Approximately six million Roma live within the EU and they make up the continent’s biggest ethnic minority. However, they continue to face marginalisation, with the European Roma Rights Centre recently reporting on issues such as forced evictions in Romania and Italy and segregated education in the Czech Republic.

Led by Migration Yorkshire, the Roma MATRIX project spans 10 European countries and comprises 19 partner organisations. Salford will be conducting a number of research activities within the project to meet the objective of reducing discrimination against Roma.

The University will conduct fieldwork across Europe to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of existing policies and structures to reduce anti-Gypsyism.

Closer to home, the Salford team will develop a UK network of interested policy makers, practitioners, academics and researchers, end users and other stakeholders to improve integration by influencing both policy and practice. A Roma mentoring scheme will also be established by Salford, partnering with a public authority, to provide training, support and experience around working within this sector.

The project is the second consecutive EU grant that Salford will deliver in partnership with Migration Yorkshire building on previous and ongoing projects that focus on Central and Eastern European Roma.

The Salford researchers are Professor Peter Dwyer, Dr Philip Brown and Dr Lisa Scullion. Dr Scullion said: “This research will seek to explore the ways in which European states are delivering integration strategies for Roma by engaging with a range of partners such as national and regional policymakers, service providers and Roma organisations.”

Roma MATRIX is a two-year project due to commence in April 2013 and complete in early 2015.