May 2020 

On Friday 22 May 2020, Dr. Estella Carpi, Southern Responses Research Associate, will teach a seminar class titled:  The Syrian Exodus in Lebanon and Turkey. Humanitarian Aid, Governance and Social Spaces.  The event was hosted at the Faculty of Historical, Geographic, and Antiquity Sciences at the University of Padua (Italy).

May 2020

The Southern Responses to Displacement project announced the publication of the Open Access Special Issue 3 of Migration and Society, examining the question of “Recentering the South in Studies of Migration,” is now available to read here. The issue examines this question by asking: What does it mean to “recenter” that which has, and those who have, been placed and kept at the margins? Whose voices and perspectives should be involved in recentering? And to what or who does “the South” refer in such contested domains?

April 2020 

Southern Responses to Displacement PI Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, on Channel 4 News, discusses how Covid-19 is impacting people living in poverty around the world. Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh highlights the diversity of national and international responses to the pandemic, including by Low and Middle Income Countries. Drawing on her work on South-South Cooperation and Southern-led responses to displacement, she argues for global solutions based on principles of solidarity to address the global pandemic in ways that are inclusive and socially just.

February 2020 

Southern Responses to Displacement Research Associate, Dr Estella Carpi, presented at the Decolonising Humanitarian Aid: Syrian Refugees in the North of Lebanon at SOAS, University of London on the 7th of February 2020.

The conference focused on ‘the situation of Syrian refugees in the North of Lebanon and the urgent need for humanitarian reform in the context of the Syrian crisis.’  The conference defined “Decolonising” humanitarian aid’ as ‘recognising the agency of those who have been displaced and supporting in a spirit of solidarity those who are struggling for the future of their country.’

December 2019

Southern Responses to Displacement PI, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, delivered her Inaugural Lecture: ‘Refuge in a Moving World: beyond hospitality and hostility’ on the 10th of December 2019 at UCL. 

August 2019

Southern Responses’ PI, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, participated in the inaugural South-South Forum, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, was held over 3 days from the 13th – 15th of August 2019.

This international and interdisciplinary workshop contributes to the aims of the South-South Forum to enable interdisciplinary discussions that ‘prioritize theoretical frameworks from the “South”‘.

March 2019

On the 27th of March 2019 at 4pm Southern Responses Research Associate Dr Estella Carpi will offer a lecture at LAU, exploring:
‘The Displacement of Religious Authorities from Syria and their Involvement in Aid Provision: Looking beyond Humanitarianism.’

Jan 2019

Southern Responses to Displacement Research Associate Dr Estella Carpi participated in the Ideas Globally Voices from the South event held at Newspeak House in London on the 9th of January 2019.
Insights from the South is a new event format by IDEAS Globally, to create the space for knowledge exchange between London and the Global South. Authors present insights on key issues in development today, and challenge perspectives of development and North-South relations.

Dec 2018

The Southern Responses to Displacement from Syria team is pleased to announce that the Handbook of South-South Relations (edited by Southern Responses PI, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, and Prof. Patricia Daley) was published in December 2018. The Handbook includes chapters by Elena and Dr. Estella Carpi (Southern Responses Post-Doctoral Research Associate), and a wide number of other chapters that are of direct relevance to our project.

We look forward to hosting a launch event at UCL in early-2019, where we will discuss and debate different approaches to studying and responding to ‘the South’ in contexts of insecurity, conflict and displacement.

Read an extract from the Introduction, ‘Conceptualising the Global South and South-South Encounters,’ by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Patricia Daley here; a brief reflection by Estella on her chapter, ‘The “Need to Be There”: North-South Encounters and Imaginations in the Humanitarian Economy’ will soon be posted as part of our series here.

Nov 2018

On the 9th of November Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Dr Carpi contributed to the Humanising Refugee Research workshop at the School of Geography and the Environment (SoGE), University of Oxford, and shared  critical reflections on approaches to refugee research and the roles of decolonial, anticolonial & postcolonial theories and methodologies.

Our Research Associate Dr Estella Carpi attended the “Working Together: Human Rights, the Sustainable Development Goals and Gender Equality” workshop, held at the British Academy, on 12 November 2018 in London. Read her blog post on the workshop here.

