The German National Contact Point for the European Research Council (NKS ERC), part of the EU office of the German Ministry of Research, has featured PolMig Principal Investigator Dr. Franzisca Zanker in its ongoing series of ERC grantee portraits.
In the interview Franzisca highlights how PolMig puts an Africa-centred lens on questions of political agency, belonging, and migration, aiming to shift a field that has long been dominated by Eurocentric frameworks. Hosted at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute at the University of Freiburg, the project is funded through an ERC Starting Grant (2024).
Franzisca reflects on what makes the project distinctive: rather than treating migrants as objects of study, PolMig positions them as co-producers of knowledge. She also speaks candidly about navigating uncertainty in fieldwork-based research, drawing on lessons learned from leading a previous project through the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also describes what a good day in the project looks like - the team gathered around large sheets of paper, sketching out findings and where they intersect.
Asked what she's most grateful to the ERC for, Franzisca points to the freedom it gave her. She could pursue a question she'd always wanted to answer, unconstrained by immediate policy relevance or disciplinary boundaries. And she got to do it with a team open to trying new, innovative approaches.
Her advice to prospective ERC applicants: take the time to develop a genuinely good idea. Then seek feedback widely, from colleagues, experts, and critics, but also from friends and family. Every question and misunderstanding helps sharpen the proposal.
The full portrait (in German) is available on the EU-Büro des BMFTR website.