The Essex Centre for Migration Studies is organizing an annual academic workshop on ‘Migration Challenges in the UK at the Dawn of Brexit’ on 26 September in the Lakeview Room at the University of Essex.

This event, sponsored by the Eastern Academic Research Consortium and the University of Essex, will address the changing composition and dynamics of migration, refugee flows, and integration in the UK, and to discuss the human face of Brexit for immigrants in the UK as well as British emigrants abroad.

The day will consist of three thematic panels focusing on the migration-integration nexus from different angles at the dawn of Brexit. The workshop will provide the space for participants to exchange views on contemporary challenges on migration before, during, and after the Brexit referendum. You are also invited to a wine reception and art exhibition directly following the workshop.

Programme

10:15 Registration

10:45-11:00 Opening Words

11:00-12:30 Panel 1: Refugees

Refugees in a transit country perspective, Liliana Harding, UEA

Refugees, integration and international human rights law: setting the record straight , Alexandra Xanthaki, Brunel University London

The evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem of a displacement camp – case study from Pakistan, Caleb Kwong, University of Essex

12:30-13:30 Lunch

13:30 -15:00 Panel 2: The Human Face of Brexit

Brexit, EU families and the politics of (dis)integration: from ‘free movers’ to ‘immigrants’, Nando Sigona, University of Birmingham

Brexit, business as usual? Britishness and belonging among British people of colour in the EU-27, Michaela Benson and Chantelle Lewis, Goldsmiths

Threatened even within the bubble?: EU university staff and Brexit, Renee Luthra, University of Essex

15:00 – 15:15 Coffee Break

15:15- 16:45 Panel 3: Immigrant Integration

Who benefits from host country investments? Evidence of heterogeneous labour market returns to host country investments by migrant motivation, Neli Demireva, University of Essex, UK

Intersectionality, identity work and migrant progression from low paid work: a critical realist approach, Gina Netto, Heriot Watt University

Why all “Muslims” should not be lumped together as a ‘group’ and we need more cultural explanations than “religiosity” for understanding Muslim minorities’ positions on so-called “liberal democratic values, Paul Statham, University of Sussex

17:00 – 18:00 Art Exhibit and Reception

Venue: Art Exchange, University of Essex

To mark the first successful year of our Centre, CMS and Art Exchange have developed a series of cultural activities to run through September and October.

Immediately following the workshop we will have a wine reception and viewing in the Art Exchange’s main gallery of Caroline Walker’s painting series ‘Home’ highlighting the psychological and spatial dimensions of the waiting process of five asylum seekers.

Alongside this in the gallery’s Project Space, we showcase Imran’s Perretta’s short film ‘15 Days’ that focuses on the lives of asylum seekers in Calais after the Jungle was razed in 2016.

Professor Christine Raines, PVC Research at the University of Essex, will start the evening at 17:00 with a brief welcome followed by a short presentation by Dr Renee Luthra (Director of CMS) of the current achievements and future aims of the Centre. This will be followed by the opportunity to mingle with fellow community activists and migration scholars from across the UK with drinks and canapés.

The workshop is open to migration scholars and PhD students across the social sciences and is free.

Contact: Selin Sivis is a PhD Researcher at the Sociology Department, University of Essex. She also works as Senior Research Officer at Essex Centre for Migration Studies. If you would like to learn more about the workshop, please contact her ss16365@essex.ac.uk.

Parking: Parking as available on the campus.