You can read the policy brief here:

The 3rd session of the UM6P Research Chair’s 2025 Webinar Series:
“Examining Labour Market Integration of Migrants and Refugees in the Global South�
Wed, Sept 17 | 2.30pm to 4pm (GMT+1)

Speakers: Jackline Wahba (University of Southampton), Gilda Borriello (University of Oxford), Imane Bendra (University of Antwerp), Muriel Juramie (UNHCR Morocco)
Discussant: Matthew Bird (IDRC Research Chair, Peru)
Moderator: Myriam Cherti (IDRC Research Chair, Morocco)

We’re pleased to invite you to our second session in the UM6P Research Chair’s 2025 Webinar Series, titled “(Re)Framing Migration: Examining Migration Narratives in the Global North and the Global South.â€� The webinar will take place on Wednesday, July 9th, from 1.00 p.m. to 2.30 p.m (GMT+1), via this .

The session will explore how divergent narratives on migration in the Global North and Global South shape practice and policy responses, influencing both the governance and experience of migration and forced displacement. Please view the scene-setting brief introducing the webinar topic.

Our speakers for this webinar include:

• Nando Sigona, Chair of International Migration and Forced Displacement, University of Birmingham
• William Allen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Southampton
• Gibril Faal, Visiting Professor in Practice, Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Paula Banerjee, IDRC Research Chair on Gender and Forced Displacement, Asian Institute of Technology

The webinar will be moderated by Myriam Cherti, IDRC Research Chair on Forced Displacement at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P).

Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (GMT+1)
Zoom link (no registration required):

The IDRC Research Chair on Forced Displacement at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) is pleased to launch its 2025 Webinar Series with a first session titled “Cities and Forced Displacement from the Perspectives of the Global South and Global North.”

This webinar will explore how cities in different regional and policy contexts experience and respond to forced displacement. It will highlight critical insights and comparative perspectives from both the Global South and the Global North.

The event will be moderated by Prof. Myriam Cherti, UM6P Research Chair on Forced Displacement, and will feature the following speakers:

• Michael Collyer, Professor of Geography, University of Sussex

• Janina Stürner-Siovitz, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg

• Sofia El Arabi, Postdoctoral Researcher, CNRS – Printemps Laboratory, Université Paris-Saclay

• Hicham Hasnaoui, Migration, Development, and Migrant Protection Specialist, IOM Morocco

To help set the scene, a two-page brief contextualizing the webinar series and this first session is available. Additionally, a podcast conversation with Prof. Collyer has been recorded (), offering insights into the themes and framing of the session.

Contact: For any questions regarding the event, please contact Ms. Leen De Nutte (leen.denutte@um6p.ma).

Date: 23 April 2025
Time: 12:30 P.M. to 1.30 P.M. (GMT+1)
Location: Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) – Rabat Campus, seminar room (B-B1-01). Online participation will also be possible.

The Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences (AIRESS) and the Research Chair at UM6P kindly invite all interested to attend a research seminar titled “Debts in/of Displacement,� presented by Michael Collyer, Professor of Geography at the University of Sussex.

Forcibly displaced people have reduced access to financial credit, compared to comparable non-displaced groups. This is valid across all income groups but is most significant for people with low or no income, where debt often plays a significant part in any livelihood strategy.  Since the demise in enthusiasm for microfinance and particularly microcredit as a development tool, debt has been widely understood as a burden to be avoided for all low-income groups. Yet in certain circumstances, such as community savings schemes, access to credit can be beneficial in contexts of displacement. This seminar presents findings from a large household survey with people living in situations of protracted displacement in four countries: DRC, Ethiopia, Lebanon and Pakistan. Debt is extremely widespread amongst displaced people involved in our research, although they were generally uncertain about the conditions of the debts, such as interest rates and loan periods, which are often opaque. The seminar also explores the circumstances under which debt appeared beneficial to displaced people and when it is considered a burden. Even when it is clearly harmful, debt must be incorporated into a broader “displacement economies” approach since it reflects the economic realities and priorities of people experiencing displacement.

Registration information: To register for the event, please fill out the following registration form: . Please note that registration for this event will close on Monday, April 21st, at 4:00 P.M. (GMT+1). A personal invitation will be sent out one week before the seminar, including information on how the seminar can be followed online.

Contact: For any questions regarding the event, please contact Ms. Leen De Nutte (leen.denutte@um6p.ma).