French Capital: A Study of French Highly-Skilled Migrants in London's Financial and Business Sectors
Lead Research Organisation:
Middlesex University
Department Name: School of Law
Abstract
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People |
ORCID iD |
| Jon Mulholland (Principal Investigator) | |
| Louise Ryan (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Jon Mulholland (Author)
Performing Frenchness Outre-Manche: The French Highly-Skilled in London
Jon Mulholland (Speaker)
French capital : the French highly skilled in London's financial and business sectors
Jon Mulholland (Speaker)
Multicultural cosmopolitanism in London and Paris - stories of 'success' and 'failure'?
Mulholland J
(2013)
Doing the Business: Variegation, Opportunity and Intercultural Experience among Intra- EU Highly-Skilled Migrants
in International Migration
| Description | Our findings: • Transcend rigid typologies, highlighting the complexity and fluidity of highly-skilled migrants' mobility, status and settlement trajectories. Resisting a tendency to reduce highly-skilled migrants to mere economic actors, we illuminate the dynamic interplay of economic and non-economic (social, cultural, familial) variables, and the role played by emplacement in informing this process. • Advance understandings of the multiple roles played by social networks in facilitating the enhancement of economic capital. Challenging simplistic dichotomies between bonding and bridging networks, we show the importance of both weak and strong ties (even to the highly-skilled) to enabling career escalation. We delineate some of the potential obstacles impeding access to important social ties (opportunity, skills, shared interests etc). Our data challenge the sequential model of networking found in aspects of the migration literature, suggesting that ethnically dense bonds may in fact strengthen over time, as they enable valued expressions of cultural or linguistic identity (especially where children are involved). We also demonstrate the critical importance of the role of mothers and children to the networking activities of highly-skilled migrants. • Demonstrate the importance of ongoing variegation in the national political economies of different European societies as a driver for opportunity-driven highly-skilled migration. We delineate a host of underpinning structural and cultural characteristics attributed to London as a global hub of financial capitalism, and highlight how these are perceived as enabling opportunities to career escalation, enhanced remuneration and onward mobility for the talented. • Indicate enduring obstacles to seamless mobility, even for a highly-skilled constituency blessed with much cosmopolitan capital. National variegation is reflected in differential business cultures and practices, and highly-skilled migrants may still experience barriers associated with unfamiliar business-related methodologies, language use, and communication praxis. We highlight the potential for a non-transferability of skills, competencies and business-related cultural capital across national borders accordingly. • Illuminate the ways in which highly-skilled migrants construct and signify place/s, and the work and non-work related inter-cultural experiences they have in such places. Our data show how emplaced inter-cultural meaning is constructed in relation to significations about the nature of migrants' national home. • Contribute to an understanding of the temporally-informed dynamics of trans-local lives, as these are navigated in global city spaces. Asserting a multi-scalar model, we show how London offers opportunities to live out valorised dimensions of a French identity, culture and lifestyle, locally, whilst supporting virtual and 'trip'-based contact with important people and places 'back home'. But we also suggest that even for highly-skilled migrants, important forms of emplacement occur over time (with implications for how calculations of the cost and benefits of onward mobility are made), allied to a progressive detachment from 'home'. In this respect we challenge some of the more enthusiastic claims made in the name of trans-nationalism. |
| Exploitation Route | As a platform for links between research teams in the field of intra-EU and highly skilled migration As a resource for stimulating future research trajectories concerned with other manifestations of intra-EU and highly skilled migration As a platform for collaboration with key institutional representatives of EU, and highly skilled migrant constituencies in the UK and Europe As a resource for key interests concerned with policy debates and developments pertaining to intra-EU migration |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www.frenchlondon.co.uk |
| Description | Whilst a project of this nature is rarely likely to have a significant, or broad, economic and societal impact, given the somewhat 'privileged' circumstances of our participants and the qualitative nature of the methodology used, the project nevertheless committed to engaging with key stakeholders with a view to contributing to the conditions in which impact may occur. To this end, we built a positive and supportive relationship with both the French Consulate and the French Chamber of Commerce, both of whom were recipients of our findings and participants in the research process and at the public dissemination event at the French Institute in London. Furthermore, our own Policy Seminar (Opportunities and obstacles: intra-EU skilled migration to the UK) brought together interests from the Home Office, DWP, Migration Policy Institute, and the European Parliament. Furthermore, through our presentation to the Compas Breakfast Briefing Seminar, and our panel participation and paper presentation at the Home Office/EU Migration Network event (Intra-EU Mobility: The Latest Evidence and Policy Perspectives, British Library, St. Pancras) we have been able to present our findings directly to an audience of key stakeholders. In both cases, the audience included leading policy makers and analysts, and representatives of key political parties. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | ?The distance between us?: a comparative study of highly skilled migrants in London, ICTs and transnational practices |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Subsequent to the completion of the project, and in the light of the dissemination of our findings, we have collaborated with Amanda von Koppenfels of the University of Kent, comparing data on French and American highly skilled migrants with particular reference to the role of ICT in transnational practices. This has resulted in a paper submitted to the journal 'Global Networks', currently in review. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data sharing, collaborative data analysis and write up |
| Impact | Ryan, L, Klekowski von Koppenfels, A. and Mulholland, J. (forthcoming) 'The distance between us': a comparative examination of the technical, spatial and temporal dimensions of the transnational social relationships of highly skilled migrants. Global Networks |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Gotta Go Visit Family: Reconsidering the relationship between tourism and transnationalism |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Subsequent to the completion of the project, and in the light of the dissemination of our findings, we have collaborated with Amanda von Koppenfels of the University of Kent, comparing data on French and American highly skilled migrants with particular reference to the role of ICT in transnational practices. Population, Space and Place |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data sharing and collaborative data analysis and write up |
