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The ‘Refuge in a Moving World’ network brings together experts from across UCL. These experts work on displacement, forced migration, exile, and conflict.
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Analysing South-South Humanitarian Responses to Displacement from Syria (2017-2022)
This ERC-funded project involves fieldwork in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. It explores how Southern actors have responded to displacement from Syria. These actors include states, civil society networks, and refugees themselves. It explores why these responses have emerged and the effects they have had.
The project focuses on refugees’ own experiences on these Southern-led initiatives.
The project aims to bring refugees’ voices to the forefront. It seeks to shed light on refugees’ views of humanitarianism. The project will also explore refugees’ thoughts on Southern-led responses to conflict-induced displacement. It will examine whether they believe these responses can—or should—be considered ‘humanitarian’ programmes. The project makes a particularly significant contribution to debates about the desirability and tensions of ‘alternative’ forms of humanitarianism. These forms have, until now, been controlled by Northern academic and policy ideas.
The project was led by Professor Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh. It was carried out with Dr Estella Carpi from the UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction.
Affiliation: UCL Department of Geography
BUDDcamp and Buddlab
The aim of the BUDDcamp is to investigate the multiple housing pathways of migrants. This research uses different methodological instruments to capture the complexity of the concept of home in migrants’ experiences. The fieldwork focuses on neighbourhoods in Brescia, Italy, for two main reasons. First, these neighbourhoods have a significant presence of migrants at different stages of their migration experience. Second, they are involved in urban renovation programmes and social interventions promoted by both private and public actors.
Individual experiences are thus investigated alongside spatial phenomena, policies and interventions. Achieving these different fields of interest involved several methods. These included life story interviews, ethnographic observation, key informant interviews, and participatory maps. This last technique constitutes a methodological innovation. In addition, the research aims to reflect on the efficacy of housing and immigration policies. It will draw on evidence-based data to explore their limits.
This is an annual design exercise which is part of the MSc Building and Urban Design in Development.
Affiliation: UCL Development Planning Unit
Children Caring on the Move (CCoM)
Children Caring on the Move (CCoM) is an ESRC-funded research project. It investigates the experiences of separated child migrants in England. The project focuses on their experiences of care and caring for others. It also explores how these children navigate the challenges of the immigration-welfare nexus.
The project is set against the backdrop of rising numbers of children separated from primary carers during migration. It also addresses the conflicting state rhetoric of protecting children on one hand and immigration control on the other.
‘Care’ is ambiguous in this context. Children may receive care because of their ‘child’ status. However, they may be excluded from provision due to their ‘migrant’ status. CCoM fills a gap in existing research, law, policy, and practice. To date, these areas have emphasised parental or state care, often neglecting the care children provide for each other.
Our pilot studies indicate that this neglect has created a theoretical gap in the conceptualisations of care. As a result, policies and practices are designed to support separated child migrants. However, they can end up harming, excluding, or discriminating against them. CCoM uses participatory methodologies alongside an analysis of the cultural political economy of separated children's care. It aims to provide new evidence on the implications of separated migrant children’s caring practices. This research explores how relevant stakeholders respond to the immigration control-protection tension at the heart of the UK state. It also examines the consequences for separated migrant children.
The project is led by Sarah Crafter (Open University) and Rachel Rosen (UCL Social Research Institute). They are joined by academic colleagues from UCL (Elaine Chase, Veena Meetoo), University of Bedfordshire (Ravi Kohli), University of Liverpool (Helen Stalford)), University of Northampton (Evangelia Prokopiou), and University of Oxford (Ellie Ott). Kamena Dorling, Head of Policy and Law at Coram Children’s Legal Centre, joins the team as an expert consultant.
Affiliation: UCL Social Research Institute
Co-Developing a Method for Assessing the Psychosocial Impact of Cultural Interventions with Displaced People: Towards an Integrated Care Framework
Stories of displaced people, migration and immigration continue to occupy headline news. Huge efforts are being made by displaced people and relief agencies to address the many challenges of displacement and migration. Many of these efforts involve the use of arts, heritage, and cultural activities.
