FONDAZIONE INIZIATIVE E STUDIO SULLA MULTIETNICITA ENTE DEL TERZO SETTORE

Their core work

ISMU is a Milan-based third-sector research foundation dedicated to the study of migration, multi-ethnicity, and the social integration of immigrant and refugee populations in Europe. Their core work sits at the intersection of social science research and public policy: they produce evidence-based analyses of migration flows, asylum processes, and integration outcomes, then translate those findings into actionable policy recommendations. In EU projects, they function as architects of knowledge-exchange platforms and participatory policy processes, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and institutions around shared social challenges. Their institutional mandate — built into their name — makes them a rare specialist: a research body whose entire mission is multi-ethnicity and integration, not a sub-unit of a broader university or think tank.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (ReSOMA, 2018–2020), ISMU focused on creating a structured research infrastructure — a platform to aggregate and share knowledge on migration and asylum across academic and policy communities. Their second project (SPRING, 2021–2023) moved from platform-building toward applied integration practice, with explicit attention to sustainability, participatory methodologies, and policy transfer. The trend is a classic progression from mapping the field to shaping it: early work built the evidence base, recent work puts that evidence to work in real policy and community contexts.

ISMU is moving toward applied, participatory policy work — future collaborations will likely focus on co-designing integration interventions with local authorities and civil society, rather than purely academic knowledge synthesis.

How they like to work

ISMU has led both of their H2020 projects as coordinator, which is unusual for a small third-sector foundation and signals genuine grant management capacity and confidence in consortium leadership. With 15 unique partners spread across 6 countries over just two projects, they build mid-sized, diverse European consortia rather than relying on a fixed circle of repeat partners. Working with them likely means engaging with a mission-driven coordinator that sets a clear policy or social research agenda and expects partners to contribute substantively to outputs rather than fill nominal roles.

ISMU has collaborated with 15 distinct partners across 6 European countries, an above-average partner diversity for an organization with only two projects. Their network likely spans academic institutions, NGOs, and public authorities with mandates in migration, social services, or integration policy.

What sets them apart

ISMU is one of very few EU-funded research organisations whose entire institutional identity is built around multi-ethnicity and migration — this is not a topic they occasionally touch but the core of their founding mission since the 1990s. For consortium builders working on social integration, asylum policy, or migrant inclusion, ISMU brings both deep domain expertise and Italian/Southern European geographic grounding that Northern European-heavy consortia often lack. Their third-sector (non-profit foundation) legal status also makes them a credible bridge between academic research and civil society implementation, which CSA-type projects specifically require.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ReSOMA
  The largest of their two projects (€377,006) and the more ambitious in scope — building a pan-European research-policy platform on migration and asylum, positioning ISMU as a convener of the field rather than just a participant.
• SPRING
  Marks a clear methodological evolution toward participatory and applied integration practice, with documented keyword outputs that suggest stronger community and policy-transfer components compared to the earlier platform-building phase.