ESRC Seminar Series - Briefing Paper 3 - Swansea University

ESRC Research Seminar Series
‘Understanding the migrant experience’
April 2009 – October 2010
Seminar 3: Methodological issues in capturing and
understanding experiences of migration
This seminar, held at Swansea University in October 2009, explored the advantages and
disadvantages of different methodological approaches in unpicking and unpacking the migrant
experience, including through the use of in-depth questionnaire surveys, longitudinal surveys, oral
histories and participatory research methods. In addition a panel discussion specifically addressed
the ethical and political issues involved in migration research. Speakers included Prof Adrian Bailey
(Leeds), Dr Nick Mai (London Metropolitan), Erika Sigvardsdotter (Uppsala), Dr Ilse Van Liempt
(Sussex), Dr Myriam Cherti (Institute for Public Policy Research) and Dr Nando Sigona (Refugee
Studies Centre, Oxford). The seminar included a postgraduate research forum at which PhD
students were provided with an opportunity to outline their research and the methods employed.
The seminar was chaired by Professor Heaven Crawley, Director of the Centre for Migration
Policy Research (CMPR) at Swansea University.
PANEL 1 Methodological challenges
Chair: Professor Heaven Crawley, Swansea University
‘Researching vulnerable geographies: a case-study of Zimbabweans in Yorkshire’ -
Professor Adrian Bailey, University of Leeds
Professor Adrian Bailey and his research team at the University of Leeds have been undertaking
research with the Zimbabwean community in Yorkshire. Adrian began by outlining the nature of
the study, which he described as arising out of a long standing interest in the relationship between
international migration and inequality, with a particular focus on social reproduction and its impact
on persisting patterns of inequality. According to Adrian, the question of remittances - their
nature, implications for both sending and host countries and the people involved - provides a
window on these changing relationships. Adrian described the project as having three specific
objectives: firstly to describe the scale, scope, and trends of remitting of participants; secondly, to
begin to understand the processes that constrain and enable remitting; and thirdly, to apply the
findings to policy making.
Adrian described the methodology and research design of the project, which was based on
grounded theory and incorporated case studies, a community survey (307 completed), followed by
a series of long interviews, some expert interviews, field notes and steering group corroboration,
which he considered to be an important and influential part of the method and research design.
Balancing grant-imposed financial and time constraints with the need to capture diverse voices, the
project focused on Zimbabweans in the UK and employed a multiple seeded snowball design to
locate participants.
The team used the data collection programme SPSS to code the community survey. The long
interviews were open discussions: "the point of this part of the data collection was really to
preserve the integrity of the narratives to see how people...tie things together, to try and track
process through those narratives rather than make sure people talked about the nineteen or
twenty bullets on the form." Weekly project meetings were held and communication both within

the team and the community was considered to be a priority. Electronic newsletters were used to
inform people of the project’s progress.
Reflecting on the project, Adrian considered that the clear and consistent communication
maintained by the team was essential to developing and maintaining a relationship of trust with the
research population, many of whom were undocumented. In addition to this Adrian acknowledged
the importance of the support of key members of the community and the role of Dr Farai
Magunha (Post-Doctoral Research Assistant), himself a community-based scholar.
In retrospect Adrian considers that the decision not to remunerate the community survey
participants reduced the response rate. He is also aware, due to the transitory nature of the
population, that some groups - particularly those who had arrived in the UK as the research was
underway - were not represented in the survey. In addition to this Adrian feels that some of the
issues that arose could have been anticipated, such as the steering groups enthusiasm for
quantitative benchmark data and the time needed to analyse the data.
Issues regarding insider/outsider status were also raised: "The rapport that Farai had in interviews
was very different than the rapport that I had in long interviews". Despite using a similar script and
approach and discussing items as a team during regular briefings, insider/outsider status still affects
the type of connections with those researched. Adrian concluded by reiterating the importance of
clear and consistent communication and a word of caution: "Never forget the ethics of collecting
data and not being able to use it."