The impact of these programmes on participants' health and wellbeing has often been overlooked. This is especially true in relation to their overall health. These cultural programmes play a key role in recovery, adjustment, and addressing challenges associated with displacement, such as employability. This project is funded by the ESRC-AHRC under the Global Challenges Research Fund. It aims to better understand how creative arts and cultural activities improve health and wellbeing.
The project’s co-investigators include Dr Fatima Al-Nammari from the Department of Architecture, University of Petra. Dr Beverley Butler from the UCL Institute of Archaeology is also involved. In addition, Dr Linda Thomson contributes from UCL Culture.
Affiliations: UCL Department of Genetics, Environment and Evolution, UCL Institute of Archaeology, and UCL Culture. It also works with the University of Petra. The project works with The Helen Bamber Foundation in London and the The Women’s Programme Centre at Talbieh Refugee Camp in Jordan.
Dislocated Identities and ‘Non-places’ – Heritage, Place-making and Wellbeing in Refugee Camps (2011- ongoing)
This project examines the use of heritage as a resource. It focuses on how heritage engages with dislocated identities and strategies of transformation and empowerment. This project is based on ground-breaking ethnographic research. The research was conducted in five Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and in the Zaatari Syrian refugee camp, also in Jordan. Key outcomes include a collection of oral histories and the creation of Community Archives in these locations. The project team is led by Dr Beverley Butler from the UCL Institute of Archaeology. She is joined by co-investigator Dr Fatima Al-Nammari from the Department of Architecture at the University of Petra in Jordan.
Affiliation: UCL Institute of Archaeology ; University of Petra.
Engaging Refugee Narratives: Perspectives from Academia and the Arts
This series of international conferences and art workshops first ran in 2016. It brings together artists and academics working with refugees. The events include talks, demonstrations, and interactive workshops. The project is led by Dr Ruth Mandel and Dr Susan Pattie of the UCL Department of Anthropology).
Affiliation: Funded by the UCL Global Engagement Office ; organised with UCL Institute of Human Rights, UCL Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences, UCL Grand Challenges, UCL Knowledge Exchange, the UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL Department of Anthropology, Graduate Institute Geneva, UCL Refuge in a Moving World, Organisation for Identity and Cultural Development, Armenian Institute, and ArtEZ Institute of the Arts (Netherlands).
Human Rights Beyond Borders
States impact human rights not only in their own territories. Often, they also affect people in other parts of the world. From drone strikes to economic sanctions, states affect human rights beyond their borders. Extraterritorial activities related to civil and political rights include war, occupation, anti-migration and anti-piracy efforts at sea, sanctions, extraordinary rendition, and the operation of detention and interrogation sites outside national borders. These sites often house combatants and migrants, including refugees.
This ERC-funded interdisciplinary project aims to critically evaluate the law and policy. It focuses on the applicability of international human rights law. It examines whether and to what extent human rights law should be applicable extraterritorial. It covers both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
The project team is led by Dr Ralph Wilde (UCL Laws) with Dr Karen Da Costa
Affiliation: UCL Faculty of Laws
Local Community Experiences Of Displacement From Syria: Views from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey (Refugee Hosts: 2016-2020)
This AHRC-ESRC-funded project aims to enhance our understanding of the challenges and opportunities in local responses to displacement. It focuses on refugees from Syria and the communities hosting them in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey.
This project conducts interdisciplinary and participatory research in nine local communities in the Middle East. It fills a major evidence gap about the roles of local communities. This includes communities that identify with and are motivated by faith. The research looks at how these communities support people affected by conflict and displacement. It also examines how they may undermine both refugees and hosts.
The project is led by Professor Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh. She is collaborating with Professor Alastair Ager from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, and Columbia University. Dr Anna Rowlands (Durham University) and Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge (University of East Anglia) are also part of the team.
Affiliations: UCL Geography, Queen Margaret University (Edinburgh), Durham University, and the University of East Anglia. The project with PEN International, the Joint Learning Initiative on Local Faith Communities, Refugees and Forced Migration Hub, and works with Stories in Transit and the Humanitarian Affairs Team of Save the Children UK (HAT). Visit the Refugee Hosts website and follow them on X at @RefugeeHosts.
