The politics of migration is changing, and diaspora engagement is increasingly moving into the policy mainstream. In this webinar, Martin Russell examines this changing landscape and considers what the growing importance of diaspora engagement means for policymakers and practitioners.
Moving beyond the traditional understanding of diaspora engagement primarily as a tool of development cooperation, the seminar explores its emerging role as a form of networked diplomacy and power. It considers how governments and other actors can draw on diaspora networks to respond to new political and economic demands, while also reflecting on lessons from previous successes and failures in diaspora engagement.
Drawing on practical experience from The Diaspora Institute’s work across countries and regions, the presentation explores how diaspora engagement can be delivered at scale across areas including diplomacy, investment, and talent attraction. It also considers how new technologies and approaches are reshaping the ways in which diaspora communities can connect, organise, and contribute.
The seminar will draw on recent experiences including Ireland’s new diaspora strategy, published in 2026, and will offer practical insights into how diaspora engagement can be developed across the public, private, and non-profit sectors.
Zoom link: https://unu-merit-eu.zoom.us/j/5475937108?omn=83438713102
About the speaker: Martin Russell is co-founder of The Diaspora Institute (TDI). Together with colleagues at TDI, he has contributed to diaspora engagement initiatives in approximately 60 countries. He holds a PhD from University College Dublin, where his research examined the role of the Irish diaspora in the Northern Ireland Peace Process through diaspora media, philanthropy, and politics.
Martin was previously a Visiting Fellow at UNU-MERIT. He is currently a member of the Transition Assistance Practice Group of the Institute for Integrated Transitions. He also serves on the steering committee of a four-year Diaspora Diplomacy Research Project at Dublin City University, funded by Research Ireland, and on the advisory boards of a number of diaspora organisations globally.
He has published extensively on diaspora engagement across academic, policy, and operational contexts and has contributed to several national diaspora policies, strategies, and action plans. In 2018, he advised on a conference at University College Dublin that contributed to the development of the Routledge International Handbook of Diaspora Diplomacy. In 2022, he also advised on the Global Diaspora Summit, co-hosted by the Government of Ireland and the United Nations Agency for Migration.
