Like everyone else who leads/works with @GCRF funded projects, I'm reeling from news that our budgets are to be slashed and grants terminated. We learnt about this through a public announcement on the @UKRI_News, no-one even had decency to consult with or advise us beforehand 1/ This announcement was made, ironically, on the very same day that we made our ResearchFish submission, a hellish bureaucratic system of reporting our outputs, engagements and impacts so that we can 'prove' to @UKRI_News that we are doing what we said we would do with the money 2/

'The artist and the professor, the mother and the wife' is now online for all to see. This collaboration with @LauraNyahuye of @maokwo was one of the most intense experiences, personal or professional, of my entire life and my feelings about 'going public' are mixed ...(1/?) On the one hand I feel incredibly proud (a word I generally avoid) of the beautiful things that we have created together. I'm overwhelmed by the beauty in fact. The images. The words. These were created in the intense lockdown days and they take me back to that place...(2/?)

On Monday 14th Sept we will be launching #theartistandtheprof, an artistic collaboration between myself and @LauraNyahuye @maokwo exploring themes of #migration #identity #belonging and what it means to be boxed in and categorised as #migrants #women #mothers #wives...(1/?) Funded by @covcampus @warwickuni as part of @Coventry2021 this collaboration has been undertaken entirely online during the #COVID19 #lockdown It's been a powerful and challenging experience for many different reasons. We've laughed and cried, written and woven... (2/?)

My latest @scmrjems article with Katharine Jones draws on our #MEDMIG data to unpack the idea that the places people move to outside Europe are always 'in-between' and never intended as 'destinations', an idea that feeds into anti-immigrant discourses...
tandfonline.com/eprint/MCBPYQ2… Treating these places as 'in-between' reinforces the notion that 'everyone' is heading to Europe when they very clearly are not. In reality most people remain in the same region and rebuild their lives in these places. The notion of 'transit countries' serves the same purpose

Yesterday's speech by @antonioguterres hit so many nails on head. #COVID-19 is shining spotlight on global injustices and issues ignored for decades: inadequate health systems; structural inequalities; environmental degradation; the climate crisis un.org/sg/en/content/… #COVID19 is not 'the great equaliser', we are not 'all in the same boat'

Never tried to live tweet from an online event but 4th UNESCO Chair currently being live-streamed contains powerful and moving material which speaks to me strongly in the context of #RefugeeWeek2020 and more generally and needs to be heard so I’m going to give it a try... The words and experiences of refugees frame everything that’s being said but within that the gendering of refugee experiences, of human experiences of forced movement, relations between mothers and children

If you didn’t get chance to watch Arundhati Roy live in conversation with @imaniperry last night then you should absolutely check out the @haymarketbooks discussion on why #COVID19 is the portal into one of two worlds...
The pandemic and its consequences provide an opportunity for reflection and a chance to undo the terrible rounds inflicted on the planet - and other humans - by the human race. But there are others who want to deepen the injustice and inflict more and more damage #ArundhatiRoy

Nearly home after inspiring trip to Philippines for meetings of @MIDEQHub Advisory Board and stakeholders in region. No intention of breaking #digitalpicketline so more on both tomorrow. In the meantime you might be interested in my Filipino inspired blogs ese-be-tekrema.community @MIDEQHub First up, the story of the crazy dessert that is halo-halo, one of the most popular dishes in the Philippines but with a history that is intrinsically linked to migration in the region ese-ne-tekrema.community/2020/02/23/mix…

I started my 'musings of a migration researcher' in 2018, inspired by month in Toronto at @CRSYorkU. The successful @MIDEQHub proposal submitted during that time means that opportunities to muse have been limited ever since but today a new version is back heavencrawley.com @CRSYorkU @MIDEQHub @CTPSR_Coventry Bulding the @MIDEQHub may have limited time to muse but its also brought me into contact with new ways of thinking about the world and of articulating events and experiences that cannot be reduced to numbers or 'facts'. This poem is my first 'output' heavencrawley.com/2020/02/17/the…

Great that so many people ‘liked’ my earlier tweet about need to create meaningful spaces for refugees to contribute to events about their lives, experiences and aspirations, including @iasfm18 but seriously folks, we need to raise funds to make that happen so please contribute

https://twitter.com/heavencrawley/status/1227893656184655872

Here’s the link again to support the #IASFM18 fundraising effort. You don’t need to give much but it’s important we walk the talk. That means we need to pay for food and travel for refugees living in difficult circumstances to be able to participate justgiving.com/crowdfunding/v…

