printFrom Russia to the UK. On Migration Mechanism of Young Russian Computer Scientists
Antoshchuk I.A.
PhD candidate at St Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia and University of Amsterdam irinaantoschyuk@gmail.com
Ledeneva V.Yu.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof. of Conflictology and migration security department at Institute of law and national security of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia ledeneva-vy@ranepa.ru
The Research was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research via grant № 17-311-50037. Internships in the UK were supported by Centre for German and European Studies and European University at Saint Petersburg.
Antoshchuk I.A., Ledeneva V.Yu. From Russia to the UK. On Migration Mechanism of Young Russian Computer Scientists. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2019. No 2. P. 108-118
Internationalization of science and higher education are accompanied by increasing transnational mobility of early career scholars. Young scientists from Russia become more and more involved in this process, with United Kingdom being one of the major destination countries. Though this trend is discussed as an acute national problem, investigations focus mainly on structural conditions causing migration and influent individual motivation to move abroad, while much less is known about the migration process itself. How is the intention to move transformed into an act of migration? What migratory institutions, networks and resources are involved in the process of migration making it possible? The paper is aimed at answering these questions and explaining how transnational mobility of young Russian scientists is realized, especially taking into account high entry barriers to the United Kingdom. Using migration network theory and institutional theory of migration authors develop the concept of migration mechanism functioning as a intermediary social structure connecting host and home country. Based on semi-structucred interviews with young Russian computer scientists who moved to the UK in 1998-2015, authors demonstrate that organizational ties with Russian-speaking scholars in the destination country, providing access to vital resources, represent a major driving force behind this process, while the role of institutions is secondary.
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