On March 6, 2026, a public event From Evidence to Action: Understanding Migration Choices in Times of Change was held in Bratislava, organised by the Institute of Forecasting (CSPS SAS) together with the European Migration Network Slovakia, operating under IOM Slovakia, in cooperation with the Migration Policy Institute Europe.The event was attended by approximately 60 policymakers and representatives of the professional and academic communities to better understand people's migration decisions. Participants discussed how research findings can be more effectively linked to public policy-making.
The workshop presented the findings of the Horizon PACES project. Researchers Lucia Kováčová (Institute for Forecasting), María Jesús Cabezón Fernández (University of Alicante), Anne-Marie Jeannet (University of Milan), and Simona Vezzoli (International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam) discussed the factors that influence migration decisions and how the public perceives different migration policies. The researchers presented results of comparative qualitative research on migrant decision-making and an international experiment examining public attitudes towards migrants and migration policies.
The final policy discussion linked research with practice. Valon Halimi, Chief of Mission at IOM Slovakia, Alan Le Van, expert on migration and integration at the local level, and Lucia Mýtna Kureková, senior researcher at the Prognostic Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, reflected on the findings of the PACES project in the context of current challenges and opportunities in migration policy in Slovakia.
More information about the PACES project is available HERE.
The PACES project is funded by the EU's Horizon Europe framework program for research and innovation.
