Intranet

Forced Migration Unit

Our Forced Migration Unit undertakes research, teaching, consultation and engagement activities, focusing on international protection and state responses to forced migration.

The Forced Migration Unit conducts interdisciplinary research, adopting a human rights approach to contemporary migration issues. The Unit works with academics, governments, practitioners and civil society to understand forced migration and propose solutions that promote and protect the human rights of forced migrants.

The Unit’s Refugee Clinic, established in 2020, works directly with affected populations. Through the Clinic, students gain practical experience working in the field of refugee law.

People

Unit Head

The unit is led by Dr Natalie Hodgson, Assistant Professor in the School of Law, who researches state responses to asylum seekers and border harms.

Unit members

Dr Annamaria La Chimia, Professor
Zinat Jimada, HRLC Researcher
Laura Wills, HRLC Researcher
Sara Palacios Arapiles, ESRC Doctoral Researcher.

Border Policing and International Criminal Law

This project examines the legality of offshore detention and other state responses to asylum seekers under international criminal law and explores how civil society organisations use international criminal law to challenge states’ immigration policies.

HRLC Refugee Clinic

The Refugee Clinic was established in February 2020 and works in collaboration with Across Borders and Saint Andrews Refugee Services (StARS). The Clinic works remotely with legal advisors from StARS' Refugee Legal Aid Program on Refugee Status Determination applications. The Clinic is the first of its kind in the UK.

Explore our past projects

Explore a selection of our past projects here. Our research looks critically, and from a variety of perspectives, at state responses to people seeking asylum. It aims to understand how state policies affect access to international protection and identify potential human rights concerns.

Refugee Week

For Refugee Week in 2022, the Forced Migration Unit worked with the Institute for Policy and Engagement and to create a range of resources. Through these resources, we hope to educate people about current policy issues and debates relating to refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.