Russell King’s research while affiliated with University of Sussex and other places

The Bangladeshi‐origin community is one of the largest, longest‐established and fastest‐growing migrant groups in the UK. For the first‐generation immigrants, retirement brings a threefold dilemma: stay put for the rest of their lives, surrounded by children and grandchildren; return to Bangladesh to enjoy a peaceful later‐life there; or adopt a to‐and‐fro transnational lifestyle. Interviews were conducted with 32 British Bangladeshis aged 60+, both in London and Sylhet (their main region of origin), with the aim of ascertaining how gender contributes to return migration theory and practice. We find, first, that most British‐Bangladeshi elders do not return. Second, return mobilities, for shorter or longer stays, are highly gendered: it is overwhelmingly men who contemplate and actualise return. Return migration is about reclaiming masculinity and meaning in old age in the home area. Some older men return seasonally, to escape the British winter. A major preoccupation of returnees is access to health services, deemed poor and expensive in Bangladesh.

Across many countries of Central and Eastern Europe the emigration of skilled professionals since 1990 has become a serious problem of the loss of specialised human capital. This paper on Albanian doctors is one of the first to study in depth an example of this broader phenomenon of brain drain from the CEE region. There is a global demand for medical doctors which exceeds supply, leading to international competition in which the richer countries, with higher salaries and better working conditions, attract medical graduates and trained doctors from poorer countries. The migration of doctors from Albania is set within this globalised and hierarchised market for medical expertise. On the one hand, the movement of doctors to richer countries helps to plug the deficit in their supply in such countries and enables the individuals concerned to improve their incomes and life conditions. On the other hand, the loss of medical professionals severely harms the structure and quality of the health service in the sending country. This paper addresses three main questions. First, what are the characteristics of the Albanian medical brain drain in terms of its size, socio-demographics and destination countries? Second, what are the causes and consequences of Albania's loss of medical doctors? Third, what are the prospects of the migrant doctors returning to Albania or contributing their expertise from abroad? Answers are provided via a dual methodology of an online survey of Albanian doctors currently working abroad (N=301) and follow-up interviews with 25 of them. More than half of the survey respondents do not intend to return to Albania and a further third are undecided. Interview data indicate that the doctors are well-integrated abroad and see 'no future' for themselves and their families in Albania. There is, however, a greater willingness to share expertise with the home country via cooperation and short visits. Obstacles to return are partly income-related but, to a greater extent, reflect the poor working conditions and career prospects in Albania, including endemic corruption-the same factors that caused emigration in the first place. The policy implications of our findings are challenging; one solution is to mandate a period of work in Albania for newly qualified doctors before they are allowed to go abroad.

This paper reports the results of empirical research into the characteristics of the Kosovan scientific diaspora. We define ‘scientific diaspora’ as persons holding a PhD or studying for one who are currently living and working abroad. This export of highly qualified talent is a major issue across the Western Balkan countries, and seems to be particularly high amongst ethnic Albanians, not only in Kosovo but also in Albania and the Albanian-speaking populations of North Macedonia and Montenegro. In the early sections of the paper, we review the history of emigration from Kosovo and trace the evolution of the debate on brain drain to argue for a shift towards considering it more in terms of a scientific diaspora which can be mobilised for supporting the home country, in this case Kosovo. The empirical heart of the paper is the presentation of findings from a dual-survey methodology: an online survey Kosovan PhD-holders and PhD students abroad (397 respondents), and a follow-up programme of interviews with 39 of the survey respondents. We find the Kosovan scientific diaspora mainly concentrated in the USA and in German-speaking European countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) and spread across a wide range of subjects and research specialisms. They are a young, dynamic population: three quarters of the survey sample are aged below 40. Their reasons for emigrating – poor quality of academic life in Kosovo, political and economic instability in the wider society – are the same reasons which hinder their future return. Only one-third of the survey respondents replied that they intended to return to Kosovo, although many more were undecided. By contrast a much larger share said they wanted ‘to give something back’ to their homeland by making a range of other contributions – short-term teaching assignments, research collaboration, writing joint publications etc. The Kosovan embassies could do more to encourage productive contacts with the homeland. Another suggestion is to create a comprehensive databank of Kosovan emigrants’ scientific expertise, which could be called upon to assist development objectives, both in the wider economy and society of Kosovo and in the university and scientific research sector.

