Social Sciences FMRN

Forced Migration Research Network

Forced migration is at its highest level in history, with 1 in every 95 people worldwide displaced by conflict, persecution, poverty, or environmental crises.

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The Forced Migration Research Network (FMRN) brings together UNSW scholars from across the social sciences and the humanities to generate research that informs policy, strengthens practice, and supports refugee-led action.

One of our most recent applied research outputs is the Empowering Refugee Women Resource Kit. It was developed as part of a multi-year collaborative action-based research project “Refugee Women and Girls - Key to the Global Compact on Refugees” undertaken with refugee women-led organisations and other partners,  in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand, 2018 - 2024.

We also co-host the annual Refugee Research Workshop with the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, supporting emerging and established scholars engaged in interdisciplinary research and strengthening Australia’s research landscape in forced migration scholarship.

Underpinning our work, is a commitment to participatory, rights-based, gender- and diversity-sensitive research, while creating platforms for displaced people to share their experiences as researchers, advocates and service providers in their own right.

FMRN is supported by the School of Social and Sciences and the School of Humanities and Languages.

UNSW offers the Sanctuary Scholarship for people seeking asylum and refugees with temporary protection, and the Welcome Scholarship for students from refugee backgrounds, more information here

For more information about our research and training offerings, or to join our mailing list, contact fmrn@unsw.edu.au.

Explore FMRN

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Research impact & advocacy

We are proud to undertake advocacy, to influence positive policy change, at national, regional and international levels.
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Projects

Browse our current and archived projects.
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Partners

We are proud to work with organisations across the globe.
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Resource kit

A resource kit to support refugee led work, address SGBV and barriers to participation.

Our researchers
  • Headshot of Linda Bartolomei
    Linda Bartolomei
    Dr Linda Bartolomei works on a variety of international advocacy, human rights & development-related research activities, including action-based research projects exploring the challenges associated with responding to refugee women & girls at risk of rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. She also works closely with UNHCR Geneva.
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    Ruth Balint
    Ruth Balint

    Professor Ruth Balint researches and teaches transnational histories of migration, refugees, and the family, with a current focus on the displaced persons of World War Two. She has recently written on the histories of families broken apart by the immigration policies of western nations and refugee stories of people smuggling.

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    Maree Higgins
    Maree Higgins
    Dr Maree Higgins’ research focuses on participatory methods and human rights-informed research with refugee-background co-researchers and people of African descent. Her scholarship explores how co-research can safely and ethically illuminate lived experience, promote inclusion, and create meaningful social change.
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  • Professor Angela Nickerson
    Angela Nickerson

    Angela Nickerson is a Professor in the School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, and Director of the Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program. Angela undertakes longitudinal and experimental research to understand factors influencing refugee mental health, with the ultimate goal of informing policy and practice.

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    Anthony Zwi
    Anthony Zwi
    Professor Zwi is Professor of Global Health and Development in the School of Social Sciences at UNSW. His research interests include global health and development policy and practice, as well as their interface(s) with equity, social justice and human rights.
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    Aniko Hatoss
    Anikó Hatoss
    Dr Anikó Hatoss is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the School of Humanities and Languages. Her research addresses social justice in the context of linguistic diversity and mobility through the study of migrant/refugee narratives, intergenerational language maintenance and family language planning.
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    Ilan Katz
    Ilan Katz
    Professor Katz is from the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW. He specialises in policy focused research methodology & analysis, in particular projects using mixed methods. His research interests include mental health, child protection, disability, justice, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander social policy, human service system reform and aging.
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    Picture of Caroline Wake
    Caroline Wake

    Dr Caroline Wake is Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance, whose research interests include the representation, participation and self-determination of artists with lived experience of forced migration. She is currently researching artistic responses to Australia's offshore processing regime. 

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  • Sally Baker
    Sally Baker

    Sally Baker is an Associate Professor of Migration and Education at the Australian National University. Her research and advocacy interests are refugee education which includes higher education equity, educational experiences of students with migration backgrounds, and ethical issues with doing research in ‘fragile contexts’.

