About the IMI Winter Academy

The re-election of US President Donald Trump in 2024, together with the spread of increasingly restrictive migration control regimes worldwide, reflects the consolidation of a global assemblage through which human mobility is rendered “governable”. Calls to “secure borders” and “dismantle smuggling networks” operate as discourses that normalize a securitized logic under the rubric of “safe, orderly, and regular migration.” These mechanisms not only manage life and circulation biopolitically: they also reproduce necropolitical hierarchies by determining whose mobility is facilitated and whose is obstructed, criminalized, or rendered disposable. The dominance of security and economy-centered perspectives—particularly within Global North policy and knowledge regimes—underscores the urgency of rethinking migration and mobility through frameworks that unsettle reductive paradigms and open alternative imaginaries of movement, belonging, community, and care.

Like many border cities worldwide, Tijuana has endured state-sponsored violence and surveillance linked to the vilification of people on the move. At the same time, it is also a site of resilience, knowledge, and creativity generated by migrant communities and those who live alongside them. By engaging with these experiences, IMI Winter Academy participants will be able to examine how borders and borderlands are lived, contested, and resisted under conditions of violence, control, and surveillance. Through a combination of immersive and reflective work – including field visits, lectures and group discussions – the IMI Winter Academy provides participants with opportunities to link regions, dynamics and personal experiences.

Eligibility 

The IMI Winter Academy is open to scholars, early-career researchers, practitioners, artists, and community organizers critically engaged with issues of migration, borderlands, and resistance. We especially welcome applications from PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and practitioners underrepresented in academic and policy spaces. We expect a cohort of up to 12 participants.

Logistics

Participants will be hosted at Casa Manresa on the campus of Universidad Iberoamericana in Tijuana, Mexico. Accommodations, most meals, and local transportation will be provided by the organizers. International travel, visas and insurance costs are the responsibility of participants. The Netherland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has designated the US-Mexico border region an orange zone and therefore specialist travel insurance will be required. Details will be shared with selected participants. Limited travel support may be available for applicants from underrepresented backgrounds; those wishing to be considered for financial assistance should indicate this in their application.

Application Requirements

Applicants must complete the online application (link below) and submit:

● Short Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
● Statement of Interest (250 words) outlining how your work could benefit from a field-based experience on the US–Mexico border, and how participation in the academy may advance your academic or practitioner trajectory.

Questions: imiacademy2026@gmail.com

Organisers

• Yacine Ait-Larbi ( University of Amsterdam)
• Alejandro Olayo-Méndez (Boston College School of Social Work)
• Gabriella Sanchez (Georgetown University)