Many Strong Voices
This project brings together Arctic peoples and peoples from small island developing states. Together, they aim to tackle climate change within broader sustainability and development challenges. One topic is the possibilities for migration linked to climate change. This is explored within the context of other factors causing both mobility and non-mobility. Island and migration publications are on page two of the Islanders, Climate Change, and Sustainability Report (.pdf). An Arctic migration output can be found on the Brookings website.
The project is run jointly by John Crump from GRID-Arendal and Dr Ilan Kelman from the UCL Institute for Disaster Risk and Reduction. The Norwegian Institute for International Affairs is also involved.
Visit the Many Strong Voices website to find out more.
Affiliations: UCL Geography, Queen Margaret University (Edinburgh), Durham University, and the University of East Anglia. PEN International and the Joint Learning Initiative on Local Faith Communities, Refugees and Forced Migration Hub. Working with Stories in Transit and the Humanitarian Affairs Team of Save the Children UK.
Pathways to Education for Women Refugees and Migrants in London
This 2017-2019 project is part of the ongoing cross-departmental initiative of the Refuge in a Moving World (RIMW) Network. Since 2015, RiMW has been working with UCL-wide staff and student activities to support refugees. It has also been developing ways for the UCL community to assist refugees and migrants. This focuses on helping them access and participate in higher education.
Members of the RiMW education sub-committee are leading this project. This project is funded by the UCL Grand Challenges Programme. It will develop a model for collaboration between the UCL community and London-based charities. These charities support women refugees and migrants.
The project will synthesise the expertise of these groups to design a short course. The course aims to strengthen pathways to education for women who are refugees or forced migrants in London.
The project will facilitate a series of 'information exchange' meetings. These meetings will aim to map the challenges that refugees and migrants face when seeking to access education. They will also assess their existing skills and knowledge. Based on these findings, we will design a short course. The course will engage migrants and refugees directly, providing them with additional skills, understanding, and confidence.
The project team includes: Dr Claudia Lapping (Faculty of Education and Society, IOE), Professor Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Dr Rachel Rosen (IOE), Dr Amy North (IOE), Raphaela Armbruster (UCL Centre for Languages and International Education), Dr Shaista Aziz, Iman Azzi (IOE), and Sara Joiko (IOE).
This project is led by Dr Miriam Orcutt (UCL Institute for Global Health) and funded by UCL Grand Challenges.
Affiliation: UCL Institute of Global Health
Refugee Cities: the Actual Spaces of Migration
This research project involves a multi-scale analysis of the spatial, social, and economic impacts of migration in urban contexts. It aims to merge transdisciplinary approaches, including data-driven mapping and ethnographic research. This will help create an original composite of spatial visualisations. These will be shared through an interactive digital platform across different media channels.
The platform will identify overlooked issues surrounding the refugee crisis in European cities. It will challenge the dominant narratives and provide a reliable overlap of data. This data will be curated to help better interpret and cope with the growing impact of migration on cities.
The project’s working team is led by Dr Camillo Boano (UCL Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU)). The team includes Dr Kayvan Karimi (UCL Space Syntax Laboratory (SSL)), Dr Ed Manley (UCL Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis), Dr. Falli Palaiologou (SSL), Dr Giovanna Astolfo (DPU), and Ricardo Marten (DPU). Follow them on X: @BrmgRefugee.
Affiliation: UCL Bartlett Development Planning Unit ; UCL Space Syntax Laboratory; UCL Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis
Refugee Health: Syrian narratives of flight and health encounters
This project involved research in informal refugee camps in Northern Greece during 2015-2016. Syrian refugees’ narratives of flight and health encounters were collected through focus groups and interviews. Individual narratives of flight followed similar patterns. They described their journeys from within Syria. First, they crossed the Turkish border, then traveled by boat across the Mediterranean to Greece. Finally, they reached the Greece-Macedonia border.
However, the lived experiences and trauma exposure varied widely, as did cultural perceptions of trauma and individual resilience. The project collects narratives to gain insight into the physical and psychological health needs of this transient, vulnerable population. It also aims to deepen the understanding of how culture, health, and illness perceptions impact trauma. This includes the handling of both acute and chronic trauma.
