Please join us in congratulating LERRN researchers, Dr. Amanda Klassen and Dr. Rachel McNally, who were awarded Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in Political Science at last week’s convocation ceremony.

Amanda’s dissertation, titled, “A Feminist Approach to the Study of Norm Implementation in the Global Refugee Regime”, uses a feminist geopolitical approach to examine the emergence and local implementation of global norms relating to the protection of refugee women and girls. Her work helps to explain power dynamics at different spaces, scales, and timeframes by drawing on non-Western perspectives and decentering the state.

Rachel’s dissertation, titled, “Advocating for Admission: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Diplomacy on Behalf of Refugees with Disabilities, 1951-2011”, draws on archival documents to examine how UNHCR strategically and persistently advocated for the resettlement of refugees with disabilities from 1951 to 2011. She was also awarded the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

Both thesis projects were supervised by Dr. James Milner, Project Director of LERRN.

Beyond their academic achievements, Amanda and Rachel have both made invaluable contributions to LERRN. Over the years, they have supported numerous LERRN research, training and knowledge mobilization initiatives – the publication of LERRN’s Working Papers Series, conducted and published research studies, and taken on leadership roles in LERRN’s Cross-Cultural Fieldwork Training course. Their work has left an enduring impact on the project, and we look forward to following their continued contributions to research, policy, and practice in the years ahead.

Reflecting on their time with LERRN, Rachel and Amanda shared:

Rachel will be beginning a new position as the Research Coordinator for , a SSHRC-funded Partnership Grant at the University of Ottawa.

As they embark on new roles and opportunities, we wish them continued success in all their future endeavors.

Congratulations, Amanda and Rachel!

The post Congratulations to PhD Graduates Amanda Klassen and Rachel McNally! appeared first on LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

LERRN is thrilled to share the news that Deo Mwapinga, LERRN Researcher and PhD graduate, has recently published an article in .

Titled ““, this article explores the notable differences between the lived experience of naturalized refugees from Rwanda and Burundi as citizens of Tanzania. Taking from fieldwork conducted in Tanzania and extensive archival research in both Tanzania and Geneva, Switzerland, Mwapinga attempts to explain the variations of these two groups’ experiences in Tanzania.

This article situates itself in the interdisciplinary field of refugee and forced migration studies, specifically the literature that considers local integration into a host country as a durable solution for refugees.

The post New Journal Article by Deo Mwapinga on Politics of Solutions in Tanzania appeared first on LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

A new episode 4.16 of Battle Rhythm is now available. The podcast explores the role of academic voices in public information spaces and the ways scholars can contribute to public debate and policy discussions.

In this episode, co-host Steve Saideman speaks with James Milner, Director of the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN). Their conversation examines the current state of the global refugee regime and discusses how LERRN and its partners are working to support the development of more effective, evidence-based solutions for and with refugees.

Listen to the full episode here:

The post New Battle Rhythm podcast episode featuring LERRN appeared first on LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

Working Paper 30

By Zahra Moshref Javadi, Research Associate at The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University

Jennifer Hyndman, Professor at the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) and in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University 

Executive Summary

 This paper seeks to address how states use ‘vulnerability’ to select a small percentage of refugees from the millions worldwide for resettlement programs. Across asylum and resettlement contexts, vulnerability functions as a mechanism for categorization and prioritization. In asylum systems, it helps identify individuals requiring procedural accommodation or enhanced protection, whereas in resettlement, it assumes a more consequential role: distinguishing among millions of recognized refugees competing for a limited number of resettlement spaces. However, the very concept that underpins this prioritization, “vulnerability”, remains fluid, contested, and deeply shaped by institutional discretion. While vulnerability is invoked to justify procedural accommodation and enhanced protection, its changing definition and application significantly influence who ultimately gains access to one of the rarest durable solutions.

This study examines how vulnerability is defined and operationalized within UNHCR and Canada’s refugee resettlement system, and the extent to which these definitions reflect evolving policy priorities and discretionary decision-making.

Drawing on legal frameworks, policy instruments, and secondary literature, vulnerability is framed not merely as a humanitarian descriptor but as a governing tool embedded within selection processes. The aim is to clarify how vulnerability functions as both a selection criterion and a site of political interpretation in both UNHCR and Canadian resettlement practices.

The paper argues that vulnerability operates at the intersection of protection and selectivity. While it enables targeted assistance for those facing acute risk, its ambiguity and discretionary application risk producing ‘hierarchies of deservingness’ (Reynolds and Hyndman, 2026). Ensuring fairness and coherence in refugee resettlement requires greater transparency and conceptual clarity in how vulnerability is defined, interpreted, and operationalized.