The Greek economic crisis resulted in tens of thousands of Albanian migrants returning to their home country. Amongst the returnees were many second‐generation children of the immigrants, who either returned with their families or relocated as individuals, leaving family members in Greece. Since the second generation were brought up in Greece they are not true returnees; we call their movement ‘relocation’ rather than return. Based on in‐depth interviews with 158 second‐generation ‘relocatees’ aged 18–35, we ask: How are the second generation's future aspirations in the ancestral homeland shaped by family bonds, sociocultural factors and employment and business options there? Among the themes that emerge from our analysis are issues of agency, youth mobility, economic survival, hybrid and dual identities, and feelings of belonging. In their (re)integration, relocatees face both economic and emotional challenges. Our key finding is that, despite the need to escape unemployment and loss of livelihood in Greece, the young‐adult second generation struggles to settle in Albania, above all due to what they see as the challenging sociocultural and infrastructural environment. Women, especially, bemoan the loss of freedom that they enjoyed in Greece. Most relocatees want to go back to Greece when the economic situation there improves.

Although a relatively small player in the global arena of international student migration/mobility (ISM), Portugal hosts an increasing number of international students, the vast majority of whom are from its former colonies. This paper shifts the debate on ISM away from the Anglophone world by examining the future mobility intentions and outcomes of students and graduates from Angola and Cape Verde who are or were enrolled in Portuguese universities. Based on 85 interviews with 49 participants, we explore their decision‐making processes about the location of their future careers—back in their home country, in Portugal, or elsewhere. We pay particular attention to how their thinking about their future lives—and where they want to be—changes during the course of their study in Portugal. A close reading of the participants' narratives enables the construction of a fourfold typology of their sociospatial trajectories (fulfilled and envisaged) and the reasons behind them. We label them: (i) maximisers ; (ii) dreamers ; (iii) globally mobile ; and (iv) runners . These categories are not mutually exclusive and, for any given individual, can change over time, demonstrating the complexity of international students' plans and outcomes.

Self-realisation projects are a widespread phenomenon in the neoliberal era. It essence, such projects are about taking affairs into one’s own hands and are often geared towards a wider life-course goal or a new lifestyle. This chapter argues that self-realisation projects are especially worthy of attention when focusing on the intersection of migration and ageing, since the decision to move to a new place, especially in a new country, at older age, for instance upon retirement, often embodies some kind of existential goal to open up a new chapter in one’s life. Self-realisation has traditionally been regarded as the ‘cornerstone of wellbeing’ and a motivating force for purposeful and goal-oriented behaviour (George 1998: 133). The freedom to enjoy the ‘post-productive’ period of life relates to self-realisation as a ‘free body’, no longer governed by the time schedules of work. In the context of ageing, self-realisation can be defined as the desire and the capability to pursue a lifestyle or a project that was unattainable during earlier working or family-centred lives. As Laceulle and Baars (2014) have shown, in late-modern times, ageing individuals are faced with cultural narratives that are often stereotyping and demeaning, following a trope of vulnerability and decline (King et al. 2017). By contrast, the counter-narrative of self-realisation constitutes a moral and agentic discourse which reinscribes purpose in later life, leading to more meaningful individual and communitarian life trajectories. Lulle, A. and King, R. (2023) Older migrants and self-realisation projects. In Torres, S. and Hunter, A. Handbook on Ageing and migration, (pp.229+240) London: Elsevier

Taking the case of Albania, in this paper we present data on the brain drain of medical doctors and what can be done to prevent it. Globally, the demand for doctors and other healthcare professionals is rising fast due to ageing populations and also, in Europe especially, the ageing of the population of doctors. Like other Western Balkan countries, but to a greater extent, Albania ‘loses’ a large share of its medical students and young doctors to more advanced EU and OECD countries, especially Germany and Italy. We present survey (N=301) and interview (N=25) data on Albanian doctors living and working abroad in order to profile their sociodemographic characteristics, reasons for emigrating, professional and social experiences abroad, and prospects for returning to Albania. Crucially, more than a half of survey respondents do not wish to return to Albania, and a further one third are undecided. They are, however, keener to share their expertise with their home country in other forms of cooperation and mobility which do not involve a long-term return. The obstacles to return are seen not so much as economic as relating to the poor quality of the working environment and uncertain opportunities for professional development in Albania. Also highlighted as a barrier to return is Albania’s social and political system and endemic corruption. Policies are suggested to both stem the outflow of doctors and promote the return of those abroad – but these are much easier said than done.