Ira van der Zaal works at the Ministry of Justice and Security with her knowledge team to underpin migration policy with facts and figures. Like historian Marlou Schrover, who specialises in migration and diversity, she strives to ensure that knowledge guides policy.
What does your Strategy and Engagement team do?
Ira van der Zaal: 'We collect, interpret and share knowledge with policy officials. We help to underpin policy with facts and figures from academic research. We monitor academic developments and can commission research via the WODC (Scientific Research and Data Centre or Knowledge Institute for the Rule of Law, ed.). We can also seek advice from the Migration Advisory Council. And we collaborate with the Clingendael Institute on a knowledge portal containing information from, for example, literature reviews and figures on housing for migrants. It is then up to our policy colleagues to decide how to use that knowledge.'
Bio
Marlou Schrover is Professor Emeritus of Economic and Social History, with a particular interest in migration and diversity, and the relationship between the media and policy. She is also LDE Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam and leads the NWA project 'Dilemmas of Doing Diversity'.
Lawyer, Ira van der Zaal, is the team leader for Strategy and Engagement at the Ministry of Justice and Security. Her team bridges the gap between policy and (academic) knowledge and monitors migration trends and developments. Among other roles, she also served as a migration policy adviser for eight years.
Why wouldn’t a policy official base policy advice on this kind of knowledge?
Van der Zaal: 'It’s not a question of unwillingness. Policy advisers operate in a political and dynamic environment. Circumstances can change rapidly. Sometimes the right knowledge isn’t available, and there isn’t time to carry out thorough research either, because that simply takes time. But our colleagues make the most of our knowledge wherever possible.'
Marlou Schrover: 'I am chair of the WODC committee investigating the reasons why Ukrainians do or do not return to their home country. Based on the literature, you can draw up a list: for example, health, age, length of stay, family circumstances and the situation in their home country can all determine whether someone wants to return. The Donbas has been devastated, and the children are attending school here, so probably seventy per cent will not return. But that is a message that is politically sensitive.'
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Want to read more? Download the latest white paper (in Dutch) from Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities on the dilemmas of diversity.
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