We are delighted to announce our seminar series for this academic term. All seminars are free and open to the public. They will be held in Room 1150, Muirhead Tower, University of Birmingham.
In the first seminar on 20 October, Nando Sigona examines the migration agenda of the Labour government in its first year in office. The talk situates Labour’s White Paper Restoring Control over the Immigration System (2025) within the legacies of Brexit and the Conservative “New Plan for Immigration,” highlighting continuities and ruptures. Drawing on official statistics, policy documents, and independent analyses, Sigona analyses five priorities: combatting “illegal work,” reforming the “broken asylum system,” “smashing the gangs,” cutting net migration, and promoting “British jobs for British workers”. Dave Stark, migration and asylum expert, will offer comments on the paper. Please register for the first talk via eventbrite.
On 5 November, professor Rachel Humphris will present her new book “Making Sanctuary Cities” (Stanford University Press, 2025) in which she examines how sanctuary city policies negotiate and contest citizenship, highlighting their political potential and their contradictions and constraints. Book a place here.
On 5 December, Dr Özlem Ögtem-Young will launch her latest book “The Shape of Belonging” (Bristol University Press, 2023). This book offers a novel and groundbreaking understanding of the concept of belonging, capturing its complexities, its multiplicities, shifts, and its ruptures through the accounts of the lived experiences of unaccompanied young people. Through a rich and unique empirical and theoretical analysis, it sheds new light on the nature, constituents, and workings of belonging within conditions of displacement. Discussant: Professor Elaine Chase (UCL). Register here for a place.
The Age of Superdiversity 
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