Our Principal Investigator, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, has published two new Research Notes drawing together key insights from the Southern Responses to Displacement project.
Meanings of the South and Refugees’ Views of Southern Responses to Displacement: Research Note #1, available in English and in Arabic starts by exploring refugees’ and aid providers’ conceptualisations of ‘the South’ and subsequently focuses on and centralises refugees’ views and critiques of what can be referred to as ‘Southern responses to displacement.’ While acknowledging significant financial and material contributions, particularly from Gulf states, the critiques offered by people with refugee backgrounds focused on the modality of aid provision – specifically its seasonality, intermittence, lack of needs-based systematisation, over-branding, and the ‘remoteness’ of donors both in terms of direct engagement and, crucially, in the failure to offer asylum or resettlement opportunities. These critiques underscore people’s desire for more consistent, dignified, relationship-based, and rights-focused responses that address their needs and rights for safety, security, legal status, and opportunities for self-sufficiency, aligning Southern responses with the principles of solidarity and shared experience often invoked in discussions about the meaning of the South. Read this Research Note in English and Arabic here.
A second Research Note, Transregional Responses to Displacement: Aid, Advocacy and Accountability: Research Note #2, available in English and in Arabic, explores diverse transregional responses to displacement, focusing primarily on responses to displacement from Syria developed and implemented in Lebanon, Jordan, and Türkiye, as well as historical and contemporary responses to displacement in the broader Middle East, including in relation to Gaza. Drawing on the Southern Responses to Displacement project, the Research Note highlights the importance of paying greater attention to transregional responses developed by states and organizations from across the so-called ‘global South,’ noting that these initiatives often reflect long histories of support that go beyond financial or material donations. Mapping a wide range of transregional responses from states with varying levels of financial and geopolitical power, the research emphasises the need to recognise not only the quantity of aid, but also the quality and the ‘unquantifiable’ nature of many such responses. This Research Note offers a summary of a longer Research Report on this topic, which is available in both English and Arabic.
Links and Suggested Citations:
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2025) Meanings of the South and Refugees’ Views of Southern Responses to Displacement: Research Note #1. (SOURCED project and Migration Research Unit, UCL).
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2025) Transregional Responses to Displacement: Aid, Advocacy and Accountability: Research Note #2 (SOURCED project and Migration Research Unit, UCL).
Southern Responses to Displacement 
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