digital art, performance, etc. Contributions need to clearly engage with the topics of resistance to datafied migration and border control and enable new sensorial / multi-modal imaginations that counter migrant / migration stereotypes and propose juster futures related to migration. They shall result in a small output that can be added to the ‘repository of resistance’ website. Independent projects shall be proposed for each VM, but collaborations across different VM are possible, e.g. for the same project 1 to up to 3 VM can collaborate. Proposals nevertheless should provide a plan how each VM can be worked out independently and how collaborations across VM grantees would expand and enrich the project.
- VM 5: Contribution to an artistic exhibit or a documentary to be included into the online repository of resistance
- VM 6: Contribution to an artistic exhibit or a documentary to be included into the online repository of resistance
- VM 7: Contribution to an artistic exhibit or a documentary to be included into the online repository of resistance
Application process
Each VM applicant can receive:
- An amount between up to EUR 1300 in total can be afforded to the grantee (for a work that takes up to 5,5 days based on a calculation of EUR 200/day). The grant is a flat-rate contribution intended to cover the time and resources invested by the grantee in virtual collaboration. It does not require receipts or expense reports.
During the VM period, neither the COST Association nor the Grant Holder may be considered as an employer. The grantees must make their own arrangements for all health, social, personal security, taxation and pension matters.
All applicants must carefully read the funding rules detailed in the Annotated Rules for COST Actions and the Q&As.
All applicants must have an updated e-COST profile and be a member of the respective Working Group.
Please submit your application by, 5 August 2026:
- online via e-COST:
- Data entry: Basic information (grant title, amount requested, start and end date (latest end date: 20 September 2026), collaborating DATAMIG member´s name and institution name)
- Additional upload: Application form (find attached) indicating the goals, explaining the previous engagements and experiences with WG3 and how they prepare the applicant to realize the deliverable
- A description/work plan including the calculation of required working days and amount of the VM to be afforded, the expected outcomes and the contribution to the overall Action objectives / deliverables (1 page)
- Letter of confirmation from a DATAMIG researcher affiliated to the collaborating institution
- CV of the applicant uploaded to the applicant’s e-COST profile.
Please also email the application form, the letter of invitation, the CV and your budget calculation to the responsible for VM, Prof. Vasilis Galis ([email protected]), as well as to the respective WG 3 leader (WG3: [email protected]).
Acceptance notifications will be sent out by 7 August 2026.