‘Researching/understanding undocumentedness through the narratives of young
undocumented migrants in England’ - Dr Nando Sigona, Refugee Studies Centre and
Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford
Dr Nando Sigona teaches refugee studies at Oxford Brookes University and is a research officer at
the Refugee Studies Centre (University of Oxford). Nando’s presentation was based upon
research which was funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation as part of their Social Justice
Programme and subsequently published as ‘No right to dream’ The social and economic lives of young
undocumented migrants in Britain (Bloch, Sigona and Zetter 2009).
In keeping with the theme of the day, Nando focussed upon the methodological strategies and
challenges involved in undertaking the research. The research was based on seventy five in-depth
interviews and testimonies of undocumented migrants, from five different nationalities or ethnic
groups, and sought to answer the following questions:
• ‘What does it mean to be young and undocumented in contemporary Britain?
• How do young migrants cope with life in Britain at a time of economic downturn and the
introduction of the government ‘tough touch’ on undocumented migrants?
Nando explained that the main aim of the research was to attempt to “...combine the uniqueness
and the richness of the individual experience of the young undocumented migrant with the search
for patterns and commonalities across their accounts of their everyday life experiences...[without
assuming]... that the undocumentedness was something that was basically embedded in every
aspect of their life”. Nando pointed out that having successfully captured the heterogeneity of
experience that they sought, the team were then faced with the problem of how to present this in
the report and how to draw meaningful conclusions from the material.
Nando outlined the research design and methodology, making particular reference to the scoping
study that the team undertook at the outset. He considers this first stage to have been essential to
the development of the second stage, as it identified the key issues for investigation, and also gave
the team a strong indication of the type of methodological approaches that would be useful.
Due to the undocumented nature of the research participants, access was a key factor in the
research, largely overcome by laying the foundations for, and establishing, relationships of trust.
Some networks inevitably proved more productive than others which led to the potential for over
representation of a particular group, and the sample had to be rebalanced to accommodate this
reality. Practical issues also arose regarding the location of interviews which often took place in

very public spaces. However Nando stated that a key problem the project encountered in the field
was “...people not turning… or just disappearing at the last minute because of anxiety or getting a
job for the day.”
The field research was conducted in the participants’ first language and field researchers were
selected from the ‘community’ for both their language skills and their social network. This strategy
was a significant factor in the research design and one that Nando identified as having both positive
and negative aspects, and some important ethical considerations. Community researchers’ brought
a cultural sensitivity to the interview process but also some blind spots, having a shared language
and community meant that some issues were considered ‘obvious’ and not worthy of discussion.
In addition, nando pointed out that “… more direct communication in the [participants first]
language really helped to go much more in-depth into the life of the individuals and this from my
point of view also raised some ethical questions about to what extent as researchers we are
allowed to access information that we were not able to collect ourselves".
Nando concluded his remarks with an example of the significance of trust and language in gaining
access to this ‘hidden’ population:
“I got mobile phone number of shop owner from his 10 year old son and called him and explained
the reason of my call. He told me that he does not know me therefore he cannot help me. I
started to talk to him in Kurdish and mentioned that I had worked in the Kurdish community
centre in London. He asked me from which city I am and whether I know ID. [one of our
community organisational partners]. I told him that ID is a friend of mine. Then he asked me if ID.
can call him and confirm that he knows me” (field visit report).
The Young Undocumented Migrants (YUM) website can be found at
http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/yum/
A copy of the report can be found at
http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/yum/documents/Young%20Undocumented%20Migrants%20report.pdf
PANEL 2 Research methods and approaches
Chair: Dr Nicola Piper
‘Migration trajectories, life histories and the challenges of creating a collective
memory: the case of Moroccan migrants in Britain’ – Dr Myriam Cherti, Institute for
Public Policy Research (IPPR)
Myriam Cherti is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
Myriam gave a brief introduction to the Moroccan Diaspora in the UK. She then focussed her
presentation on two aspects of research: the oral history project and her initial doctoral research
‘Paradoxes of Social Capital: A Multi-Generational Study of Moroccans in London’ which examined
the role of social capital in influencing patterns of integration amongst the Moroccan community.
