Major report, ‘Development Approaches to Forced Displacement from Syria in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq,’ published.

On the 3 November 2022 the UCL-Migration Research Unit at the Department of Geography published a major report on ‘Development Approaches to Forced Displacement from Syria in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.’ The report, led by Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, presents the findings of a state-of-the-art literature review of over 260 sources published between 2016–2021, synthesising existing…

Women as hybrid hosts: Challenging the myth of host communities

The term 'host' is widely used but often unquestioned in relation to it's meaning in displacement and migration discourse and practice. 'Hosts' are often assumed to be the long established communities in to which refugees arrive, and yet, as we have been exploring in Refugee Hosts, this is not always the case. In this blog,…

‘Writing the Camp’ shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2022

Refugee Hosts is delighted to announce that 'Writing the Camp,' the poetry collection written by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh during his work as the Refugee Hosts Writer-in-Residence, has been shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2022.  The RSL Ondaatje Prize is awarded by the RSL to 'an outstanding work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that…

‘Writing the Camp’ selected as one of the Best Poetry Books of 2021 by The Irish Times

Writing the Camp - the poetry collection written by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh during his work as the Refugee Hosts Writer-in-Residence - has been selected as one of the Best Poetry Books of 2021 by The Irish Times, with Seán Hewitt praising it as a "vital sequence of poems... a remarkable collection." Writing the Camp was…

Listen: Refugee Hosts’ PI and Co-I respond to Government’s proposed ‘overhaul’ of UK’s asylum system

Refugee Hosts' PI, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Co-I, Dr. Anna Rowlands have appeared on BBC 5 Live and LBC respectively, responding to the Governments' proposed overhaul of the UK's asylum system. In her interview on BBC 5 Live's Drive programme, Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh discussed the UK's long history of preventing refugees from seeking asylum and of…

A System of Profiteering: Outsourcing the Asylum Interview Process

Allegations of ‘gross maladministration’ and human rights abuses exist alongside ‘staggering’ profit margins for private companies brought in to manage the UK’s immigration and VISA systems. In this post, Bethany Morris, a content writer for the UK's Immigration Advice Service, lays bare the UK Government’s policy to prioritise profit over people and the multiple problems…

Refugee Hosts at ‘History of Refugees’ Conference

On the 23rd November 2020 Refugee Hosts' Co-ordinator, Aydan Greatrick and Co. I. Prof. Lyndsey Stonebridge took part in the 'History of Refugees' conference hosted by SolidariTee. Diverse motivations shape contemporary responses to refugees, yet the role of history is often overlooked. Aydan Greatrick's and Prof. Lyndsey Stonebridge's talk, 'Refugee Hosting Across Time,' sought to…

Queer Russian asylum seekers in Germany: Worthy refugees and acceptable forms of harm?

Western states are often represented as safe-havens for refugees fleeing gender and sexuality-based persecution. However, all too often the credibility of the latter's testimony hinges on their adhering to specific stereotypes of 'worthy' refugees experiencing particular forms of harm. In this post, Prof. Richard Mole provides an extract from his chapter (pp 273-288) in the…

Theatre and/as solidarity: Putting yourself in the shoes of a refugee through performance

In this post Marta Niccolai provides a narrated presentation of her contribution to the recently published Refuge in a Moving World Open Access volume edited by Refugee Hosts PI, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh. Her chapter, 'Theatre and/as solidarity: Putting yourself in the shoes of a refugee through performance,” focuses on Teatro di Nascosto or Hidden Theatre,…

Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh discusses Refugee Hosts research on BBC Radio 3

At 10pm, on the 18th of June 2020, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh discusses Refugee Hosts on BBC Radio 3. The programme marks Refugee Week 2020 and highlights Refugee Hosts’ interdisciplinary approach to understanding local experiences of and responses to displacement, which is also featured in the Imperial War Museum London exhibition 'Refugee: Forced to Flee.' To…