During the research period, the findings were quickly applied to enhance Non-Governmental Organisation health responses. They were integrated into health needs assessments. This highlighted the importance of individual health narratives in improving humanitarian health response and provision.
This project is led by Dr Miriam Orcutt (UCL Institute for Global Health)
Affiliation: UCL Institute for Global Health
Refugee Self-Reliance and Humanitarian Action in Urban Markets
As crises become more prolonged, they drive long-term urban change and pose challenges for city governance and infrastructure. This research project focuses on "urban-itarian" settings. These are the interactional moments between the urban and the humanitarian. In these settings, cities have become home to both humanitarian actors and de facto refugees. Urban and humanitarian infrastructures work together to provide and negotiate basic services and livelihoods.
The project investigates human, social, and economic relations. It also examines how exchange and consumption experiences can better inform humanitarian policies and practices. These policies and practices regulate access to services, labor, and resources.
The project team includes Dr Estella Carpi from the UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction. It also includes Dr Andrea Rigon, Dr Camillo Boano, and Dr Cassidy Johnson, all from the DPU. It also includes Fernando Espada (Save the Children UK), Sophie Dicker (STC), and Dr Dr Jessica Field (STC).
Affiliation: UCL Bartlett Development Planning Unit ; Humanitarian Affairs Team of Save the Children UK
Religion and the Promotion of Social Justice for Refugees (2018-2020)
Funded by the British Council-USA and the Henry Luce Foundation, this interdisciplinary project brings together leading experts. These experts are from the UK and the US. It examines the roles that religion plays in promoting social justice for refugees.
The project conducts comparative research with refugees from various regions. These include Central America, Central Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Western borders. It aims to analyse the roles of local faith communities and faith-based organisations (FBOs). These groups support refugees’ access to protection, lobby for rights, and challenge xenophobia and discrimination against different refugee groups.
The project is led by Professor Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Dr Zareena Grewal (Yale University), and Dr Unni Krishnan Karunakara (Yale University). They are collaborating with UK-based co-investigators: Professor Alastair Ager (Queen Margaret University), Dr Anna Rowlands (Durham University), and Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge (University of East Anglia). The US-based team includes Professor Catherine Panter-Brick (Yale University) and Dr Louisa Lombard Lombard (Yale University).
Resilient Futures for the Rohingya Refugees
The principal aim of this research project is to build resilient futures. It focuses on the Rohingya refugee and local host populations in Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh. The focus is on reducing hydro-meteorological disaster risks, particularly landslide risks. This will be achieved through a co-produced approach between natural and social scientists, combining research and practical solutions. The project is funded by the Royal Society under its Challenge-led Grants scheme. This scheme is supported by the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
The project is led by Professor Peter Sammonds from the UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction. Project Manager Dr Bayes Ahmed is also involved.
The project's co-applicants are Professor A.S.M. Maksud Kamal, Department of Disaster Science and Management, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, Director, Centre for Genocide Studies, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The project’s co-applicants are based at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Professor A.S.M. Maksud Kamal is from the Department of Disaster Science and Management. Professor Imtiaz Ahmed is Director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
SELMA: Identifying and Implementing Appropriate and Effective Public Policy Responses for Improving the Sexual Health of Migrants and Refugees
The SELMA Project takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine how to improve the sexual health of migrants and refugees. It focuses particularly on the role policy responses play in addressing the broader determinants of health. The focus on the sexual health of refugees and migrants stems from the understanding of inequality. These inequalities contribute to people becoming refugees and migrants. These inequalities also increase their risk of sexual ill-health once they are displaced.
Upon arrival in a new country, migrants’ health is found to be relatively better than the general population. Differences in socio-economic risks, rules, and regulations may affect migrants’ health. Practical access to services in the new country can also contribute to poor health.
The SELMA Project focuses on the West Asia/Middle East North Africa (WA/MENA) and European regions. It examines countries particularly affected by large influxes of migrants. The WA/MENA region is home to the world’s largest populations of refugees, internally displaced persons and work migrants.
Sexual health represents an area of health that is:
- Global in nature
- Driven by structural determinants
- Incites widely differing “solutions” from stakeholders
- Evidence encounters cultural values in policy processes.
