This seminar series is focused on critically assessing how research can inform policy and action on mobility, migration, and forced displacement. Experts in their fields will interact with students in order to show the ways in which research intersects with policy-making, civil society, and the media to influence contexts of migration and the lives of people in displacement. We will also reflect on how migration crises, wars, economic challenges, COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing conflicts affect migration studies as a field of study and practice.

Week 5 - Practitioner Session 1: Research and Advocacy

January 12th, 16:00-18:00, room 13.001

The objective of this module focuses on practical skills to use evidence-based research to build and implement advocacy strategies. In particular, we will look at self-representation and mobilizing among migrant communities in the Barcelona area.

Guest Speaker: Razan Ismail, Executive Director Kudwa Association, more info: https://www.kudwa.org/

Razan is a Member of Migration Expert Group at EU Commission where she advocates for inclusive refugee policies. She is the Head of Training Unit at New Women Connectors. She is also Founder and director of Asociación Kudwa - an Association based in Spain, working towards a collective intercultural identity. Razan is an Intercultural Trainer, Community Mobilize, and Project Manager. She works at the intersection of gender equality and migration, dedicated to achieving meaningful representation of women migrants and refugees in decision-making spaces through several local and European projects and partnerships.

Week 6 - Practitioner Session 2: Research and Policy-Making

February 9th, 16:00-18:00, room 13.001

The objective of this module is to critically assess the ways in which research can inform policy-making towards greater inclusion and responsiveness in contexts of forced migration. 

Guest Speaker: Ramon Sanahuja, Intercultural Dialogue and Religious Pluralism Department of the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Ramon works at the Intercultural Dialogue and Religious Pluralism Department of the city of Barcelona. He is currently also a Member of the Steering Group of the City Initiative on Migrants with Irregular Status in Europe (C-MISE) led by Compas-University of Oxford. C-MISE is a knowledge-exchange programme supporting European cities in sharing knowledge on city practices and policies responding to the presence of irregular migrants in their territory. From August 2005 to January 2020 he was the Director of Migrants attention and welcoming policies in the city of Barcelona. Among many programs he was responsible for the city initiative “Barcelona Refugee City”. He has been responsible for the main One Stop Shop for migrants and refugees of the Municipality of Barcelona (SAIER) since 2011 to 2020. This facility attends around 20.000 persons per year. He has been the Chairman of the Integration and Migrations working group of Eurocities from 2009 to 2013. Ramon Holds a Degree in Economy from the University of Barcelona, a Master Degree in Public Management from Barcelona Autonomous University, and has post-degree studies from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. 

Week 7 - Practitioner Session 3: Civil Society and Non-State Actors

March 9th, 16:00-18:00, room 13.001

The objective of this session is to identify impactful interventions by civil society associations and non-state actors in response to crises of forced displacement. Our goal is to take stock of what has been done and what gaps are needed to secure safety and protection of refugees.

Guest Speaker: Ann Sleebus Baudoin, Stop Maremortum, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Ann is the President of Stop Mare Mortum and has been working for a few years with the organization in the awareness department, mainly in schools and youth centres, with booths and exhibitions. Stop Mare Mortum is a citizens' platform, born in Barcelona, Spain in 2015, that aims to encourage a change in Spanish and European migration and foreign policies in order to ensure that human rights are guaranteed and respected. Its goal is to ensure that legal and secure routes of access to European territory are established to prevent all death on the way. Hailing from Belgium and based in Barcelona for over 20 years, Ann Sleebus works as an official guide in Catalonia, promoting sustainable and responsible tourism, as well as a congress manager. She holds a degree in Romance Philology and Communication Science and obtained a Master's in International Relations and Cooperation with a thesis on Migration routes towards Europe over the Mediterranean and the European crisis.

Week 8 - Practitioner Session 4: Plural Urban Governance of International Migration outside the Metropolis

March 16th, 16:00-18:00, room 13.004

The objective of this session is to get students to think of the spaces of migration and the way that space and localities affect the reception of migrants. In this talk, Rafik shares with students insights from his research on the role of urban governance and urban policies in migration management. This talk also sheds light on the ethics and complexities of data collection around migration and forced displacement.

Guest Speaker: Rafik Arfaoui, post-doctoral researcher at GRITIM on urban migration governance

Rafik is a Postdoctoral researcher at GRITIM-UPF. He is conducting research on urban migration governance within the EU-twinning project BROAD-ER. His main research interests deal with the urban reconfigurations in both large-sized cities, small & medium-sized cities, and rural areas by the reception of asylum seekers and refugees' narratives, practices, and policies. Rafik holds a PhD in Geography & Urban Planning in December 2021 from the University of Clermont Auvergne (UCA), France. His PhD’s dissertation titled "Multiple territories, plural reception. Social geography of the reception of asylum seekers in non-metropolitan areas"  highlighted how social, demographic, and spatial characteristics of the reception's municipalities shape the local governance of International migrations. From 2021 to 2025, Rafik is a research fellow at the French Collaborative Institute on Migration (Institut Convergences Migrations). In addition to his Research track, he has 5 years’ experience of teaching Geography and Urban Planning. 

Week 10 - Practitioner Session 5: Media and Multi-Stakeholder Mobilizing

May 30th, 11:00-13:00, room 13.004

The objective of this session is to learn how the media is framing various movements in solidarity with migrants and refugees. Our aim is to understand the role of investigative reporting and how narratives are used to mobilize different actors and help raise voices for inclusion in host communities, specifically at the city level.

Guest Speaker: Cristina Mas, ARA journalist, Catalonia

Cristina is senior editor of World news at Diari Ara, specializing in the Mediterranean region. Special Envoy to Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla, Algeria, Tunisia, Greece and the Aegeen, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Ukraine or Central Mediterranean on board of humanitarian rescue ships. Best news coverage on refugees at European Newspaper Awards 2021.  ARA won best news pages for its digital coverage of the refugee crisis. Specifically, the jury awarded the prize to "Rats and barbed wire to welcome refugees to Europe", an interactive report by Cristina Mas and Xavier Bertral, who travelled to the island of Samos to learn first-hand about the situation of people seeking refuge on the European continent. She has also been recently awarded the Spanish Editors' special price for her coverage of the war in Ukraine.