About CAGE
Coming of Age in Exile (CAGE) is a large research project funded by the NordForsk initiated July 1st, 2015 and is expected to be completed on December 31st, 2019.
CAGE has been developed within the Nordic Network for Research Cooperation on Unaccompanied Refugee Minors and its sister network Nordic Network for Research on Refugee Children.
You can read more about CAGE in this flyer - download here
Project organisation
The CAGE project is a joint venture between five Nordic research institutions lead by the Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESU). The project is organised in the form of the following three overall studies, respectively:
1. Comparative Registry Studies in National Cohorts of Young Refugees
2. Comparative Analyses of Welfare Policies in the Nordic Countries
- a. Improving the Health Reception of Young Refugees in the Nordic Countries
- b. The Role of Education Policies and Schools in Meeting the Needs of Refugee Students and Tackling Inequities in Education and Labour Market Outcomes
- c. A comparative Analysis of Nordic Policies to Facilitate Entry into the Labor Market
3. Qualitative studies of education and participation on the labour market
- a. A study of Educational and Psychosocial Transitions Encountered by Young Refugees upon Resettlement
- b. Young Refugees in the Labour Market – What are the Experiences of the Trajectory from Education to Labour Market
Read more about the studies here.
The project organization includes a Steering Committee, a management and administration team, an International Advisory Board and country specific User Boards that have not yet been established.
The steering committee’s task is to develop and approve the strategic direction and activities of the project and ensure the coordination of the projects. The committee will meet twice a year with additional meetings according to the needs.
The Steering Committee consists of the PI, Allan Krasnik, the project administrator, Janne Sørensen and the team leaders, namely:
- MESU, Denmark: Signe Smith Jervelund. Marie Nørredam will act as Deputy Team leader.
- CHESS, Sweden: Anders Hjern and Karl Gauffin will act as Deputy Team leader.
- The Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS), Norway: Lutine de Wal Pastoor
- University College of Southeast Norway, Norway: Ketil Eide
- Institute of Migration, Finland: Elli Heikkilä. Marja Tiilikainen will act as Deputy Team leader.
The Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health
The Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESU) was established in January 2010 within the Department of Public Health at Copenhagen University. MESU aims to improve endeavours directed towards migrants' health by strengthening interdisciplinary research, teaching, and communication on health. Intense focus lays on the role of social inequality and ethnicity in migrants and ethnic minorities' health and on the importance of the migration process.
MESU both initiates and conducts its own research and contributes to the development of others' research in the field through professional guidance and advice. In addition, the centre contributes to establishing professional networks for Danish and international researchers through regular research seminars and academic meetings, exchange of information on research initiatives and information about on-going activities in Denmark. MESU also have extensive experience with developing courses with focus on diversity, migration, ethnicity and health. The researchers within MESU have a broad experience in registry-based research as well as in other quantitative and qualitative research methods. MESU has a close collaboration with The National Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen School of Global Health and the Migrant Health Clinics at Odense University Hospital and Hvidovre Hospital, who all are represented in MESU's steering committee.
Read more about MESU.
Read more about the Department of Public Health.
Migration Institute of Finland
The Migration Institute of Finland was founded in 1974, and has its headquarters in Turku. The Institute has two regional centres, the centre for Ostrobothnia in Seinäjoki and the Centre for Swedish-speaking Finland in Kronoby. The tasks of the Migration Institute of Finland are:
- to promote the collection, storage and documentation of research material relating to international and internal migration including immigrants and refugees
- to carry out and to promote migration research
- to publish research reports, books and articles on migration
- to develop co-operation between the universities and special organizations related to migration, both within Finland and abroad
- to maintain and to provide information services about migration
The research of the Institute includes the study of immigration, emigration and country-internal migration and regional development. The research is mainly conducted as multi-scientific projects.
The Institute arranges seminars and conferences to promote scholarly collaboration. In addition to research activities, the Institute has archives, library, emigrant register, exhibitions and funds.
The Institute is basically financed by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, but in addition various projects are financed from a variety of other national and international sources.
