Welcome to the CMR Podcast's mini-series about the Horizon Europe project GS4S – Global Strategy for Skills, Migration and Development. In this project – running from 2024 to 2026 - fourteen partners from ten countries seek to better understand global skills shortages in the digital, care, and construction sectors, and foster skills development through innovative analyses. The project proposes multi-level evidence-based policies on labor migration governance and alternative ways to address these shortages in six regions: the EU, the EEA, the Western Balkans, the Middle East and Northern Africa, West Africa, and South/South-East Asia. In a six-part podcast mini-series, we will present some GS4S results and discuss their policy implications.
In the fifth episode of the GS4S mini-series, we explore how Multinational enterprises (MNEs) and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Europe address their skill shortages, drawing from the GS4S business survey. Prof. Ayse Saka-Helmhout, the Chair of the Strategy and International Business section at Radboud University, leads GS4S work on business strategies for addressing skill shortages. She is joined by two project members from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Dr. Mariana Alvarado Chavez and Dr. Sandra Lavenex.
Dr. Mariana Alvarado Chavez is a Senior Researcher (Maître Assistante) in Comparative Politics at the University of Geneva's Department of Political Science and International Relations. She holds a Bachelor's in Humanities from the Carlos III University of Madrid, a Master's in Comparative and International Studies from ETH Zurich, and a PhD in Political Science from New York University.
Her research interests lie at the intersection of comparative politics, political economy and political behavior. In her research, she combines these approaches to study how different forms of inequality affect citizens' expectations and behaviors towards the state. With a regional focus on Latin America, the research combines survey data and natural experiments to make well-identified causal claims. Substantively, it explores questions ranging from tax fairness to the effects of recognizing indigenous citizens. She also studies the political economy of high-skilled migration in Switzerland.
Dr. Sandra Lavenex is Professor of European and International Politics at the University of Geneva and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe. Her research focuses on European and international migration policy, EU external relations, and international institutions more broadly. She obtained her PhD from the European University Institute in Florence in 1999 and has since held positions at the Universities of Zurich, Bern, Lucerne and now Geneva. She joined the College of Europe in 2007 and has acted as external advisor for the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Swiss Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2024 she was elected member of the “Sachverständigenrat Migration”, an independent expert body on migration counselling the German government.
The Horizon Europe project GS4S was funded by the European Union.
Show notes
Horizon Europe GS4S project: www.gs4s.eu
Saka-Helmhout, A., Speldekamp, D., Beckers, P., and de Lange, T. (2026). Navigating labour gaps: A configurational approach to MNE decisions on automation vs. Development of migrant talent. IMISCOE Conference Paper, Girona, 29 June- 2 July.
About the CMR podcast
The CMR podcast series presents interviews with scholars and experts in the practice of migration law (in both Dutch and English). We discuss current developments in European migration law and their impact in European member states as well as countries outside the EU. The talks provide a look behind the scenes of research and scholars' involvement in policy-making. Interesting therefore for other scientists and experts, but especially for politicians and policymakers at European and national level, consultants, interested citizens and, of course, our students.