Diplomacy@Kent co-sponsors event on peace processes and durable solutions to forced displacement, 17-19 April 2015
The event aims to bring together academics and practitioners to discuss comparative cases of forced displacement and strategies to support victim groups in protracted conflicts. It will take place at the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) and will include both an academic as well as an applied policy component focusing on theoretical and methodological innovations in the comparative study of displacement based on new qualitative, interpretive and survey work. It will include contributions aiming to challenge conventional assumptions as to the irreversibility of displacement and/or the absence of solutions to protracted conflicts. The keynote speaker, Dr Meera Seethi is Chief of Mission of the International Organisation for Migration in Turkey. She has previously served as the Senior Regional Advisor for Sub-Saharan Africa with the External Relations Department at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Geneva.
The event will also include presentations from participants representing key international organisations in the area including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Displacement Monitoring Centre and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada as well as academics from around the world including the Balkans and the Middle East.
The event is funded by two external grants awarded to the organisers by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council Canada (Dr. Stefanovic, Saint Mary’s University and Dr Loizides, connection grant) and the British Academy (Dr Loizides Mid-Career Fellowship Scheme) and as well as internal grants awarded by the University of Kent. For the draft agenda click here or contact n.loizides@kent.ac.uk.