U21 grant kick-starts partnership program for early-career researchers with refugee backgrounds

Lauren Martin

Scholars from refugee backgrounds will be matched with mentor researchers to develop skills, networks, and opportunities for collaboration, as part of a new project from the Kaldor Centre’s Emerging Scholars Network.

A Universitas21 Researcher Resilience Fund grant will fund the Kaldor Centre, in partnership with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Lund University, to design and pilot a mentoring program that promotes partnerships and opportunities for early-career scholars of forced migration with lived experiences of displacement.

The pilot will roll out over the next year as part of the Kaldor Centre’s Emerging Scholars Network. This global, interdisciplinary network already involves more than 150 early career scholars from institutions located everywhere from North America and Europe, to Australia and Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya.

Since the worldwide outbreak and spread of COVID-19, responses have compounded the barriers already faced by many refugee scholars in traditional academic settings, such as financial constraints or legal status as refugees, which often restricts travel. With the pandemic likely to limit travel for some time, refugee and other scholars of forced migration will need stronger networks to advance research across the many disciplines addressing this issue. 

This new program will establish digital partnerships in which scholars from refugee backgrounds work with other early-career scholars of forced migration towards identified goals, which may include publishing an academic article or chapter, providing a focused opportunity for ‘hands on’ skills development and collaboration. 

Structured virtual trainings, workshops and networking opportunities will also be part of the program, to help develop digital and academic skills. 

By linking researchers from refugee backgrounds with other early-career researchers worldwide, these partnerships will encourage global perspectives on problem-solving and foster cross-cultural and interdisciplinary working practices.

For more information about the program, please register your interest here or email Tamara Wood at tamara.wood@unsw.edu.au.