July 2026 - New publication on the subjective well-being of return migrants

• This article studies how return migration affects the subjective well-being of returnees. Based on our null findings, we challenge the typical framing of returning home as either a story of failure or success. Instead, we argue to understand return as a strategic decision to conserve resources and stabilise well-being within the context of broader life-course trajectories.

• The study is joint work with Nico Stawarz (BiB) and Martijn Hendriks (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and has been published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Open access

• This paper complements a previous study in which we examined how subjective well-being changes over the course of emigration. Original article

June 2026 - Neue Transferpublikation: "Demografie braucht Zugehörigkeit"

• Der Beitrag hebt Zugehörigkeit als demografische Ressource hervor und argumentiert, dass die bloße Integration von Zugewanderten in die zentralen Institutionen wie den Arbeitsmarkt und das Bildungssystem  nicht ausreicht, wenn Zuwanderung zur Stabilisierung des Erwerbspersonenpotenzials beitragen soll. Wichtig ist auch, ob Zugewanderte und deren Nachkommen sich sozial eingebunden, zuhause und anerkannt fühlen.

• Die Publikation haben Sebastian Will (BiB) und ich für die Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung erstellt. Sie ist öffentlich zugänglich. Link (DE)

May 2026 - New publication on how migrants' cultural distance to the country of residence shapes their adjustment 

• The article introduces the optimal distance hypothesis. It posits that migrants' adjustment is most facilitated somewhere between minimum and maximum cultural distances. Our study challenges the prevailing views that minimum distances are always most beneficial for adjustment and that increasing cultural distance automatically results in rising adjustment costs.

• This article is joint work with Jean Philippe Décieux (Bonn) and Elke Murdock (University of Luxembourg) and has been published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Open access | Video interview