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.
