Migration and Forced Displacement

Migration and forced displacement are amongst the most pressing global challenges of our era. Our research focuses on two key areas:
 
Mobility, Skills and Development. The huge rise in refugee movements has recast the relationship between mobile populations and skills. Our research seeks to understand the linkages and analyse the implications for development. We also aim to build capacity amongst organisations to address the skills needs of these populations.
 
Integration and Citizenship. How are mobile populations challenging notions of citizenship and rights? How do these get reshaped in the context of new nationalisms both within Europe and in other continents? Such questions are addressed both theoretically and through engagement with local, national and international organisations.

Current projects

Covid-19 deaths among migrant care workers: risks and responses

This project will generate robust social-scientific data on the impact of Covid-19 on migrant members of the global health care workforce and on collective responses to pressures on healthcare workforces globally since 2020.

Children Caring on the Move (CCoM)

Through participatory and creative research methods, CCoM investigates separated child migrants’ experiences of care, and caring for others, as they navigate the complexities of the immigration-welfare nexus in England.

International Distance Education and African Students (IDEAS)

This project examines how far international distance education in South Africa offers equitable access to students in Africa through both supply-side and demand-side analysis.

Writing International Student Migration in Africa

This British Academy funded grant enables collaboration with 10 African early-career scholars to prepare a special issue on international students in Africa for the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS). 

Inclusive Migration Policy through Evidence Cafes 

Advancing migration research, policy and planning with an online course using ‘evidence café' methodology, freely available for organisations and individuals working on migration policy across the globe.

Inclusive Societies: Migration for Inclusive African Growth

Significant growth in African economies has prompted more migrants to move to, and within, African countries. This project explores the impact this migration is having on growth and how it can be more sustainable and inclusive.

Completed projects

Art as resistance: A story from immigration detention

This public engagement project aims to foster public awareness of the lived experiences of people who are separated from their families and made vulnerable and marginalised by the state in indefinite detention in the UK.

Learning Pedagogies and Peace Education: an exploratory study of decolonisation in South Africa and Uganda

Using learning design spearheaded by The Open University to develop a decolonial education tool to reduce conflict and promote peace between local communities and foreign nationals in South Africa and Uganda.

Migration for Inclusive African Growth Network

Although the link between migration and development is well established, the implications for inclusive growth of North-South flows and migration within the global South have been underplayed.

Social and Political Impacts of South-South Migration: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Migrant Integration in West Africa

China's impact on Africa has been discussed in terms of promoting 'bad' governance and/or signalling a new 'imperialism'. Yet, beyond this, Chinese migration represents a profound social change.