The Project is led by Professor Sarah Hawkes, with Dr Kristine Husøy Onarheim at UCL Institute for Global Health
Affiliation: UCL Bartlett Development Planning Unit ; and the Humanitarian Affairs Team of Save the Children UK
Temporary Migrants or New European citizens? Geographies of Integration and Response Between ‘Camps’ and the City
Funded by the British Academy UK International Challenges Award, this project offers an alternative account of the European ‘refugee crisis’. Since 2015, the arrival of over 1.5 million refugees has stretched EU and individual state capacities. It has tested formal registration and arrival procedures. The crisis has also reignited debates about continental ‘margins’ and geopolitical power differences between Eastern and Western Europe.
In this project, we aim to localise and challenge the narratives of ‘the crisis’. We do this through an engagement with the evolving duties of care, needs, and agencies of refugees. We also focus on the role of providers on the arrival ‘frontlines’. Our multi-sited research explores the various forms of arrival and settlement. This includes the makeshift and temporary camps along the Hungarian-Serbian border. It also covers the sprawling tent communities in Lesbos. It also examines the removal of the ‘Jungle’ in Calais.
By ‘thinking from the South’ and from the perspective of post-colonial cities, we will explore the improvisation, precarity, makeshift practices, and alternative scripts of citizenship that refugees and local agencies use. We will also examine how state rules and norms are negotiated in this context.
The project is led by Dr Tatiana Thieme. She works with Dr Eszter Kovacs and Dr Kavita Ramakrishnan from the University of East Anglia.
Affiliation: UCL Department of Geography
The Work of Teatro di Nascosto/Hidden Theatre
This interdisciplinary research examines the work ethics of Teatro di Nascosto/Hidden Theatre. The company is an international theatre group based in Italy. It creates events in territories of war and occupied areas, primarily in the Middle East and European cities.
The project examines how Annet Henneman, the company's director and founder, uses theatre reportage and theatre anthropology. Her goal is to explore human rights and refugees' rights. The aim is to create a deeper understanding between people living in the Middle East and those in Europe.
The project explores the notion of 'hospitality.' It relates this concept to Henneman's travels to meet the people whose stories are told in the theatrical events. It also examines the actor's training for international acting groups. In the end, the research examines the effect of these overlapping methodologies. It focuses on the actor's body and voice in the act of performance. The project is led by Dr Marta Niccolai (UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society)
Affiliation: UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society
Trafficking, Smuggling and Illicit Migration in Gendered and Historical Perspective
Human trafficking, "people smuggling," and clandestine migration are among today's most politically volatile and socially pressing issues. However, they also have a long history. This project makes a significant contribution to the emerging field of illicit and clandestine migration studies. It examines the history of trafficking in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The research takes a comparative and global perspective to explore these historical developments.
The Project Lead, Julia Laite, is a specialist on trafficking and migration in the British World. She will work with Philippa Hetherington, a specialist on trafficking in the Russian empire. Together, they will produce a comparative study of trafficking and clandestine migration. This study will focus on these two nations and empires in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In addition to the study, they will organise a series of workshops. They will also lead a major digital collaboration project. The project will bring together historians studying trafficking, smuggling, and illicit migration. These historians focus on other areas of the world during the modern period.
This digital collaboration will also create a web application focused on an interactive mapping project. The application will be developed by project participants, drawing on their own research and expertise. It will then be shared widely with both academic and non-academic stakeholders.
This project is led by Dr Julia Laite (Birkbeck, University of London) with Dr Philippa Hetherington (UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)).
Affiliation: UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies
Zugunruhe
"Zugunruhe" is a theatre project that explores migration patterns in both humans and the natural world. It also examines the cultural and political creation of a 'refugee'. The project builds on artist Tom Bailey's earlier work with refugees. This work took place at the Good Chance theatre in the Calais Jungle refugee camp in 2016.
During his residency with the UCL Migration Research Unit, Tom worked as the Leverhulme Artist in Residence. He researched and developed work that explores migration through live performance. During his residence, Tom ran a series of workshops related to his research. He also presented a developmental performance of 'Zugunruhe' in 2017.
The project was led by Tom Bailey, Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the UCL Migration Research Unit
Affiliation: UCL Migration Research Unit ; UCL Department of Geography