Refugee Research: Issues, Knowledge Clusters and Partnerships

1
Refugee Research Issues, Knowledge Clusters and
Partnerships

• Susan McGrath PhD
• Director of Centre for Refugee Studies, York
  University
• National RAP Conference 2007
• Vancouver BC

2
SSHRC Research Cluster Critical Refugee Issues
by Chronology

• Pre-Migration International Responses to
  Displacement
• Migration Individual and Family,
  Government/Private Sponsored, Claimants
• Post-Migration Resettlement, Secondary Migration
  Return

3
SSHRC Research Cluster Critical Refugee Issues
by Theme

• Displacement and Protection
• Health and Healing
• Representation and Community

4
Edmontons New Canadians' Health Centre Pilot
Recommends

• Research effective responses to emerging mental
  health issues to reflect an understanding of
  refugees' premigration experience.
• Research the impact of practice that builds a
  'collective capacity' to address mental health
  concerns among refugee children, youth and adults.

5
Edmontons New Canadians' Health Centre Pilot
Recommends

• Examine policies in other countries that set
  national standards on screening for infectious
  diseases and health assessments for children and
  adults.
• Research the impact of public policies that
  compound and sometimes retraumatize refugees
  during their settlement process.

6
Proposal for a Global Refugee Knowledge Cluster

• Goal Knowledge mobilization
• An iterative and interactive communication
  network among researchers, practitioners and
  policy makers that will facilitate the transfer
  of knowledge that is being generated at each
  site.

7
Global Refugee Knowledge Cluster

• Stage 1 building associations or groupings
• i) a new Canadian Association for Refugee and
  Forced Migration Studies
• ii) a Global Cluster of Research Centres on
  Forced Migration
• iii) a Network of New Scholars of Forced
  Migration
• iv) a new International NGO Network on Refugee
  Rights lead by Canadian Council for Refugees and
  
• v) the development of inter-diasporic
  communities.

8
Global Refugee Knowledge Cluster

• Stage 2 - development of interactive mechanisms
• i) On-line events/seminars
• ii) Researcher profile web pages
• iii) a digital library (in partnership with
  Oxford Universitys Forced Migration Online)
• iv) an online Teaching Lab and
• v) Experts online.

9
(No Transcript)
10
Principles of Community University Partnerships

• Shared Vision
• Commitment
• Respect
• Sustainability
• Trust

• Accountability
• Equity/fairness
• Mutual Benefit
• Flexibility
• Inclusivity