In discussing the methodological approach of her doctoral thesis, Myriam informed us that she had
used a snowballing method in order to undertake the 151 interviews. She attributed much of the
success of the project to the fact of her having worked with the Moroccan community for over six
years and having established relationships. Following on from this, Myriam began the oral history
project ‘Moroccan Memories in Britain’ in 2007. The project aimed to interview first, second and
third generation Moroccans in the UK. Myriam considers a unique aspect of the project to be that
it was a ‘community research project’ with fieldworkers recruited from both within and outside of
the community: “In a sense, the project ended up being a key study of engagement with
community research and has challenged in a way some of the boundaries between researchers and
research subjects because some of the field workers were themselves part of the first or second
generation, others were researching, like they were PhD students researching the Moroccan
community as well so the boundaries have been blurred which has led to the creation of a process
of simultaneous primary research archiving and practical dissemination amongst local and wider
communities.”

Myriam then reflected upon oral history as the chosen methodological approach. The value of this
methodology for Myriam is its ability to reveal aspects of participants’ lives that are not captured
by other mediums. She described her motivation for using this approach as “...an attempt to
reconstruct part of this missing history and so personal interviews in this context offer a powerful
and unique insight into the lives of Muslims and would also highlight the complexity of the actual
processes of migration as it tells a story beyond the interview.” In addition Myriam considered
that the methodology increased the sense of self worth amongst a generation of elders “...who
often felt that their lives are of no interest, marginalised, or excluded by both their host society
and their country of origin.”
Myriam countered the common critique of oral history as unreliable and lacking in factual basis,
stating that “the importance of oral history may reside not in its apparent facts, but rather in its
departure from them, as imaginations, symbolism, and desire emerge.” She also challenged the
monopoly of written documents as the only credible sources of ‘facts’, “...very often written
documents are only controlled transmission of an identified oral source.” Myriam concluded her
presentation with a question to the audience: “...to what extent can individual migrants’ memories
be combined to represent a collective memory of a whole community?”
The oral history project ‘Moroccan Memories in Britain’ can be found at
http://www.moroccanmemories.org.uk/
Postgraduate Research Forum
‘Getting to know ‘hidden’ rejected asylum seekers in Sweden: children as
gatekeepers’ - Erika Sigvardsdotter, Uppsala University, Sweden
Erika Sigvardsdotter was the first of the postgraduate students to present their work. Her
research covers two related areas. Firstly it is an exploration of how the institutional border of
Swedish health care is formulated, practiced and negotiated, both by health care professionals and
by undocumented migrants themselves. Secondly it aims at exploring different bodily perspectives
of undocumentedness, through the methodological approach of participatory observation.
Erika informed us that in Sweden rejected asylum seekers constitute the majority of
undocumented migrants and that most of their access to support comes via NGOs and the
church. It was in this context that Erika undertook her participatory observation, performing the
role of a child minder, factotum and researcher at a monastery that provides sanctuary for
undocumented migrants. It was through the relationships she established with the children that
she was able to develop relationships with the parents, who would make this connection explicit
with comments such as “well, we see that the children like you very much. We see that they trust
you, then we do too.” This has led Erika to conceptualise this dynamic in terms of a
‘gatekeeperhood’ of children. Realising the primacy of these relationships and the ethical
implications, Erika concluded by posing the following questions to the group:
• What do I do with the things the children tell me about their parents?
• What side am I on in the conflicts between parents and children?
• What is my responsibility for our relationships?
‘Trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution and sexual exploitation:
Developing a model of service provision using the Republic of Ireland, United
Kingdom and Italy as case studies’ - Delia Rambaldini-Gooding, University College
Dublin
Delia Rambaldini-Gooding used the forum to present her ongoing research into how services are
provided to women who have been trafficked for the purposes of prostitution and sexual
exploitation, focussing on the aims of the research and its methodological approach. Delia aims to
develop a model based on the principles of a human rights and gender perspective to address the
needs of trafficked women. Her methodological approach was to use multiple case studies in
order to capture the experiences of non-government service providers working within a similar
legislative and statutory framework, but in different European Union countries. Explaining her

ationale she added “I thought it was not only important to capture how the NGOs provide
services but within what sort of political, economic and cultural contexts and when I say cultural
contexts I also mean the context of the sex industry and prostitution in those countries.” In
conclusion, Delia stated the aim of the research is to be the development of a model of service
provision which could be transferable between different European Union countries.