So brilliant to be back at @RGS_IBG with colleagues from @PosNegOrg for #mathsofmigration CPD course using our @ESRC funded #MEDMIG data with teachers from across the UK. Excellent opportunity to engage young people in the complexities of migration to Europe Thanks - as ever - to Jess from Oakland’s school for these brilliant examples from the students she works with of how the #MEDMIG data can be used in maths classes to educate and inform simultaneously

Food is central to our identity and relationships as human beings. It shapes who we are, how we think and our understanding of other people and places. Food not only sustains us physically, it also acts as a powerful connecting force.... Food brings together families and communities, friends and strangers, travellers and hosts. It’s no coincidence that so many initiatives and projects bringing together refugees, migrants and local people involve the sharing of recipes or cookery classes

Reconvening after lunch at @FriendsofEurope debate on African migration. Stimulating morning session followed by incredible music from Seny of @HAORCHESTRA reminding us of many beautiful contributions that Africans make to European cultural, social and economic life #FoRDebate Important points from @IssiakaKonate09 about the value of migration to the economy of Côte d’Ivoire - migrants comprise 24% of population and make a huge contribution. There are challenges but these are primarily around irregularity rather than movement per se #FoEDebate

Impossible to have an event about ‘African perspectives on migration’ without Africans in the room. Unfortunately #hostileenvironment across Europe has prevented some of our speakers/performers from attending but @FriendsofEurope have great tech and they will be heard #FoEDebate Great points from @Wacera_K about the (mis) perceptions of African migration and her own experiences of immigration control at Schipol airport. We need to engage young people and start to tell different stories, create different narratives #FoEDebate

Good to finally get to the @IASUG for an evening of decolonising #talesbythefireside with Faisal M Garba and others. But first, the Ghana Dance Ensemble ti remind us that the inclusion of traditional music and dance is itself a form of decolonisation Important opening questions from Faisal M Garba...’what does it mean to decolonise knowledge? what decides what constitutes ‘knowledge’? are African scholars in danger of becoming pawns in an new colonising agenda? #talesbythefireside

I’m joining colleagues from across West and East Africa to hold a mirror up to Europe’s migration policies at @FriendsofEurope conference. Nothing has changed since our @ESRC funded #MEDMIG research despite clear evidence that EU policies are deeply flawed friendsofeurope.org/events/african… European policies assume that people ‘choose’ Europe based on a strategic and well-informed assessment of laws and policies and that anyone who exerts any agency is ‘undeserving’ of protection or even human treatment. But decision making is complicated onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

Just finished listening to @artmalikactor beautifully narrating The Beekeeper of Aleppo by @christy_lefteri, powerful and moving story of a couple’s journey to Europe following the death of their son and destruction of their home, livelihood and community (cont.).... Usually find it difficult to read/listen to novels of this kind, too many minor (but irritating) factual errors and misunderstandings, a failure on part of author to really grasp the complex layers of pain, anxiety, resilience and fear that characterise the lives of refugees....

"No one with the constructive aim of improving the current international system of refugee protection could allow themselves such a biased and ill-informed account of its origins and functioning, or so wholly ignore its key actors". Careful, considered, damning critique of Refuge

https://twitter.com/rain_later/status/1143870783363698688

Temporarily available open access at berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/… An important read not solely for detail but because so much of current debate around so-called 'refugee crisis' is premised on false assumptions and reinforces political positions which undermine the rights of refugees

Some key takeaways from @lhammondsoas on Day 1 of @GCRF @UKRI_News #GCRFAddis
1️⃣ Vulnerability is rooted in multiple inequalities
2️⃣ Vulnerabilities shift and change over time
3️⃣ Migration is important mechanism for coping with vulnerability
4️⃣ Policy can increase vulnerability First #GCRFAddis panel on youth, gender and remittances. Interesting findings from @REFHorn on complex and variable ways in which youth training programmes in Uganda influence migration decisions including whether to return to S Sudan, move within country, migrate internationally

Live tweeting from #GCRFAddis symposium on #migration and #displacement unpacking roots of vulnerability in region and identifying solutions. Important to understand migration-related vulnerabilities in context of broader processes of political, economic and social change... Great to hear about @OSSREA research in the region and across 19 countries in Africa including through South-South partnerships. More at ossrea.net #GCRFAddis

An incredible morning so far with 42 partners from around the world at the start of the #UKRI #GCRF #SouthSouthMigration, Inequality and Development Hub. Reducing inequalities is what we want to do, the important question is how we are going to it.... Blown away by the energy, ideas and commitment of our #UKRI #GCRF #SouthSouthMigration partners, we’ve finally let them start talking and @cms_moop is alive!