In the middle of the nineties, as the Swiss authorities were exploring a federal integration policy for immigrants and their offspring, the need was felt to found this future policy on systematic research findings on migration and integration processes. Along with a national research program on Migration and intercultural relationships the Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies (http://www.migration-population.ch/) was founded in 1995. First as an independent research institute and since 2007 as an Institute of the University of Neuchâtel, it is charged to conduct scientific research in the fields of migration and later demographic issues with the aim of contributing towards a pragmatic discussion on topics associated with migration. It has its own documentation centre, which centralises this knowledge and makes it available to all the stakeholders of integration policy at federal, cantonal and local level. Since it is positioned at national level, the SFM plays a key role in the coordination and networking of research in Switzerland is a preferred partner for numerous foreign bodies.
The SFM resolutely engaged from the beginning in fields where research had no tradition in Switzerland, taking up namely asylum policy issues or health questions, shading light on matters of future decision taking. It also set up an exhaustive documentation centre on scientific literature on migration in Switzerland which became very rapidly the reference for scholars, policy makers and press. In the last five years the SFM has broadened its thematic scope and namely developing international relationships.
The SFM comprises a multilingual and interdisciplinary team. Since it was founded in 1995, the Forum has been conducting political research, appraisals, evaluations and consultancy work, which are either commissioned from it or carried out as part of the furtherance of scientific research both in Switzerland and internationally.
