The University of Birmingham is at the forefront of research into migration and displacement. The Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) is the first institute in the UK and one of the first globally, to focus on migration, displacement and superdiversity.

We are unravelling the refugee crisis, shifting headlines from immigration to integration

Birmingham Heroes: Professor Jenny Phillimore talks about 'superdiversity'

Birmingham Heroes: Migration and Displacement - Professor Sabine Lee

The refugee crisis

The ongoing ‘refugee crisis’ in the Mediterranean has put immigration and integration issues back in the headlines; often based on false assumptions and generalisations. The attempts of governments across the globe to respond to the so-called crisis has included little effort to understand the back stories of migrants and refugees. We are working to unravel the myths and identify the drivers and motivations that push migrants leave their countries of origin or residence, the realities of both their journey, and their experiences of integrating into their new communities.

Researchers at Birmingham have challenged current policy responses to sea arrivals and rescue at sea which make sea crossings more deadly. They have demonstrated that 88 percent of those arriving in Greece in 2015 fled their homes because of persecution, violence, death threats or human rights abuse. Despite general assumptions concerning sea arrivals in Italy being economic migrants in disguise only 38 percent of those we interviewed cited economic factors as the primary reason for leaving their home country. We know that a progressive, humane response to migration can only be achieved by working with refugees and migrants, and listening to their voices.

Migration - Integration through Enterprise and Self employment

The Enterprise and Diversity Alliance (EDA) is a unique grouping of public and private sector organisations dedicated to promoting diversity and enterprise in the UK. The EDA is internationally-recognised for its work on promoting minority entrepreneurship, influencing policy and facilitating economic regeneration It is supported by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), leading policy-makers and professional bodies [Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Barclays, Business in the Community, the Equality & Human Rights Commission and Lloyds Banking Group, Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative and NatWest Bank] its mission is to ‘make diversity and enterprise everyone’s business’ by: engaging directly with policy-makers to promote best practice; supporting growth in minority businesses; serving as an exemplar on innovative approaches to diversity and enterprise. The research undertaken by EDA plays a central role in ensuring our research makes a difference to practitioners, policy makers as well as the academy, our substantial programme of knowledge exchange, embeds the complementary concerns of practitioners, policy makers and academics by converting academic insights into effective action, policy initiatives and sustainable impact. The EDA promotes greater engagement between banks, professional associations and corporations on the one hand, and minority businesses on the other. Insights from research on supporting minority networks (Ram and Trehan, 2010, 2012) have also informed the development of the EDA, particularly in respect to encouraging greater engagement between minority entrepreneurs and ‘mainstream’ institutions; the research also reinforces the importance of mentoring as an effective means of capacity-building new migrant businesses.

Migrant integration

A great deal of attention has been placed upon the numbers of migrants arriving in Europe with far less concern paid to how those migrants might be supported to integrate into European societies. Researchers at Birmingham have undertaken studies looking at what works in migrant integration and identifying good practice in migrant integration. They have also analysed large datasets examining refugee integration outcomes enabling them to assess what kinds of experiences are ant-integrative.

They find that migrants and refugees fare better if they have access to good quality language training and education, volunteering opportunities, mentoring and initiatives for women. Migrants repeatedly express the desire to contribute and be accepted. Analysis shows that those who experience racist harassment are less likely to be employed or to report good health, than those who do not. Further initiatives that support the general population to welcome migrants are generally highly effective in supporting integration.

Researchers’ work has fed into the re-assessments of the EU’s Common Basic Principles for Integration and into various UK Government reviews. Most recently the IRiS team have used their expertise around migrant integration to train individuals working with refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking children. They have created a refugee integration toolkit that can help local areas support the integration of Syrian refugees.