After fourteen years of Conservative governments defined by the infamous hostile environment launched by Home Secretary Theresa May, a new Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, seems eager to build her political profile by weaponising the migration issue once again. The search for a new catchphrase may still be on, but the underlying message feels all too... Continue Reading →
Reports document the lived experiences of migrant workers experiencing legal vulnerability in the UK’s food delivery and domestic work sectors A team of researchers at the University of Birmingham, led by Professor Nando Sigona, has released two new reports exposing how migrant workers experience exploitation and legal vulnerability in the UK’s food delivery and domestic... Continue Reading →
The Call for Proposals for individual papers, pre-organised panels and workshops for IRIS international conference to be held at The Exchange, University of Birmingham on 5-6 September 2024 is open. Deadline to submit proposal via the online portal is 27 March 2024. Rapidly shifting geopolitical alliances and power asymmetries in an increasingly multipolar landscape rekindle... Continue Reading →
When travelling across the world, people are being subjected to multiple forms of tracking and profiling by unaccountable state agencies. Local and international travel is changing radically as concerns about terrorism and migration increase. Security agencies require access to travellers’ information before they leave their homes, compulsory identification of travellers now includes the collection of... Continue Reading →
Earlier this year Laurie Hartley, Asylum Seeker Support Worker at Rainbow Migration (previously known as UKLGIG), spoke with Dawn River, academic with IRiS, about the experiences of LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum in the UK. This recording has been published during Pride month to highlight the specific challenges facing LGBTQI+ asylum seekers. Pride month takes place... Continue Reading →
Launched in March 2021, the UK government's New Plan for Immigration is quickly moving towards parliament, after a short and contested period of consultation, 'worth no more than the paper on which it was printed', according to Zoe Gardner, policy advisor with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. Despite its title, the UK... Continue Reading →
New research being launched on 8th June explores the impact of the UK’s immigration system on mixed-nationality families. At a webinar chaired by Baroness Shami Chakrabati, Dr Melanie Griffiths will speak about research she conducted looking how UK families are affected by one member’s insecure immigration status and the threat (or reality) of separation through... Continue Reading →
30 November, 1.30-3pm (GMT), Zoom To register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/environmental-justice-occupational-risk-and-ethnicity-tickets-128857419009 Co-hosted by the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) and the Department of Economics, University of Birmingham. Poor air quality in the UK has been estimated to contribute to between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths per year and to reduce the quality of life for those who experience... Continue Reading →
On Monday 6 July at 5pm, IRiS director Nando Sigona is chairing with Bahriye Kemal the second webinar of the Social Scientists Against the Hostile Environment collective (SSAHE). The event is entitled: Racism, policing and the politics of surveillance in times of pandemic. Speakers include: Speakers at SSAHE webinar Racism, policing and the politics of... Continue Reading →
This is the recording of a conversation between Espoir Njei and Dawn River. The conversation took place on Tuesday 28th April 2020 - approx. one month into lockdown. Espoir and Dawn built a friendship through their shared commitment to supporting LGBTIQ migrants fleeing persecution. Espoir is a lesbian asylum seeker from the Cameroon currently in... Continue Reading →
Conversations with Iris: Podcast on migration, diversity and displacement
The Age of Superdiversity 