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    Susanne Schmeidl
    Susanne Schmeidl
    Dr Susanne Schmeidl is a scholar-practitioner whose research has focused on the intersecting areas of conflict & refugee early warning, inclusive & locally-led peace formation, and conflict-sensitive practice.
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    Valentina Bau
    Valentina Baú
    Dr. Valentina Baú is a Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University, Institute for Cultural Studies, and Honorary Senior Lecturer at UNSW. Her research explores different theoretical frameworks and practical applications in Communication for Development in Peacebuilding.
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  • Eileen Pittaway
    Eileen Pittaway
    Adjunct Associate Professor Eileen Pittaway’s rich body of work continues to focus on the prevention of, and response to the rape, sexual abuse and gender-based violence experienced by refugee women. Over the past 24 years, she has worked with refugees, United Nations and humanitarian agencies, and evaluated projects in 22 different countries.
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Our newest researchers

The Forced Migration Research Student Network (FMRSN) is a network of higher degree research students (HDR) undertaking research in forced migration based at UNSW. Established in 2020, the FMRSN aims to foster outstanding and original PhD research and provide postgraduate students associated with the UNSW Forced Migration Research Network to have a forum to engage with each other. The FMRSN is open for all postgraduate students involved in forced migration research across various research disciplines. FMRSN offers monthly meetings, several networking opportunities with senior academics and workshops relevant to PhD research.
    • Simon Metcalfe
      Title of PhD thesis: Affective Dimensions of Border Regimes: Australia’s violent border policies towards people seeking asylum via boat
      Supervisors: Dr Maree Higgins, Dr Yao-Tai Li and Associate Professor Helen Pringle
    • Phuong Anna Nguyen
    • An Tran
    • Andre Nassini
    • Saniya Karimova
    • Carla Basil
    • Urvashi Jalali
      Title of PhD thesis: A Search for Home in Exile - Placemaking as an evocative concept through the Cornerstones of Identity, Belonging, Rootedness Memory, Materiality, and Beyond in the Aftermath of a Forced Uprooting
      Supervisors: Associate Prof Dijana Alic and Dr David Sanderson
    • Tamara Megaw
      University of Sydney
      Title of PhD thesis: Community-led approaches to refugee protection in Southeast Asia
      Supervisors: Professor Michele Ford and Associate Professor Susan Banki
    • Anja Wendt
      Title of PhD thesis: Refugee Settlement Volunteering in Australia: Power vs Happiness
      Supervisors: Dr Linda Bartolomei and Dr Susanne Schmeidl
    • Bella Choo (she/her)
      University of Melbourne
      Title: The "Australian Dream": Aspirations of young migrants with disability
      Supervisors: Belinda Hewitt, Irma Mooi-Reci, Zoe Aitken, Paul Ramcharan
    • Mireille Kayeye
      University of Melbourne
      Title of research: Empowerment of Women Seeking Asylum: A Voice for Change
      Supervisors: Professor Celia McMichael and Professor Bina Fernandez
    • Rutaban Yameen

     
    • Zoe Bell
      Title of PhD thesis: Refugee Protection and Statelessness: The lived experience of the Rohingya Community in Australia
      Supervisors: Prof Claudia Tazreiter, Dr Susanne Schmeidl
    • Carly Hawkins
      Title of PhD thesis: Nauru: The impact of immigration detention on the education of refugee children
      Supervisors: Dr Hazel Blunden, Associate Professor Caroline Lenette, and Dr Sarah Mares
    • Ruth Horsfall
      Title of PhD thesis: Exploring the impact on wellbeing of beginners acting classes for young women with refugee backgrounds in Western Sydney
      Supervisors: Dr Caroline Wake, Associate Professor Caroline Lenette
    • Diana Kreemers
      Project title: Institutional listening to minority voices: representation, recognition, and refugee media
      Supervisors: Associate Professor Tanja Dreher, Professor Ramaswami Harindranath, and Dr Linda Bartolomei
    • Anna Xavier
      Title of PhD thesis: Breaking Barriers or Building Walls: An Investigation into The Role of Education in the Integration of Refugee-Background Students in Regional NSW
      Supervisors: Associate Professor Sally Baker, Professor Sue Starfield and Dr Rose Amazan