Migration Research Group (MRG) has had an amazing year continuing our work to create a supportive and inclusive research environment for researchers studying migration, mobility, borders and citizenship, across the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield and beyond. We believe we have improved our connections with external and community partners working with different migrant communities in the Sheffield region, so the University space feels welcoming for non-academic audiences working with migrants (and often being migrants) too.
We have strived to bring regional and interdisciplinary diversity into our activities. Our vibrant seminar series - with over 20 in-person, online or hybrid events - included about 40 speakers, both academics and practitioners, coming from other European countries (such as Netherlands, Finland, Germany), Americas or Asia (China, United Arab Emirates). We worked with colleagues from Departments and Schools across the Faculty to exchange perspectives and support each other (Education, Geography, Information, Journalism, East Asian Studies, Law).
We hosted four large-scale events responding to key debates in migration studies:
- December 2023 - Migration in the Media panel facilitating a dialogue about migration presentation in the media between researchers and journalists and activist;
- March 2024 - Community Study Day organised with the City of Sanctuary and the Lift the Ban campaign on working rights for people in the asylum system;
- May 2024 - MRG Annual Lecture with Professor Vicki Squire on coloniality and epistemic injustice when we also celebrated MRG 10th Anniversary;
- June 2024 - PGR Migration Conference on Migration and Border Regimes - a truly international event with speakers coming from USA, Canada, India, and many countries in Europe.
We supported a growing and engaged PGR community of migration researchers at the University by running a few seminars dedicated to PhD students' work, organising four masterclasses as a safe space to learn about methodological and ethical aspects of research, as well as more informal networking opportunities, e.g., coffee mornings. Our students from the CDT New Horizons of Borders and Bordering have been running a monthly reading group providing an additional space for intellectual debates to the group.
We have marked our academic year with an Away Day for MRG members (on 12 July) coming up with a lot more ideas on how to grow together. We jointly identified key priorities on how the MRG can be part of the lively research culture at the University of Sheffield in the forthcoming academic year 2024/2025. Below we attach our annual report, which provides more in-depth reflection on the 2023/2024 academic year and summarises a breadth of activities, events, knowledge exchange and impact work MRG has done.
We would like to thank all MRG members for a wonderful year and your contribution to making the network such a lively space. We enjoyed this year a lot!
A special thanks go to our administrator and good colleague Lucy Potter who worked with us as a part of MRG leadership team in the last couple of years and made the network run so smoothly.
MRG Co-Directors: Aneta, Lucy & Patricia