Read more about Migration Institute of Finland.
Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies
The Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) is a specialised research institute owned by the University of Oslo. It develops and disseminates knowledge and competence in the field of violence and traumatic stress. The centre has an international outlook and develops knowledge at an international academic level. Its topics of research can be categorized under the following main headings: Violence, traumatic stress, sexual abuse, disasters and refugees/asylum seekers. NKVTS applies an interdisciplinary approach in its research, which includes medical, psychological, pedagogical, social, cultural and legal aspects.
NKVTS objective is to help prevent and reduce the health-related and social consequences that may follow from exposure to violence and traumatic stress. “Forced migration, trauma and refugee health” is one of the centre’s three thematic pillars. NKVTS publishes international research in the field as well as submits research reports on behalf of several Norwegian Ministries. Other contract authorities are Directorates, the Research Council of Norway, NGOs and others. The centre has about 40 researchers employed; most of them have a doctoral degree. In addition, there are currently 14 PhD candidates engaged in doctoral research projects.
Read more about the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies.
Centre for Health Equity Studies
At Centre for Health Equity Studies, CHESS, researchers from sociology, psychology and public health sciences work together on issues of health and inequality. CHESS is the result of a collaboration between Stockholm University and Karolinska Institutet and from 2018 a section within the Department of Public Health at Stockholm University.
Read more about CHESS.
University College of Southeast Norway
University College of Southeast Norway (USN) is a state university college and has approximately 7000 students. USN is a not for profit organisation based in South-Eastern part of Norway. USN has campuses in Bø, Notodden, Porsgrunn and Rauland, and offers a broad range of academic opportunities at bachelor-, master- and PhD-levels. The three pillars of the USN activities are education, research and dissemination. USN consists of four different faculties: Faculty of Arts and Sciences (AF), Faculty of Art, Folk Culture and Teacher Education (EFL), Faculty of Health and Social Studies (HS), and Faculty of Technology (TF).
Read more about University College of Southeast Norway.
The International Advisory Board assists the Steering Committee and the PI in the strategic development of CAGE and in developing strategies for disseminating the research results to an international audience including researchers, practitioners, managers and policy makers.
The International Advisory board is composed of seven internationally acclaimed researchers from Europe and represents a multidisciplinary expertise in the field of refugee, health and social welfare.
The Advisory Board will ensure the international dimension and relevance and contribute to the high scientific level through participation in the board meetings, the international research seminars and through collaboration involving comparative issues, interpretation and discussion of results and publications.
The members of the International Advisory are:
- Professor Ilse Derluyn, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Ghent University, Belgium
- Senior Researcher Simone Goosen, Netherlands Association for Community Health Services (GGD NL), the Netherlands
- Professor Ravi KS Kohli, Child Welfare, Department of Applied Social Studies, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
- Professor Vincent Lorant, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- Senior Researcher Davide Malmusi, Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Spain
- Senior Researcher Edith Montgomery, DIGNITY-Danish Institute against Torture, Denmark
- Professor Raija-Leena Punamäki, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Psychology, University of Tampere, Finland
- Professor Charles Watters, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
The outcome of CAGE is aimed towards many different recipients and therefore it is important for CAGE to ensure direct contact with the main users of the CAGE research results.
For this reason, country-specific User Boards are established including organisations which are involved in health and social welfare in the field of refugees including representatives of national and local policy makers, NGO’s, practitioners and young refugees.
The User Boards meet annually and serves as a forum for discussion of CAGE’s plans for data collection and study results and help CAGE disseminate the outcomes.
In addition, the User Boards function as advisors for the Steering Committee on practical issues and needs.
CAGE is coordinated and administrated by MESU, University of Copenhagen. The daily management of the project will be undertaken by the management team:
PI and project leader
Professor Allan Krasnik
E-mail: alk@sund.ku.dk
Deputy PI
Associate professor, Center director Signe Smith Jervelund
E-mail: ssn@sund.ku.dk
Project administrator
Senior advisor Janne Sørensen
E-mail: jans.@sund.ku.dk