‘Researching migrant experiences: using auto-photography to explore ideas of home,
identity and belonging for Muslim women in London and Bristol’ - Imogen Wallace,
Queen Mary University of London
Through a description of her own research with Muslim women’s ideas of home, identity and
belonging and how these may be affected by the experience of Islamophobia and racism, Imogen
Wallace provided us with an insight into the use of auto-photography as a research methodology.
Imogen argued that the use of auto-photography “seems to challenge unequal power relations
between the researcher and the researched whereby the research participants are able to use
their visual imagination to produce images which are embedded within the culture and
contextualised through their personal lives, so eventually it brings the intentionality of the
research participant as producer to the forefront and it is this centrality of participants’
construction, narration and reflection upon their images which give this method its strength.”
Imogen also suggested that the use of this method enabled her to talk to the women about their
ideas regarding their homes and their identities, something they had been reluctant to do
previously: “...the women seemed to gain confidence as they discussed their images and it really
felt as though they were guiding me through a much more private sense of their identity as
articulated through the narration of their images of their home spaces and their material
possessions.” In addition to this, Imogen commented upon the fact that this allowed her to
explore ‘the home’ without actually entering the home, something that the women were reluctant
to allow to happen and which she feels raised questions in terms of “...looking critically at how we
research the home given that the home is often cited as an empowering research site for
interviews...in this case the home being part of the research focus negated that sense of
empowerment, hence it being rejected.” Imogen concluded by highlighting some of the ethical and
practical implications that are raised by the use of this methodology.
‘Policies of integration and citizenship in Europe’ - Zeynep Yanasmayan, Catholic
University of Leuven, Belgium
Zeynep Yanasmayan presented her research as an investigation of the concept of citizenship.
Focusing on the perceptions and experiences of young, highly educated, Turkish immigrants in four
European countries, Zeynep examined the idea of memberships of society, from both a legal and
social perspective. Zeynep discussed the qualitative aspects of her research, its design and
implementation and in conclusion presented the group with some of the dilemmas she had
encountered, not only in conducting the research and but also in the analysis of the data.
‘Visualising migration and mobility though online GIS: a historical analysis of mobility
in Prussia’ - Kevin Daniells, University of Portsmouth
Kevin Daniells spoke about the technical and practical aspects of developing a GIS web application
intended to allow migration researchers to test migration theories. He used qualitative data from
18th-20th Century family histories to demonstrate the potential of the software to map social and
geographical movement within the population and to present this information in a visual format.
Kevin argued that the practical applications of the software had potential not only for geographers
and genealogists, but also for local councils, suggesting that councils may “...want to model the
movement of migrations in their council area with a view to plan for public services.”

PANEL 3 Ethical issues in migration research
Chair: Professor Heaven Crawley, Swansea University
‘Researching migrant workers in the UK sex industry: methodological and ethical
implications’ - Dr Nick Mai, London Metropolitan University
Dr Nick Mai is Senior Research Fellow in Migrations and Immigrations at ISET, the Institute for the
Study of European Transformations of London Metropolitan University. In his presentation Nick
gave a systematic account of the ethical implications of his research and how this influenced the
methodological design of the project. He began by describing the aims of the project as “...trying
to improve the understanding of the link between migration and the sex industry as a labour
sector in order to contribute to the elaboration of better and more efficient policies about
migration, prostitution, trafficking and social exclusion, to improve current public and academic
debate about these issues as well as to produce an ethical framework of the research”.
The research was undertaken with women, men and transgender people working in all sectors
across the sex industry in London and resulted in one hundred semi-structured interviews. As the
perspective of the project was to approach the sex industry as a labour market; access to
participants was gained not through the usual routes of social delivery, support and projects, but
rather via commercial contacts. Participants were contacted using information that sex workers
make available to the public for the purposes of conducting their business, as this was considered
to be in keeping with the ethical framework. The project adopted a participatory community
based approach and included sex workers and members of organisations representing the sex
industry, on the advisory board and also as interviewers. Interviewees were paid in cash for their
participation and all possible steps were taken to protect their anonymity, confidentiality and
safety. Interviews were undertaken in places chosen by participants. No Interviews were recorded
and written notes were only made with the participants’ permission. Interviewers were equipped
with a list of useful contacts for participants who felt they needed help.
