As we write this editorial, the political landscape that has shaped European policy and structures over the last 40 years is being questioned in the UK following the recent referendum result to leave the European Union. One of the central issues in the UK referendum debate was how to respond to the challenge of increased migration. With the free movement of labour being a core tenet of the single European economic market, the enlargement of this market to 28 countries and the recent growth in national populations associated with newly arrived refugees and people seeking asylum, have resulted in the rise of divisive political groupings. In countries across Europe, as well as in the two major Anglophone countries facing national elections in 2016 (the US and Australia), how to ‘manage’ migration has become a major political topic.