This panel proposes to explore the contested relationship between knowledge of and about international migration with the worlds of policy and practice. The panel will explore the causes and consequences of an epistemic turn in migration studies and assess the implications of a growing body of work that focuses on the role that knowledge plays in migration policy-making. It will do so by drawing from new research that: compares the role of knowledge in migration policy-making with other areas best by high levels of uncertainty; explores the ways that risk narratives configure migration governance systems; analyzes the causes and consequences of cognitive bias among key actors in migration governance systems in order to better understand the framing of migration as a social and political issue; and, assesses the role played by knowledge of and about migrant integration in the development of policy responses. The panel will seek to advance understanding at the conceptual and theoretical level while also drawing extensively from examples across the EU to examine the meaning and implications for research and practice of an epistemic turn in migration studies.