Nick also drew our attention to the difficulties of working with vulnerable groups and dealing with
sensitive, emotive material, for both the researcher and the researched. The team employed a
number of strategies to deal with this including taking a self-reflexive approach.
In addition to this he spoke of the problem of gaining trust when working with people subject to
multiple dynamics of social exclusion, “...most importantly as migrants, and sometimes as
undocumented migrants, but also as people who were working in a very stigmatised activity of sex
work, and [dealing with issues of] homophobia and trans-phobia.” Nick commented on a ‘crisis’
point whereby, the project was significantly affected by external political events, which caused part
of the community to mobilise, and go into retreat. The team eventually overcame this and gained
the trust of participants by having a constant presence in the field and advocating on their behalf.
For Nick, the ethical and political context of the research are inextricably linked: “I think it is
impossible to talk about ethics without talking about politics...I was asked to intervene. I was
asked to intervene for example by commenting on the findings of the research...and I thought it
was my responsibility being as this project was informed by a sex work friendly perspective, so I
participated in two events promoted by non-abolitionists at the Parliament...so I was seen to be
credible because I was seen constantly there saying the same things to many different people in
different places.”
Nick concluded his presentation by raising the issue of the importance of acknowledging the
difficulties faced by both researchers and the researched when dealing with sensitive and often
traumatic information and the importance of being able to factor in professional support to the
research design. This point was well received and was given broad support by those in the room.
Further information about the project can be found at: http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/researchunits/iset/projects/esrc-migrant-workers.cfm
A copy of the final report ‘Migrant Workers in the UK Sex Industry’ can be found at:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/londonmet/fms/MRSite/Research/iset/Migrant%20Workers%20in%20t
he%20UK%20Sex%20Industry%20Policy-Relevant%20Findings2.pdf

‘Ethics in research with undocumented migrants: experiences from research on
human smuggling in the Netherlands’ - Dr Ilse Van Liempt, University of Sussex
Dr Ilse Van Liempt is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at Sussex University. Her contribution to the
seminar was to discuss the ethical issues involved in researching undocumented migrants. Her
presentation was based on her own research into human smuggling into the Netherlands, primarily
of asylum seekers, from a variety of different regions. Ilse expressed the opinion that there is a
scarcity of frank and honest literature in relation to the ethical difficulties that can be encountered
in the process of undertaking research. She was equally critical of existing research into the area of
human smuggling and the way in which it is framed: “I found that most of the research on human
smuggling was actually looking in to what they called a social organisation, how these smugglers
operate, how was smuggling organised, how do smugglers contact other smugglers...there was
actually very, very little information on what decisions migrants make and whether they have
agency within the decisions or how they relate to their smugglers or what it means for the
migration process”.
Returning to the ethics, Ilse Liempt raised the issues of data protection and anonymity with
particular reference to the effect of this on the process of writing up her research: “...it may be
simple to change names or to change cities but I was actually having a lot of trouble when I was
writing up my oral histories...the stories I had were life stories and very detailed...if I erased
everything that would identify them, the stories were nothing, and they became quite similar to
the stories the immigration officers had, [e.g.] “I crossed the border but I don’t know where” and, “I
travelled lying in a car and I ended up in an unknown place”, and I didn’t want that, so it was quite a
challenge how to deal with it.” Similarly, many of the participants wanted the integrity of their
‘stories’ maintained. Some even requested that their names be published.
Ilse spoke of the difficulties that can arise for researchers when interviewing people who had been
interviewed about their particular experience, by police and immigration, many times before, and
in a sense had constructed a narrative response: “...it was really, really difficult to realise that there
are all sorts of constructions and many, many different types of story and people present
themselves in a certain way...as a researcher obviously you want to go beyond the constructed
stories but that can be... sometimes ethically difficult how to deconstruct these stories because the
story has a meaning.”
