About the Researcher Directory

The Researcher Directory is a way to map the entire community of researchers doing work on refugee and forced migration-related issues.

Ambitious? Of course! Important? We think so!

Why is this important?

We know, based on our experiences, that there are many, many people all over the world researching, writing and producing knowledge on refugee and forced migration-related issues. However, the sector is fragmented, it's hard  to figure out who's doing what and where, and people can find it challenging to connect outside their various fields and disciplines. This can lead to duplication of work, but more importantly, this fragmentation makes it difficult to develop holistic, refugee-centred approaches to the practices and policies ostensibly designed to ameliorate, mitigate, or resolve the plight of refugees or perhaps even prevent them from becoming refugees in the first place (and not through interdiction practices, border closings or redefinitions either).

The Researcher Directory database will document the depth of the field globally and will facilitate interactions among academics, practitioners and policy-makers. It is searchable, and within each profile, there can be links to personal websites and links to publications listed in the online library. It will serve as a networking and collaboration tool for its members and assist in building research teams/partnerships.

As an Refugee Research Network member, you will be able to...

• find a scholar whose research interests are on a particular issue
• find out if there’s anyone doing research on a particular issue in a specific location (i.e. a researcher doing work on war affected children in Uganda, who is located in Canada, or any other country)
• find researchers affiliated with particular organizations/agencies, or located in a particular region
• find researchers within a specific discipline
• find out how many people are currently doing research on a particular topic
• when developing research proposals that need partners, search the database for possible collaborators.

Governments and other funders will be able to find out who the experts are in a particular issue. Students will be able to search for scholars they would like to study with. Refugees, community members or staff working in community-based organizations will be able to connect to researchers, or groups of researchers, who may be able to respond to research requests or assist in developing research initiatives.
 

How do I get my profile in the Researcher Directory?

We use the term "researcher" quite broadly - it encompasses academics affiliated with universities, colleges and other research institutes, field- and community-based researchers, individuals working within the I/NGO, grassroots and governmental sectors who produce various kinds of theoretical and/or policy relevant and practice-based research.

It is not difficult - the first step is to register as a user on the www.refugeeresearch.net website. You will not be able to create any content on the website unless you have a username and password.

To register and get a username and password, just go to www.refugeeresearch.net and select the “create new account” link in the User Login box. Once you’ve been authenticated and can log in, you may start using the site.
 

New researcher profiles are not published online right away. While our framework is fairly broad, we are committed to ensuring that the Directory contains profiles of experts in the field of refugee and forced migration-related issues. Profiles will be published providing the following criteria are met:

• You must be an academic researcher, whether affiliated with an institution or working independently, and have completed your doctoral degree and are currently active in research, or if no longer active, are available for consultation, and you have produced a substantial body of work that has contributed to the field of refugee and forced migration studies
• As a community-based researcher (i.e. producing research as part of your work with a non-academic institution or NGO), you must have completed your MA, and are actively producing community-based research

Just login with your username and password, select “Add a Profile” under the “Researcher Directory” tab and fill in the required fields.

Too busy to create a profile from scratch? Not to worry, we can help! Simply email a copy of your full CV to the RRN Project Coordinator at mmillard@yorku.ca, and we will set up a basic profile for you that you can go back to and edit at your leisure.