The ETMU Conference 2026, Towards Good Relations in Mobile Futures: The Role of Trust for Migration and Belonging, will take place on 5–6 November 2026 (with a pre-conference on 4 November) in Turku, Finland. The conference will be hosted at Åbo Akademi University and organised by the Mobile Futures project, in collaboration with the University of Turku and the Migration Institute of Finland.
See full call for sessions and information here: https://mobilefutures.fi/events/etmu-conference-2026-call-for-sessions/
Conference theme: Trust, migration, and belonging
The conference will trace what trust means and how it figures and transfigures in migration experiences and processes of belonging. Trust issues, including mistrust and distrust, are highly constitutive of migration trajectories and of building sustainable relationships in a given country or context. Trust and a sense of safety, belonging, solidarity, and reliability often shape how, where, and why people move, and how they inhabit the society and institutions of their country of citizenship or residence.
A dominant understanding of trust requires recognising one’s vulnerability in anticipation of others’ intentions and actions, with openness to and hope for a better collective outcome. In this understanding, trust is crucial for building sustainable future societal relations. Yet the definition, narrative and enactment of trust can be contested. Trust is shaped by inequities and discrimination, and by phenomena such as racism, whereas racism, structural and beyond may influence people’s opportunities to trust the society or the communities living in it. Trust can be exploited, and mistrust can be protective or can foster solidarity and grassroots activism. Hence, trust, as a concept and as an experience, is elusive and disputed. It is contextual – depending on and embedded in the surroundings; relational – building on the relations between individuals or institutions; and dynamic – it is a process that can shift and change; it is constantly renegotiated. This makes research on trust challenging both conceptually and methodologically.
Despite its contested nature, the meaning and role of trust, as well as mistrust and distrust, in the context of migration and belonging have been relatively understudied, both theoretically and empirically. This conference reflects on the diverse ways of conceptualising, inhabiting, experiencing, and enacting trust. It also traces both traditional and new research methodologies on trust.
What kind of sessions are we looking for?
We invite contributions that take a broad, multifaceted approach to trust and its possible associations, including recognition, protection, belonging, equity, anti-racism, risk, trustworthiness, reliability, accountability, the rule of law, love, hope, refusal, and control. We are interested in how trust is shaped among people (social trust), how individuals navigate their relationships with institutions (institutional trust), and how institutions trust one another (inter-institutional trust). This also includes past, present, and future visions of trust, as well as projects for communal, intercommunal, and inter-institutional trust-building. We also invite contributions that focus on building strong, sustainable relationships between research and activism.
Guidelines & submission
When preparing and submitting your session proposal, please keep in mind the following guidelines:
- Your proposal should be between 300 and 700 words in length.
- Clearly indicate the title of the session.
- Begin by describing the topic of your session.
- Include examples of the kind of topics you would like to discuss in your session.
- Where possible, make connections to the conference theme.
- Indicate the language policy for your session. We encourage you to welcome participation in multiple languages whenever feasible.
- Submit your proposal as a PDF, Word document, or similar file format using the form below.
Please submit your session proposals through this link.
Important dates & info
- The deadline for session submissions: March 31st, 2026
- Notification of acceptance: by the latest on May 8th, 2026
The rest of the dates will be published later
Do not hesitate to contact us at (hello@mobilefutures.fi) if you have any questions!