UNITE – European Integration of Ukraine and Ukrainians: Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges

NAWA Strategic Partnerships Programme
Project No.: BPI/PST/2024/1/00139
Project duration: 2025–2027

College of Economics and Finance

Project manager: Assoc. Prof. dr habil. Piotr Stanek, PhD.

Project Overview

The project “European Integration of Ukraine and Ukrainians: Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges” is an international research and educational initiative implemented within the Strategic Partnerships Programme of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA).

The project is coordinated by the Krakow University of Economics and will be carried out between 2025 and 2027.

The initiative responds to the unprecedented scale of forced migration from Ukraine following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. This migration has become one of the most significant socio-economic challenges facing contemporary Europe, with important implications for both host countries and Ukraine itself.

The main objective of the project is to provide an in-depth analysis of the social and economic integration of Ukrainian citizens in European Union countries, as well as to examine the broader consequences of migration for labour markets, social well-being, and economic integration in Europe.

The project combines advanced academic research with an educational component, including the development of methodological skills among doctoral students and early-career researchers as well as the strengthening of international academic cooperation.

Project Consortium

The consortium brings together expertise in migration economics, labour economics, European integration, international economics, and socio-economic data analysis.

Coordinator

Partners

Nature and Scope of the Project

The project has a research and educational character and involves multi-stage empirical research on the economic and social aspects of the integration of Ukrainian migrants in European Union countries.

The analysis focuses primarily on three contexts:

• Poland, the country hosting the largest number of Ukrainian refugees,
• Germany, one of the most important migration destinations in Europe,
• Ukrainie – poprzez analizę sytuacji migrantów wewnętrznych.

Ukraine, through the analysis of the situation of internally displaced persons.

• The research is conducted within the discipline of Economics and Finance, particularly in the areas of:
• labour economics
• welfare economics
• international economics

The project applies advanced microeconometric methods and structural models to analyse complex socio-economic processes based on empirical data.

Research Problem and Framework

The unprecedented scale of forced migration from Ukraine has created new challenges for economic and social research.

In particular, important knowledge gaps remain regarding:

• determinants of well-being, health, and economic integration of migrants across different institutional contexts,
• differences between external migrants in EU countries and internal migrants within Ukraine,
• mechanisms shaping social attitudes toward refugees,
• the impact of migration on economic flows, trade, and market integration.

The project addresses these gaps through comparative international research using modern economic analysis methods.

The project aims to:

• identify determinants of well-being, health, and economic integration of Ukrainian migrants in Poland and Germany as well as internal migrants in Ukraine
• estimate the impact of institutions, public policies, and labour market conditions on employment, income stability, and social integration
• compare the socio-economic outcomes of external and internal migrants from Ukraine
• analyze social attitudes toward Ukrainian refugees in European Union countries
• assess the impact of migration on trade and market integration

The project will test the following research hypotheses:

• H1: Economic integration
  Higher proficiency in the host-country language and a stable legal status increase the probability of employment and economic integration of migrants.
• H2: External vs internal migrants
  External migrants achieve, on average, higher levels of well-being and quality of life than internal migrants in Ukraine, after controlling for individual characteristics and selection effects.
• H3: Social attitudes
  Positive contact with migrants and favourable economic conditions increase social acceptance of migrants, while negative media narratives weaken this relationship.
• H4: Trade and investment
  The inflow of migrants from Ukraine contributes to increased bilateral trade and investment flows through social networks, consumer preferences, and reduced transaction costs

Methodology

The project applies advanced quantitative methods widely used in empirical economics. In particular, the analysis will include:

• microeconometric models (logit and probit models),
• multilevel models capturing institutional and contextual effects,
• causal inference methods, including Difference-in-Differences and statistical matching techniques,
• statistical analysis of social attitudes using regression models and factor analysis,
• structural gravity models to analyse the impact of migration on trade and market integration.

Results and Impact

The project aims to produce empirically grounded, comparable, and replicable research findings that contribute to a better understanding of the economic and social consequences of forced migration from Ukraine and the integration of migrants within the European Union.

Key outcomes of the project will include:

• publications in international peer-reviewed academic journals in the fields of labour economics, migration economics, and European integration,
• research reports and policy briefs providing evidence-based recommendations for public policies,
• harmonised datasets and replication packages ensuring transparency and reproducibility of research results,
• presentations of research findings at international conferences and academic seminars.

The results of the project may contribute to:

• improving migration and integration policies in Europe,
• supporting the development of labour market instruments facilitating migrant integration,
• strengthening evidence-based public communication on migration issues,
• enhancing long-term international academic cooperation among partner universities.

The project also supports the development of early-career researchers through methodological training, academic mobility, and participation in international workshops and conferences.

Project Team – Cracow University of Economics

The project is implemented by researchers from the College of Economics and Finance at the Cracow University of Economics.

• Assoc. Prof. dr habil. Piotr Stanek, PhD, – Project Leader
• Agnieszka Pach-Gurgul, PhD
• Marta Ulbrych, Ph.D.