| Impact | Klekowski von Koppenfels A, Mulholland, J. and Ryan A (forthcoming) Goota go visit family: reconsidering the relationship between tourism and transnationalism, Population, Space and Place |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | 'Wives are the route to social life' : the form and function of family networks among highly skilled migrants |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invitation to present our latest 'paper in progress' to the Migration Research Unit at UCL Facilitating critical dialogue and network building |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Embedding in motion : analysing the dynamics of networks and mobility among highly skilled migrants |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | The paper aims to: To explore the usefulness of embeddedness as a concept in understanding the migratory experience and relationships of highly skilled French migrants What can this application of embeddedness tell us about the concept, and how might it need to be developed further so as to capture the complex and multi-dimensional nature of these migrants lives and networks Stimulating critical dialogue and network building |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | French Connections: The Networking Strategies of French Highly Skilled Migrants in London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper presented to the Centre for Ethnicity and Citizenship Seminar Series, Bristol University Facilitating critical dialogue and network building |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | French capital : a study of the French highly skilled in London : preliminary observations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A public lecture, held at the French Institute in South Kensington, to disseminate the preliminary findings to key stake holders in the project and in the French poulation in London. It was attended by many of the research participants, and also by representatives of the French Chamber of Commerce, The French Consulate, and French Radio London. The French community of London, and its principal representatives, were enabled to extend their understanding of the work and life experiences of an important section of that community |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | French capital : a study of the French highly skilled in London : preliminary observations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A Lecture to Le Parti Socialiste de France Facilitating critical dialogue and network building |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | High Flyers Flock to London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We were interviewed by FT.com/video (Financial Times) in respect of how our project may illuminate the dynamics of highly skilled migration to London We were approached by the Financial Times to reflect on our project findings and to comment on the broader dynamics of highly skilled migration to London We were approached by the Financial Times to reflect on our project findings and to comment on the broader dynamics of highly skilled migration to London |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Hollande unveils tough new 75% tax for France's top earners as part of 'soak the rich' budget |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The PI was quoted in the above article in the The Daily Mail, on the basis of the project's profile The Daily Mail |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210017/Hollande-unveils-tough-new-budget-saving-30-billion-... |
| Description | How to make friends and influence people: an analysis of highly skilled migrants and social networking |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | A paper presented to the Seminar Series at Trinity College Dublin, exploring the social networking practices of highly skilled migrants Facilitating critical dialogue and network building |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Le coupeur de roses de jadis et de demain |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The PI was interviewed for, and the project featured in, Marc Roche's column in Le Monde Le Monde |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=1182... |
| Description | Middlesex University reveals what the French really think about London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project team issued a press release outlining the key findings of the project Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Opportuntities and obstacles : the case of the French highly skilled in London's financial and business sectors |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Through the lens provided by French highly-skilled migrants working in London's financial and business sectors, this paper aims to: Examine the experiences, perceptions and evaluations of opportunity for intra-European mobility Explore the experiences, perceptions and evaluations of ongoing obstacles to successful intra-European mobility and COD settlement Draw policy conclusions, pertaining to both opportunity and obstacle, that address the facilitation of successful intra-EU migration and settlement in a context of ongoing national variegation in the economic, socio-cultural and political characters of European societies Awareness raising and stimulating critical dialogue and relfection |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Radio Interview with BBC Good Morning Scotland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We were interviewed on BBC Good Morning Scotland on 13th April 2014. We were featured on a panel discussion on the implications of the proposed 75% company-levied tax on French highly skilled migration to the UK Information exchange and critical dialogue |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Trading places : French highly skilled migrants negotiating mobility and settlement in London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | To focus on a range of different migratory pathways including; expats and intra-company transfers (ICTs), students, and spontaneous movers. Aim to: explore multiple/non-linear migration pathways of skilled migrants (see Nagel 2005) overcome polarity - highly-skilled/un-skilled Challenge assumption that benefits necessarily accrue with on-going mobility (Beaverstock, 2005): 'Costs' of mobility (Tseng, 2011) - Context-specific nature of business know-how, practices, and language (Erel, 2010) Discuss the negotiation of career opportunities and costs of mobility with familial/spousal needs and attachments. Facilitating critical dialogue and network building |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Une etude sur les Francais de Londres |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The project findings were features in an artcile in Ici Londres, being the UK's largest selling French language magazine Ici Londres |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.readoz.com/publication/read?i=1043290&pg=7#page6 |
| Description | Vivre Londres, Newsweek, January 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Interviewed for a feature on the French in London for an article in Newsweek Information sharing and awareness raising |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | What do highly skilled French migrants in London teach us about European talent migration? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | To outline the nature of 'talent migration' as an outcome of ongoing variegation in the character, and opportunity structures, of national political economies To explore the qualities attributed to London, as Europe's leading financial capital, as a place of unrivalled opportunity for the talented migrant To explore the nature and causes of London's characteristic capacity to recognise and reward talent To consider the limitations of a 'war for talent' framework for understanding the development needs of London Awareness raising, and requests for further information |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/events/breakfast-briefings/previous-breakfast-briefings#c2608 |