Also on the 12th of November, Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh gave a presentation at the Transregional Studies Lecture Series: Emerging Regional Powers and South-South Interventions at the Arnold-Bergstraesser Institute in Germany.

And on the 13th and 14th of November Prof. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh attended the UNHCR consultation in Geneva to discuss the set up of a new academic network as part of the new global compact on refugees.

October 2018

On the 5th and 6th of October, our Research Associate, Dr Estella Carpi, presented her research on “The Displacement of Religious Authorities from Syria and their Involvement in Humanitarian Action” at the Migration, Social Transformation and Differential Inclusion in Turkey Conference organized by the Istanbul Policy Center (Sabanci University).

June 2018

On June 5-7 2018 Southern Responses RA Estella Carpi will present a paper titled ‘The Displacement of Religious Authorities from Syria and its implications for Community Responses to Crisis’ at the Faith Leaders and Communities:  Influence, Engagement and Channels of Hope Research Workshop organised by World Vision in Amsterdam.

The Soutern Responses to Displacement team will also convene a panel on ‘Soutern-led Responses to Displacement in the MENA Region at the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) conference, which will take place at Kings College London.

May 2018

On May 31st 2018, Southern Responses PI Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and RA Dr Estella Carpi convened a conference as part of the  UCL Humanitarian Institute Evening Conference Series on the UN Sustainable Development Goals:

“South-South Humanitarianism: New Aims, Old Challenges​”

This event brought together a group of renowned international experts to debate different perspectives on the importance of making the Sustainable Development Goals and the South-South Cooperation framework uphold and actively promote the well-being and dignity of people affected by conflict and displacement across the global South.

February 2018

We are very happy to announce that Sorcha Daly has joined the Southern Responses Team as the Project and Communications Coordinator.

Sorcha will be responsible for the day to day management and administration of the project and will support the research team to ensure that the project’s findings are widely disseminated

December 2017

In December 2017 December, Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh was invited to present insights from her research at the UNHCR High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges.

The UNHCR High Commissioner’s dialogue aimed to help the UN refugees’ agency move forward in drafting the new Global Compact on Refugees which will be presented in 2018. Read Elena’s short blog piece on the conference here.

November 2017 

In November 2017, Estella Carpi from the Southern Responses research team participated in the conference “The Politics of Reception. The Syrian Neighbourhood as a Social Field”, organised by the Lebanese American University (LAU)–Byblos and the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), in Lebanon.

Participants discussed the effect of the international humanitarian apparatus on local and regional systems of governance, and the nature of national responses to Syrian displacement.  To read Estella’s blog on the conference click here.

October 2017 

The Southern Responses research team participated in a Forum organised by the Partnership in Faith and Development and a wide range of secular and faith-based NGOs, which took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Dr Estella Carpi from the Southern Responses project participated in the displacement and forced migration panel.  In her blog post about the conference Dr Estella draws some of the contrasting views of various participants together, providing a starting point for building common ground between secular and faith-based understandings of need and cultures of crisis management.  Read more on her blog here.

September 2017

On 14 September 2017, Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh was invited to deliver the keynote address at the recent ODI Disasters Conference, which celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the renowned Disasters journal.

Her keynote (which can be viewed here) addressed key approaches and lenses that have enhanced our understanding in contemporary Disasters Studies, and have helped improve responses to disasters around the world. To read more about key approaches to understanding Southern led responses to crisis relief, take a look at ‘Our Approach’ page here. 

September 2017 

We are very happy to welcome Dr Estella Carpi as Research Associate on the Southern Responses Project.

Dr Estella’s previous work has focused on displacement, forced migration, social welfare, gender equality, and humanitarian aid provision in the Arab Levant and Turkey. To read more about Dr Estella’s work, click here.

July 2017

We are excited to announce the launch of our ‘Southern Responses’ project, “Analysing South-South Humanitarian Responses to Displacement from Syria: Views from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey”.

Funded by the European Research Council and led by UCL’s Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, the Southern Responses project builds upon Dr. Elena’s long-standing research into ‘South-South humanitarianism’.  Read more about her research here.