Call for contributions: Reflections on migration and the refugee crisis

Do you have personal or professional experience related to refugees and forced migration and would like to reflect on the current crisis? Perhaps your research is broadly connected to refugees, borders and migration or the European Union? We want to hear from you!

Adam Dombovari - 20 October 2015

Syrna refugees strike at the platform of Budapest Keleti railway station. By Mstyslav Chernov (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Syran refugees strike at the platform of Budapest's Keleti railway station, September 4th 2015. Photo by Mstyslav Chernov (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies and the European Union Centre of Excellence (EUCE) are inviting short paper and document contributions to collect reflections on migration and the refugee crisis.

WHAT KIND OF CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

Paper reflections
Papers can be academic or non-academic in nature and should be 'blog post like'. Suggested topics include but are not limited to individual or group refugee experiences, international relations, government actions (policies, legislation, PR/communications), the role of civil society, socio-economic and cultural impact of migration, border control and national security, media responses (including social media) etc.

You can submit:
  • a short analysis related to migration and refugee issues
  • an academic commentary/opinion piece
  • a personal reflection on the crisis based on your direct or indirect experience related to refugees and migration (does not need to be academic)
  • community voices from refugees or migrants about their experience (for example transcripts of interviews with refugees)
  • or a combination of the above four

Papers should be no longer than 1500 words. Please note that you can submit more than one paper across various categories.

Documents

We also welcome photos or other digitized documents related to the crisis that you or someone in your circles may have. Please make sure you provide a brief description of the document including attribution information, and that you grant us permission to use it on a public-facing website.

Note: if the document or paper is in a language other than English or Hungarian, please provide translation.

WHO CAN CONTRIBUTE?

Researchers, instructors, students, staff, alumni and community members can all send us content. We particularly encourage submissions from those with firsthand experience related to refugees and migration, or whose family or friends live or lived in the affected areas.

HOW DO YOU SEND US SUBMISSIONS?

You can send us submissions by emailing Dr. Adam Dombovari, Project Lead at adam.dombovari@ualberta.ca.

Please make sure to include the following information:

  • Name
  • Affiliation: (current or former) academic, student, staff, alumni, community (please specify title and unit if applicable)
  • Paper or document title
  • Type: analysis, academic commentary, personal reflection, community voices, mixed/other
    • If analysis: 3-5 keyword descriptors
    • If community voices or photo: consent from the source/subject
  • Scope: country-specific (please name country) or general
Deadline for submissions: ongoing ASAP, and no later than end of fall term.

WHAT HAPPENS TO SUBMISSIONS?

We will launch a public 'rapid research response project' website about the EU refugee crisis in early December. Submissions will be published there as short articles or 'blog posts'. They will accompany other website content which is planned to include a 90-minute live symposium on the EU refugee crisis with speakers from various embassies (date TBC) and short video responses from experts. Our goal is to facilitate engaged dialogue and informed citizenship, and to showcase the academic and broader community's collective reflections on this subject in a public-facing way. Please note submissions will be reviewed to ensure content and language are appropriate. The website will also be archived.

For questions and further information please contact Dr. Adam Dombovari, Project Lead at adam.dombovari@ualberta.ca

Image copyright & license information (no modifications to the original have been made):
Attribution: By Mstyslav Chernov (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Syrian_refugees_strike_at_the_platform_of_Budapest_Keleti_railway_station._Refugee_crisis._Budapest%2C_Hungary%2C_Central_Europe%2C_4_September_2015._%283%29.jpg