In addition, Ilse echoed Nick Mai’s experience (outlined above) when she discussed the difficulties
that can arise for researchers in managing emotions, both, their own, and those of the people they
are researching. She followed this with a salient reminder that general ethical guidelines available
to researchers were developed from medical science and as such are “...very sort of neutral
principled.”
Ilse closed by postulating some important questions in relation to the publication of research data:
“I think there are a lot of ethical issues involved in how you bring your information in the public
arena. What do you tell people? What knowledge do you publicise and what secrets do you keep
for yourself and how do you write about it?”
PANEL 4 Conclusions and reflections
Professor Heaven Crawley, Swansea
We concluded with a discussion of the key themes which had emerged in this seminar. Despite
the diversity of methods explored, a number of issues resonated across the presentations and
require further consideration when thinking how best we can capture and understand
experiences of migration:
• There are a wide range of practical issues associated with how we do our research and
we understand or tap into ‘the migrant experience’. These issues include the methods we
use, how we sample, whether we do or do not pay respondents in some way for their
time and contribution and issues of confidentiality / anonymity.

• The choices we make about all of these issues should always be tailored to the particular
characteristics of the population in whom we are interested including reasons for
migration, legal status, experiences of trauma and loss (seminar 1) and issues of difference
and diversity associated with age, gender, class, religion and race (seminar 2).
• As with previous seminar discussions, the issue of vulnerability vs. agency was a major
cross-cutting theme. The focus of many of the presentation was largely on those who are
considered ‘vulnerable’ in some way, often because they lack legal status and associated
rights (undocumented children, those seeking asylum, those working irregularly). It is
important to acknowledge however that not all migrants are vulnerable and that migrants
who are lacking legal status also have agency in other ways. We need to find a way of
capturing this through our methodological approach.
• Our entry point matters. It is important to understand (and where appropriate be explicit
about), our motivations for doing the research and with whom are interests are politically
allied. This raises an important question about whether we should make explicit those
instances where our interests are allied with the groups whose experiences of migration
we seek to represent.
• There are important questions of ‘voice’ that need to be considered. Who is speaking –
us (the researcher) or them (the migrant)?
• We need to keep thinking about the extent to which migration matters in the overall
context of an individual’s or group’s life. Should we prioritise this aspect of an individual’s
identity and experience in the particular methodological approach that we pursue?

Speaker biographies
Adrian Bailey has research interests in population geography with a focus upon transnational
migration, the lifecourse, and the ways that mobility transforms, and is transformed by families and
social networks. Current projects examine the Zimbabwean diaspora, the Salvadorean community
of the Mountain West (USA), and transitions between childhood, youth, and adulthood. migration,
economic, and social geography. Much of this work uses post-structural readings to focus analysis
onto the circulation of power through the social fields that comprise places. Adrian obtained his
PhD in Geography from Indiana University and worked at Dartmouth College (1989-1999) before
joining the University of Leeds, where he is Head of School of Geography and Professor of
Migration Studies.
Myriam Cherti is currently working at the Institute of Public Policy Research (ippr) as a Senior
Research Fellow, leading the qualitative research team at the Institute. Prior to joining ippr she
was a project coordinator at the Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum where she led on an
oral history project on the Moroccan diaspora in the UK. Myriam also worked as a consultant and
researcher on a number of European projects looking at the integration of ethnic minorities. She
also taught at the University of Sussex between 2000 and 2002. Myriam holds an MSc in Social
Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences and a PhD in Migration Studies
from the University of Sussex. Her doctoral research critically examines the pertinence of social
capital as an analytical tool in explaining patterns of exclusion and inclusion amongst Moroccans in
London. Myriam is also currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Sussex Centre for Migration
Research, University of Sussex and a Research Analyst with the Open Society Institute.
Farai Magunha is a researcher at the University of Leeds. His current work (with Adrian Bailey)
focuses on remittances and transnational vulnerabilities across the Zimbabwean diaspora. This
research explores how patterns of interaction and social organisation across transnational society
may perpetuate inequality. The project draws on the first systematic analysis of the sizeable
community of Zimbabweans who live in the Yorkshire region of northern England.
