Refuge in a Moving World

It will bring together experts from across UCL through research-led interdisciplinary events to help us better understand the history, causes, experiences, representations and implications of forced migration.

2015 has witnessed the largest mass migration of people to and in Europe since the Second World War, partly as a result of the on-going conflict in Syria:

• By the end of 2014 we saw the highest level of global forced migration ever recorded, with over 59.5 million people worldwide having been displaced.
• People seeking refuge from conflict and mass human rights violations, as well as poverty and persecution, across the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and further afield have crossed and resisted national boundaries.
• States, civil societies and individuals find themselves increasingly affected by interconnected conflicts and crises, with reverberations across all aspects of contemporary society.

Cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research is essential to develop a nuanced understanding of, and a means of meaningfully responding to, the effects these crises produce.