This public roundtable explores how ancestral claims to citizenship shape migration, belonging and justice in Europe and beyond.
- Date
- Monday 13 Oct 2025, 15:30 - 17:30
- Type
- General
- Spoken Language
- English
- Room
- Aula B
- Ticket information
Practitioners' Insights: Return to Migration in Action is part of a closed workshop series organised by the ACE project. This roundtable, however, is open to the public. Interested in attending the full programme? Serious inquiries can be sent to Dr Marhabo Saparova: saparova@iss.nl

The Ancestral Citizenship in Europe (ACE) project explores how European citizenship is acquired through claims of co-ethnicity and ancestry. Focusing on Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy, the project examines how these countries have (re)introduced legal pathways to citizenship based on bloodline. ACE seeks to understand how such ancestral ties – and the access to European citizenship they create – shape ideas of justice, belonging and what it means to be European.
About the roundtable
Practitioners' Insights: Return to Migration in Action is part of a closed workshop series organised by the ACE project. This roundtable, however, is open to the public. The session brings together researchers, practitioners, and civil society actors to challenge dominant, territorial notions of citizenship and explore how ancestral claims to citizenship operate across different world regions.
Speakers
- Başak Yavcan – Head of Research, Migration Policy Group (Belgium)
- Giovanni Maria De Vita – Head of Italea Project – Roots Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (Italy)
- Nikita Heidt – Managing Director, Riwwel gUG (Germany)
- Katherina Andreeva – Co-founder, ZaVrushtane v Bulgaria (Bulgaria)



- Related content