Longitudinal Study of Ukrainian Refugees in Germany (SUARE): Data infrastructure, Health and Discrimination

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Stefan Liebig; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Sabine Zinn
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 518967487

Since the beginning of Russia's war on Ukraine, the volume and structure of refugees living in Germany has changed significantly compared to the refugee migration of 2015/2016: Between the end of February and the end of July 2022, approximately 910,000 new arrivals from Ukraine were recorded by the Central Register of Foreigners. This means that refugees from Ukraine are currently the largest group of people seeking protection in Germany. The refugee migration from Ukraine differs from the last episode of refugee migration (2015/2016) by three institutional framework conditions: (1) open borders of the EU due to the visa-free regime and the activation of the Mass Influx Directive, (2) legal and planning security for the refugees in the EU and Germany due to a secured residence status after immigration, (3) general mobilization and the exit ban for men of conscription age in Ukraine. In addition, refugee migration from Ukraine is characterized by a high proportion of women with caregiving responsibilities, a high level of education among refugees, a high level of uncertainty about the outcome of the war and return options, and a potentially more positive perception of Ukraine refugees by the majority society. The research projects submitted as a package proposal aim to investigate whether these specific framework conditions have an impact on the selectivity of refugee migration, labor market integration, physical and mental health, and discrimination of refugees from Ukraine. This project has two goals: (1) Establishment of a longitudinal data infrastructure on the socio-economic situation of Ukrainian refugees in Germany and its development over the next three years (Longitudinal Study of Ukrainian Refugees (SUARE)) as well as its integration into the IAB-BAMF-SOEP study and the main SOEP survey (SOEP-CORE) (waves 2023-2025). (2) Based on these data, the significance of the specific institutional, economic and social conditions of refugee migration from Ukraine to Germany for the substantial research topics of health and discrimination will be identified via a comparison with (a) refugees in Germany from other cultural, political and socio-economic contexts, (b) the population with a migrant background as well as the (c) autochthonous population.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants