On the 5th September 2025, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the award of the 2024 Starting Grants and the PolMig project was amongst them. The project is among the 14.2% of the applications that were selected from 3 474 proposals. Besides its pertinent research question and the important inclusion of perspectives from the Global South, the evaluation panel found the innovative research methods especially convincing. Franzisca Zanker says "I am delighted about the opportunity to bring new perspectives to such an important social issue with this project. What can migrants tell us about their own role, needs and desires in society? What can we learn by adopting an Afrocentric perspective? This prestigious and substantial grant will allow my team and I to push methodological boundaries, further our understanding of migrant agency and ultimately knowledge production."
Read the full press release here.