Dr P.J. Beckers (Pascal)

Associate professor - Planning

Contact

Visiting address

Heyendaalseweg 141
6525 AJ NIJMEGEN

Postal address

Postbus 9108
6500 HK NIJMEGEN

Working days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Pascal Beckers is Associate Professor in Human Geography and Planning at the Radboud University Nijmegen (NL) with particular expertise on issues related to migrant inclusion, employment and housing. He has been coordinating several small and large scale research projects funded by EU, ZonMw and NWO on foreign skills recognition, cultural diversity management policies and practices, labour market integration of refugees, (EU) labour migrants and irregular migrants, refugee mental health, cross-border governance of labour migration, housing issues of labour migrants. From April 2023 onwards he will coordinate the EU Horizon Europe project DignityFirm on EU governance of irregular migrants working in Farm to Fork sectors. He is Director of Research & Societal Impact at the Radboud University Network on Migrant Inclusion (RUNOMI), a university-wide network of 100+ scholars specialized in migrant inclusion issues.

Tags: Migrant inclusion, employment, housing, urban studies, migrant entrepreneurship, foreign skills recognition, cultural diversity management, refugee studies

Publications

Projects

2013 - 2015 EU DIVERSE project (Diversity Improvement as a Viable Enrichment Resource); The DIVERSE project provides a contribution to the labour market integration of TCNs in the Netherlands. The research activities are carried out as part of an international comparative research, implemented in ten European countries and funded by the European Integration Fund. In the Netherlands we concentrate on four activities: The policies and practices with regard to the recognition of skills, knowledge and competences (SKC) of TCNs; the cultural diversity management practices of ten organisations (public, profit and non-profit) in the region Arnhem-Nijmegen; the participation of TCNs in voluntary organisations; the final activity entails the development of an audit tool to support TCNs in their objective assessment and recognition of their competences to foster their participation on the labour market. More information
2016 - 2018 EU Skills2Work project: Valuing Skills of Beneficiaries of International Protection in the European Union; The Skills2Work project strives to create better conditions for early and successful labour market integration of the beneficiaries of international protection. It intends to do so by developing of a set of practical guidelines on strengthening skill validation and early job-matching in the asylum procedure and reception of the beneficiaries of international protection. The project also seeks to inform the development of a platform with an online comprehensive tool providing support to target audiences in EU countries, being reception officials and integration service providers, asylum-seekers and beneficiaries of international protection and potential and actual employers. More information
2017 - 2022 Project: Positive psychology to foster mental health and labour market participation of refugees; Co-funding: ZonMw and ESF SITS. In the region Rijk van Nijmegen a new intervention is being developed to foster mental health, social network formation and chances of labour market participation of refugees. It is a joint initiative of the municipality Nijmegen, the regional Employment Agency, Radboud University, The Dutch Refugee Council, Pro Persona/Indigo, GGD and successfully integrated refugees. The intervention is based on the principles of positive psychology. Can positive psychology help to foster refugee mental health, social network formation and chances of labour market participation? Experts of Radboud University research the effectiveness of this intervention. More information
2019 - 2020 Project: The relation between mental health and labour market participation of Syrian refugees; Co-funding: ZonMw. The labour market participation of Syrian refugees is problematic, also many Syrian refugees suffer from mental health problems. The aim of this project is to explore the relation between mental health and labour market participation of Syrian refugees. First, a literature research is conducted. Second, the project analyzes the relation between mental health and labour market integration using the 2017 data ‘Syriërs in Nederland’ (SCP, CBS and WODC). Finally, expert interviews are conducted to assess whether and how the intervention 'Positive psychology for refugees' (see above project) may be implementable in other Dutch regions. More information
2020 - 2022 Project: Migrants in the frontline; Funding: ZonMw. Migrant workers perform essential work in crucial sectors. During the COVID-19 crisis, they are in the frontline and run health risks. Their protection therefore requires urgent attention. An interdisciplinary research team of the Radboud University Network on Migrant Inclusion (RUNOMI) will, together with De Burcht and partners in the field, investigate which structural problems concerning labour migration were exposed by the corona crisis and which opportunities this crisis offers to improve the protection of migrant workers. They will also look for innovations to make crucial sectors less dependent on vulnerable migrants. Because labour migrants often work and live across borders, this research focuses on the border regions (the Netherlands/North Rhine-Westphalia). More information

Dr P.J. Beckers (Pascal)

Publications

Projects

Teaching

Curriculum Vitae

Ancillary positions