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© UNHCR/Ivor Prickett
Two young Syrian refugees carry a pitcher of water back to their family's container at Azraq refugee camp, Jordan

Our Annual Report 2015–16 provides details of all our research and activities over the past year.

This year has seen significant multilateral engagement with refugees and forced migration. Unprecedented numbers of high-level political events have been convened within and beyond the United Nations. Throughout this, we have tried to engage with changing world events from the unique position of an independent, academic research centre, using our ideas, expertise and convening power to have an impact.

During the course of the year, we have added new and exciting research projects and collaborations. We will soon begin a new centre-wide research project on ‘Rethinking Refuge’ to be coordinated by Dr Natascha Zaun. Professor Tom Scott-Smith has embarked on new work on the history of humanitarian shelter. Dr Georgia Cole has started work on a project on the value of refugee status to displaced populations themselves. We have begun new primary data collection in East Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

Through our research, we have contributed directly to discussions around the 19th September UN High-Level Meeting on Large-Scale Movements of Refugees and Migration, the World Humanitarian Summit in May, and the London Summit on Syrian Refugees in February, for instance; in each case being directly involved in the conceptual development of major policy ideas. To take two examples: Professor Alexander Betts has worked throughout the year with Professor Sir Paul Collier on a new initiative to create jobs for Syrian refugees in Jordan (see page 13), while Dr Will Jones has developed a pioneering new idea to introduce preference matching to refugee resettlement (see pages 24–25).

We continued to be visible and active in public engagement. For example, we hosted a special edition of BBC Radio 4’s the World Tonight at the RSC. Through a series of TED Talks, Alexander Betts has been able to reach a wider audience, speaking on topics including the refugee crisis. The Humanitarian Innovation Project was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement with Research. As part of Refugee Week, we hosted a joint conference with City of Sanctuary and the British Red Cross called ‘From Fortress Europe to Sanctuary Europe’, bringing people from advocacy, practice and social enterprise from across the UK and Europe.

Further highlights in the report include articles on the 1951 Refugee Convention (pages 16–17) and on the morality and politics of deportation (pages 30–31).

Download the report here >>