Check out the latest version of the Conference programme, which includes 33 panels, 5 workshops, 4 semi-plenaries and two keynote talks by Nandita Sharma and Nasar Meer. The code of conduct for delegates is also online on our conference page. The book of abstracts is now online!
Who really benefits from international labour migration? New IRIS Working Paper on the everyday political economy of labour migration
By Seb Rumsby IOM World Migration Report 2024 found that international remittances had increased 650% from $128bn to $831bn between 2000 and 2022. This growth continued contrary to predictions that remittances would drop dramatically during COVID-19. Remittance figures now outnumbers foreign direct investment in developing nations for the first time, highlighting the critical importance of labour... Continue Reading →
Bordering Society: Understanding and Reimagining migration, displacement and diversity in an age of rapid transformations – CALL FOR PROPOSALS
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 →
New report reveals real life experiences of Hong Kongers and Ukrainians in the UK under government’s ‘safe and legal humanitarian routes’
New report titled "Humanitarian Visas in a Hostile Environment" offers first-hand insights into the experiences of individuals arriving in the UK through the Hong Kong BN(O) and Ukraine visa schemes and shows that ‘significant concerns persist’ around the restrictions faced by visa beneficiaries. Researchers from the University of Birmingham and Lancaster University, draw on qualitative... Continue Reading →
Conversations with Iris is back: Mariko Hayashi in conversation with Seb Rumsby
Mariko Hayashi, Executive Director at Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC) talks to IRIS Seb Rumsby about the challenges facing Southeast and East migrants and diasporas based in the UK, before comparing post-Brexit UK with East Asian labour migration regimes to explore how policies lead to labour migrant exploitation and rights abuses and what can... Continue Reading →
Citizenship tests as technologies of bordering: IRiS talk with Kamran Khan, Katie Tonkiss and Tendayi Bloom
Citizenship tests are much more than tests. They often represent forms of ‘linguistic borders’ to be negotiated. Drawing on a decade of work in this area, Dr Kamran Khan will theorise how these borders function beyond their educational role. Furthermore, he will use the concept of ‘becoming’ as a means to centre the individual and... Continue Reading →
IRIS Conversations on Migration, Citizenship and Coloniality
The programme of IRiS seminar series is out. We are hosting three exciting conversations with internationally renown scholars in the field. The seminars are free and open. Please email a.bolstridge@bham.ac.uk to reserve a place. We look forward to seeing many of you at the seminars! 24 October, 3.30-5pm, Gisbert Kapp, room 224 Thinking decoloniality through an... Continue Reading →
The conversation continues: Nando Sigona speaks to Angelo Martins Jr about colonial legacies, social difference and migration
We are now in Series 4 of "Conversations with Iris" podcast/zoomcast. It began at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to stay connected with friends and colleagues around the world and to understand the impact the pandemic was having on migration and migrants. We spoke to researchers, campaigners, civil society organisations, asylum... Continue Reading →
Encountering Migration: Worlds Within and Worlds Without. In conversation with Michael Jackson
In this conversation, Birmingham Fellow Dr Jennifer Allsopp and Professor Michael Jackson from the Harvard Divinity School discuss the inter-relational aspects of migration research and how literature has informed their fieldwork both in terms of method and interpretation, from Sebold to Dante. In a wide-ranging and deeply personal discussion, they cover topics including the nexus... Continue Reading →
“It is still an open wound”: new report reveals the lasting impact of Brexit on EU citizens in the UK
To mark the sixth anniversary of the 2016 EU referendum we are launching today EU citizens in the UK after Brexit, a new MIGZEN Research Brief based on the responses to the MIGZEN survey of 364 EU/EEA citzens who live or have recently lived in the UK. The survey reveals that Brexit has significantly and, for most, negatively affected how... Continue Reading →