Nick Mai is Senior Research Fellow in Migrations and Immigrations at ISET, the Institute for the
Study of European Transformations of London Metropolitan University. Nick has recently
delivered a 2 year-long ESRC funded project on ‘Migrants in the UK Sex Industry. From 2005 to
2007 he was part of the research team undertaking the 'Rhythms and Realities of Everyday Life'
Joseph Rowntree Foundation flagship project on immigration and social integration in the UK. His
main current research interest is the nexus between gender, sexuality and migration, with
particular reference to international sex work and the initiatives of social intervention addressing
it.
Nando Sigona teaches refugee studies at Oxford Brookes University and is research officer at
the Refugee Studies Centre (University of Oxford), currently working on research on young
undocumented migrants in Britain (with Alice Bloch and Roger Zetter) and Roma migrations and
mobilities in the EU. His work focuses in particular on three research areas: forced migration and
EU policy and practice for third country nationals; migrants' claim making and political
participation; and Romani politics and social exclusion. He has worked as researcher and
consultant on a number of research projects funded by the UK Home Office, EU, OSCE,Refugee
Housing Association, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Nando is also cofounder
of OsservAzione, an independent action research group working on anti-racism in Italy
[www.osservazione.org].
Ilse Van Liempt graduated with a degree in Human Geography from the University of Utrecht in
2001. From 2002 until 2006 she worked at the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES) in
Amsterdam where she conducted her Phd research. Her book, Navigating Borders: Inside
Perspectives on the Process of Human Smuggling into the Netherlands, was published in 2007 and is the
culmination of her PhD research. Currently she is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at Sussex
University researching onward migration of Somali immigrants within the European Union. Ilse has
recently co-edited (with Veronika Bilger) a volume on The Ethics of Migration Research Methodology:
Dealing with Vulnerable Migrants.

List of participants
Denise Acton
Prof Adrian Bailey (Speaker)
Simone Bizzell-Browning
Katherine Botterill
Katy Brickley
Prof Vanessa Burholt
Dr Myriam Cherti
Prof Heaven Crawley (Chair)
Kevin Daniells
Bekele Debela
Dr Christine Dobbs
Dr Stephen Drinkwater
Dr Maria Fannin
Katy George
Robert Gononya
Dr Keith Halfacree
Elizabeth Hall
Sharmarke Hassan
Dr Lindsay Hewitt
Judith James
Rev Darrell Jackson
Lucy Jackson
Katharine Jones
Zabullah Khorsand
Helen Lowther
Jean-Pierre Mafutala
Jason Matthews
Dr Farai Magunha (Speaker)
Dr Nick Mai (Speaker)
Norbert Mbu Mputu
Penny McLean
Latefa Guemar Narriman
Rachel Pick
Dr Nicola Piper (Chair)
Delia Rambaldini-Gooding
Tariq Sanousi
Olivia Sheringham
Nando Sigona
Erika Sigvardsdotter (Speaker)
Jim Stewart
Dr Ilse Van Liempt (Speaker)
Imogen Wallace (Speaker)
Million Woldemariam
Zeynep Yanasmayan (Speaker)
Swansea Bay Race Equality Council (SBREC)
University of Leeds
Centre for Migration Policy Research, Swansea University
Newcastle University
Cardiff University
Centre for Innovative Ageing, Swansea University
Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr)
Centre for Migration Policy Research, Swansea University
University of Portsmouth
Centre for Innovative Ageing, Swansea University, Swansea
University
WISERD, Swansea University
Bristol University
Zimbabwe Action Group, Oxford
Swansea University
Open University
Somali Community in Swansea
Open University
Swansea University
Nova Research Centre and Redcliffe College, Gloucester
Aberystwyth University
Manchester University
Newcastle University
African Swahili Community Project
IOM, Wales and South West
University of Leeds
London Metropolitan University
South People’s Project, Newport
Refugee Council
Centre for Migration Policy Research, Swansea University
Swansea University
Centre for Migration Policy Research, Swansea University
University College, Dublin
SOVA Cymru
Queen Mary, University of London
Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford
Uppsala University
Evangelical Alliance Wales
University of Sussex
Queen Mary, University of London
Catholic University of Leuven (KUL), Belgium