I have fantastic news to share! An article based on the Living Together project has been accepted for publication in Population, Space and Place – one of the leading academic journals in the field of human geography. It is an outcome of my exciting collaboration with a brilliant colleague from Finland: Dr Tiina Sotkasiira. The article focuses on how Brexit affects Polish and Finnish migrants in Scotland and explores the role of time in negotiating uncertainty.

Gawlewicz A & Sotkasiira T (2020) Revisiting geographies of temporalities: The significance of time in migrant responses to Brexit. Population, Space and Place. 

The first Living Together output – a guest article on the LSE Brexit Blog – is now out! The article focuses on the long-settled residents of the East End of Glasgow and what they say about migration and Brexit. It discusses the accounts of both Remainers and Leavers and explores how migration features in their understandings of Brexit. Massive thanks to LSE Brexit Blog for publishing this piece! You can read it HERE.

Gawlewicz A (2019) What people say about migration and Brexit: Stories from Glasgow’s East End. LSE Brexit Blog.

This year is all about dissemination! I am very excited about presenting findings from the Living Together project at a number of conferences. On 29 March, I am taking part in the IMISCOE Spring Conference: Transforming Mobility and Immobility – Brexit and Beyond in Sheffield, UK. On 5 April, I am giving a talk as part of the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting in Washington DC, US and on 26 April as part of the British Sociological Association Annual Conference, coincidentally taking place in Glasgow this year! Then, on 9 May I will be bringing my ‘Sheffield’ talk to Edinburgh to the Migration Mobilities Research Network Annual Conference. Finally, at the end of August I will be sharing more project insights at the Royal Geographical Society Annual Meeting in London, UK. I am also planning to prepare an end of study report in the second half of the year, so please stay tuned!

List of the project talks:

• 29 March 2019, Sheffield, UK: ‘Keep calm and carry on’: Significance of time in migrant responses to Brexit (Transforming Mobility and Immobility – Brexit and Beyond)
• 5 April 2019, Washington DC, US: Throwntogetherness in the East End of Glasgow: Responses to Brexit among migrant and the long-settled population (AAG 2019)
• 26 April 2019, Glasgow, UK: Living together in the context of Brexit: Negotiating uncertainty in the East End of Glasgow (BSA 2019)
• 9 May 2019, Edinburgh, UK: ‘Keep calm and carry on’: Significance of time in migrant responses to Brexit (MMRN 2019)
• 29 August 2019, London, UK: Coming together: Diverse community spaces in the East End of Glasgow (RGS 2019)

If you are attending the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting 2019, please join one of the sessions on diversity, migration and the city that I am co-organising with Carlos Estrada-Grajales (Queensland University of Technology, Australia). We are having four sessions in total, all preliminarily scheduled for 5 April 2019 between 8am and 4:45pm in Marriott Ballroom Salon 2, Marriott Wardman Park.

Our call for papers attracted a lot of interest: hence, as many as four sessions! The presenters come from over 20 universities in 10 countries across the globe and all will address the issue of how diverse populations ‘live together’ in turbulent times. I am excited to say that I will be discussing the findings from the Living Together project there too. You can find the session programme with presenter details HERE.

I am thrilled to say that Carlos Estrada-Grajales (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) and I are organising a conference session that directly speaks to the topic of the Living Together project! The session is titled Throwntogetherness in turbulent times: Diversity, Migration and the City and will explore issues around urban communities, multiculture, conviviality, the right to the city and migrant-‘host’ relations’. It will be part of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting 2019 taking place between 3 and 7 April 2019 in Washington DC. If you are interested in taking part, please send an abstract of no more than 250 words to Carlos and me by 12 October 2018. For more details and full call for papers click HERE.

A bit overdue, this is a round-up of fieldwork for the Living Together project. First and foremost, I wish to thank all research participants for their time and dedication, and for sharing East End stories. I am grateful to each and every one of you for making this research possible!

The fieldwork took 10 intense months between July 2017 and April 2018, and involved observing and speaking to people who live in the East End of Glasgow and work with East End communities. This included 10 expert interviews with representatives of East End-based organisations (e.g. community councils, community centres, housing associations, migrant organisations), and 40 interviews and one focus group with East End residents. The resident interviews were split equally between Polish nationals (20 interviews) and members of the long-settled population (20 interviews). While the long-settled participants were predominantly White Scottish, this group included also an Asian Scottish person, a few people originally coming from other parts of the UK (e.g. England), one Italian-British and one Irish person. The focus group involved EU nationals from five different countries. In total, I spoke to 56 people.

These respondents included 34 women and 22 men between the mid-20s and late 70s. They were diverse in terms of ethnicity, religion/belief, sexuality, class as well as attitudes towards Brexit. They also had different education levels and employment statuses (although the overall sample was skewed towards the better-educated and employed). A number of Polish nationals worked below their actual qualifications, which is reflective of deskilling among Polish migrants in Scotland. But, this group included also highly-skilled professionals, business owners and students. The respondents came from different neighbourhoods within the East End too: Bridgeton, Calton, Craigend, Cranhill, Dalmarnock (and the Commonwealth Village), Dennistoun, Parkhead, Royston, Ruchazie and Shettleston. However, around a half lived closer to the city centre, in Bridgeton, Calton or Dennistoun.

I have collected an extensive material as part of this fieldwork (e.g. interview data, fieldnotes, photographs, documents, press articles) and am excited about moving to the next stage of the research process now (data analysis). I am planning to publish a research report in the second half of 2019 alongside some more academic outputs (e.g. journal articles). Check out my twitter @AnnaGawlewicz for updates!

Fieldwork update: I have now finished interviewing Polish migrants in the East End of Glasgow, but am still looking for a few Scottish/British/other long-settled informants. I would like to speak to you if you are 18 or older and live in Bridgeton, Calton, Camlachie, Dalmarnock, Gallowgate, Parkhead, Shettleston and Tollcross. To ensure diversity of opinions, at this stage of the study I particularly seek people who voted to ‘Leave’ in the Brexit referendum. You can get in touch by filling this CONTACT FORM. I look forward to hearing from you!

I am looking for research participants in the East End of Glasgow to take part in the Living Together project. I would like to speak to you if you are 18 or over and are EITHER a long-settled resident of the East End OR a Polish national living in the East End. Participation in the study involves being interviewed and/or contributing to a focus group, and discussing your experiences of living in the East End; your encounters with other residents; your social networks; and feelings about migration and Brexit. Interviews/focus groups will be arranged at a time and place convenient for you. What you tell me will remain confidential and your identity will be carefully protected. To get involved, email me via the CONTACT FORM (in English or Polish). I look forward to hearing from you!

In the UK, research projects that involve human participants need to be reviewed by an adequate ethics committee. This process ensures compliance with good ethical practice and effective protection of the dignity, rights, privacy, health and safety of research participants as well as researchers. I am thrilled to say that Living Together has now been considered and approved by the College of Social Science Research Ethics Committee at the University of Glasgow. This means that I have been given the green light to conduct fieldwork with Polish migrants and the long-settled residents in the East End of Glasgow. I am looking forward to officially starting on 3 July 2017!

I am happy to say that the Living Together project started in March 2017 and will run until December 2019. As any research project, it will involve a few months of preparation before the fieldwork begins later this year. Check up this site for updates!