Research Projects

The Centre brings together a number of researchers who are working in the fields of race and ethnicity, migration and refugee studies. We work on our own scholarly research and on externally funded research. The Centre  also provides a home for a growing number of research students whose research is linked to its work.

 

Research into Young Undocumented Migrants

 

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has recently awarded a research grant  to explore and understand the lives of young undocumented migrants from their own perspectives. £183,840 has been awarded to Dr Alice Bloch from the Department of Sociology, City University in partnership with Professor Roger Zetter, Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford. The Evelyn Oldfield Unit will be an advisory partner throughout the project to support the development of networks, aspects of the research process and capacity building. The project team will also work in partnership with a number of organisations involved with young undocumented migrants in the regions of the study.  These partnerships are crucial both to the success of the research project and in facilitating the wider capacity building and networking objectives that will enable organisations to work more effectively with young undocumented migrants - a key component of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Social Justice Programme, launched a year ago. The Social Justice Programme sets out to understand the lives and listen to the voices of marginalised young people, up to the age of 30, and to provide opportunities for individuals to become integrated.  

 

The research will begin in early 2008 and will be completed in 2009. It will comprise 60 in-depth interviews and 20 testimonies from young undocumented migrants from five countries of origin. The countries of origin will be Zimbabwe, Brazil, China, Turkey and one Eastern European country. The countries of origin included in the research will allow very recent and less recent migrants to be interviewed enabling a better understanding of how experiences are shaped and choices are made by young people over time. The research aims to build up a picture of interviewees social and economic lives in the UK and the ways in which their undocumented status impacts on their lives and choices. The countries of origin will ensure that young people with different immigration histories, including student and work permit overstayers, those trafficked for indentured labour and refused asylum seekers, are included in the study.

 

A regional approach will be adopted to ensure that metropolitan, town and rural areas are included and will allow for an exploration of livelihoods in different types of employment sectors. It will use rigorous methodological approaches for selecting and protecting interviewees. A key element will be to recognize the contribution made by organizations and individuals participating in the research by making a return contribution to them in appropriate ways.

 

The research is built on a successful scoping study (April- July 2007) which undertook focus group interviews with individuals and organisations in contact with young undocumented migrants in several areas of England. The focus groups highlighted the need to understand at first hand the complexity of the life processes, decisions and choices of young undocumented migrants, set within the context of their undocumented status. The research will therefore focus on the voices of young undocumented migrants about which little is known and will explore and develop the key themes around lives and livelihoods identified in the scoping study including: experiences of employment; social networks; community involvement; links and obligations with friends and family in their country of origin; how being undocumented impacts on their lives and the longer term goals and aspirations of young undocumented migrants.

 

If you wish to find out more about the project or contact the research team please contact:

Alice Bloch, Dept of Sociology, City University: a.bloch@city.ac.uk , or

Kirsteen Tait, Paul Hamlyn Foundation adviser: rking@phf.org.uk

PHF will produce updates  on the progress of the research.