Petra Bendel is professor of political science, director of the Centre for Area Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, president of the academic advisory board of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and vice-president of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR). She is a member of various expert commissions, inter alia the Federal Government Expert Commission on the Framework for Integration Capacity.

Hannes Schammann is professor of migration policy at the Universität Hildesheim. Previously he worked for several years in the area of migration policy, inter alia for the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, the Robert-Bosch-Stiftung and the Federal Protestant Youth Social Work Agency. He manages several projects on the role of municipalities in migration policy and is a member of numerous advisory committees. http://www.uni-hildesheim.de/migrationspolitik

Christiane Heimann is a research associate in the area of migration policy at the Universität Hildesheim. Previously she conducted research and taught at several universities in Germany, the USA, Spain and the United Kingdom. She studied and completed her doctorate at the Universität Bamberg. http://www.uni-hildesheim.de/migrationspolitik

Janina Stürner is conducting research into migration governance in multi-level systems, strategies of city networks in EU asylum and migration policy and transnational cooperation in migration and development at the Centre for Area Studies of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Sie studied in Freiburg and Aix-en-Provence and gathered practical experience, inter alia as policy officer for the integration of young refugees for the city of Stuttgart.