Social Support and Migration in Scotland

The five-year ESRC project ‘Social Support and Migration in Scotland’ (SSAMIS) was a collaboration between the University of Glasgow and Swansea University which ran from November 2013 to November 2018. It explored experiences of migration and settlement amongst Central and Eastern European (CEE) migrants living in urban and rural Scotland.

Researchers carried out extensive ethnographic fieldwork in two urban and two rural locations across Scotland, including migrant interviews, expert interviews, and ethnographic observations at key sites. This was followed by a period of participatory action research, where the SSAMIS team led initiatives at fieldwork sites with the aim of bringing key fieldwork findings on challenges migrants face into action in local Angus and Aberdeenshire communities – and beyond.

The data from this project can be found in the UK Data Service Reshare archive Ref. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-852584

These two main phases of the project have since been followed by two additional projects (on social integration and low-skilled labour migration in Scotland) by members of the SSAMIS team, which have expanded on its findings through further research, reports and media coverage. SSAMIS researchers have also continued to share key findings and work with service providers and policymakers at a local and national level.