In 2010, Professor Philippe Fargues  (European University Institute, EUI – Florence), Professor Nasra M. Shah  (then Kuwait University, now Lahore School of Economics), and Mr. Imco Brouwer (Gulf Research Center Foundation, GRCF – Geneva) using their complementary expertise, took the initiative to establish the Gulf Labour Markets and Migration (GLMM) programme. Subsequently, Dr. Françoise De Bel-Air joined the GLMM core team.

In 2011, the Gulf Research Center (GRC – Jeddah, Geneva, Cambridge) and the EUI signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish and jointly manage the GLMM programme. The EUI is one of the most reputable social science research institutions in Europe and hosts the Migration Policy Centre  (MPC) which was established and directed until December 2016 by Prof. Philippe Fargues who – through the Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration (CARIM), CARIM-South and CARIM-East – had developed, tested, and fine-tuned the method at the basis of the GLMM programme.

The GRC is one of the most influential think tanks in the Gulf and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) according to the Global ‘Go-To Think Tanks’ surveys. It has a vast network of individuals and institutions in the countries of the Gulf Coperation Council (GCC) and has a wealth of experience in managing large policy-oriented research projects and policy debates concerning the GCC. Most importantly, it also has a vast network of individual researchers who work on the Gulf and are based in the Gulf or elsewhere, notably in Asia, Europe, and the US. The annual Gulf Research Meeting  (GRM), which the GRC organized for the first time in July 2010, has since then become the major global platform for presenting and discussing original social science research concerning the Gulf, including migration.

In 2017 was decided to change the name of the GLMM programme into Gulf Labour Markets, Migration, and Population programme (keeping the GLMM acronym) as to better reflect the objectives and activities of the programme as well as the expertise of its scientific directors and fellows.

After Philippe Fargues ended his mandate at the MPC at the end of 2016, the Centre has focused increasingly on its core concern: migration in Europe. Since January 2021 GLMM, while maintaining its independence, is based exclusively at GRC. In the Autumn of 2022, Philippe Fargues stepped down as GLMM Co-Scientific Director. Since then, Nasra Shah acts as the sole GLMM Scientific Director.