The entrepreneurship of refugees is gaining increasing interest among scholars from various disciplines, from migration to management studies. However, gaps remain in the understanding of several aspects of the entrepreneurial attitudes of refugees, including a discussion on methods and theory, and little cross-disciplinary collaboration exists among academics.

Migration Oxford is organizing a networking event on the topic of “refugees and entrepreneurship”. Led by Gilda Borriello (DPhil Candidate in Migration Studies, COMPAS, University of Oxford), this event builds on the recent Migration Oxford podcast episode “Immigration to Innovation” available here.

Aims

This event aims to:

1. Foster reflections on refugee entrepreneurship as an interdisciplinary domain of study, and initiate a dialogue on the role of entrepreneurship, business ownership, and self-employment for refugees more widely.

2. Connect researchers with an interest in the intersection between the study of refugees and that of entrepreneurship, and stimulate collaboration, networking, and knowledge exchange.

Format and Speakers

We have the pleasure to have Deema Refai (Associate Professor in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, University of Leeds Business School) and Carlos Vargas-Silva (Professor in Migration Studies and COMPAS Director, University of Oxford) to open this event with an overview of refugee entrepreneurship research and why it matters.

Their interventions will be followed by 5-minute informal presentations from early-career and senior researchers about their work-in-progress research on refugee entrepreneurship. We will then engage in an open discussion.

All participants will have a chance to continue discussions over light refreshments from 6.30pm onwards.

Call for attendees and presenters

We invite DPhils, ECRs and senior researchers from any department and discipline to participate in this event either as speakers or attendees:

Call for presenters: If you would like to give a 5-minute informal talk on your work-in-progress research and reflections on refugee entrepreneurship, please send a short abstract by Saturday 22nd October 2022 to gilda.borriello@compas.ox.ac.uk and migration-mobility@torch.ox.ac.uk Sub-topics can be, for instance: methods to measure refugee entrepreneurship, political or economic consequences of the self-employment of refugees, entrepreneurial behaviour of refugees, refugee entrepreneurship and inclusion, and more. Presenters will be notified by October 25th 2022.
Call for attendees: If you would like to participate to this event as an attendee, you are very welcome to register via Eventbrite. This is limited capacity event—if your plans change, please notify us at migration-mobility@torch.ox.ac.uk

Networking event: “Refugees and Entrepreneurship”