PACES offers a groundbreaking approach to studying and understanding people’s decisions to migrate and explores how this knowledge can better inform migration policies. PACES focuses on two parallel research components: the factors shaping migration decision-making and the mechanisms underpinning migration policies. Synthesizing theoretical and empirical knowledge from a broad array of academic disciplines and methodological paradigms, the project systematically investigates the interactions between migration decisions, migration policies and broader social transformation – as manifested in interconnected processes of economic, political, demographic, technological and cultural change. Based on a theoretical synthesis and qualitative and quantitative data collected in Algeria, Ethiopia, Italy, Libya, Slovakia and Spain, PACES will elaborate a heuristic model that identifies different constellations of conditions that shape decisions to stay and migrate at different stages of individual life trajectories and migrant journeys. In addition, by adopting a theories of change approach, PACES will systematically investigate, identify and track the assumptions on migration decisions used by policymakers to formulate policy designs and objectives. By exploring the evolution of EU and national policies towards labour and family migration, PACES investigates the extent to which current migration policies are evidence-based and areas where policies will benefit from valuable insights provided by migration decision-making research. By doing so, PACES seeks to contribute to elaborating more effective models of EU migration governance that also account for the uncertainties of future social transformations. Supported by an interdisciplinary consortium of experienced partners, PACES engages in co-participatory research with policymakers, stakeholders, citizens and migrants to generate maximum scientific, political and social impact.