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LERRN Working Paper No. 30: Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement

View the full LERRN Working Papers Series here:

DOI

10.22215/glrnw/2605001

Citation: Javadi, Z. M., Hyndman, J. (2026). Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement. Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN). https://doi.org/10.22215/glrnw/2605001

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We are proud to announce that two LERRN colleagues have been selected as recipients of the 2026 Faculty of Public and Global Affairs (FPGA) Excellence Awards at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University. Each year, the FPGA recognizes outstanding individuals among its faculty and staff.

• Lama Mourad has been selected as the recipient of a 2026 FPGA Teaching Excellence Award
• James Milner has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 FPGA Community Engagement Excellence Award

Through experiential learning opportunities developed in collaboration with LERRN and the R-SEAT team (Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table), Lama Mourad has challenged graduate students to engage in contextual analysis and research on refugee protection through refugee-led initiatives. Students were tasked to produce real-world contextual reports and policy mapping on refugee leadership ecosystems, directly contributing to R-SEAT’s mission of advancing refugee inclusion and participation in global decision-making. Reflecting on the experience, one student shared:

Lama Mourad has also been recognized by receiving the 2025–26 Future Learning Innovation Fellowship for her exciting and innovative teaching project focused on immersive diplomacy and negotiation simulations using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Supported by Teaching and Learning Services, Dr. Mourad’s project will bring a fully immersive, AI-enhanced negotiation simulation into the classroom, giving students hands-on experience navigating the challenges of global diplomacy. Using adaptive AI “Deputies,” the simulation presents students with real-time prompts, counterarguments, and evolving scenarios that encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and strategic decision-making.

Through his leadership of the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN), James Milner has been recognized for demonstrating the transformative impact of meaningful collaboration between academia, international organizations, and community leaders in advancing the rights and protections of forcibly displaced people. LERRN work has strengthened evidence-based research, advocacy, and policy development while centering the voices and experiences of displaced communities.

LERRN’s commitment to meaningful engagement and experiential learning has supported more than 200 graduate students and enabled 12 graduate students to conduct fieldwork on refugee issues in the Global South. Through a partnership agreement between UNHCR Canada and �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, more than 25 �Ӱ�ԭ�� students have also completed internships supporting UNHCR Canada’s efforts to find durable solutions for refugees while gaining valuable hands-on experience.

In collaboration with Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table (R-SEAT), LERRN also helped mobilize more than 20 �Ӱ�ԭ�� graduate students to provide research support and contributed to the development of an advocacy training program that has benefited more than 250 refugees participating in global meetings in Geneva.

Congratulations to Dr. Mourad and Dr. Milner on these well-deserved achievements!

The post LERRN Community Celebrates 2026 FPGA Excellence Award Winners appeared first on LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

LERRN is thrilled to partner with Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba from the Institute of African Studies,  at the University of Ghana, the  at Makerere University in Uganda, and the  in South Africa to co-create knowledge that can serve as the basis for new policies and programs for cooperation and exchange in border areas. This new initiative is generously funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York ($1.8 million) and supported by �Ӱ�ԭ�� University.

Read more: 

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In this Blog Post, first published in May 2023, LERRN Co-Investigator Dr. Jeff Crisp answers crucial questions about refugee research outside of traditional academic spheres, and the impact it can have on humanitarian agencies and policy.

The post Refugee research, policy and practice: some frequently asked questions appeared first on LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

LERRN extends its warmest congratulations to Rez Gardi as she begins her new role as Special Assistant to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Rez’s courage, vision, wisdom and expertise will be such a tremendous asset to UNHCR as it works to navigate such a challenging moment in its history. Congratulations, Rez! We’re all cheering you on!

The post LERRN Congratulates Rez Gardi on Appointment as Special Assistant to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees appeared first on LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

On 15 December 2025, LERRN and R-SEAT co-hosted a panel discussion at R-Space in Geneva on the theme “Building Bridges Across Regions: Refugee-Led Dialogue Between East Africa and Latin America”.

Timed to coincide with the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review meeting, the event was a critical opportunity to highlight the shared challenges and opportunities to levering the expertise of refugee leaders in developing and implementing more efficient, effective and accountable responses to displacement. With the room at full capacity and with many key partners in attendance, the event highlighted the critical role that enhanced and meaningful refugee participation can play in ensuring that collective action to respond to the needs of refugees can be mobilized at a time of financial collapse for the humanitarian response sector and growing political skepticism around both multilateralism and upholding core refugee and human rights protection principles.

The event centered around the global launch of LERRN’s synthesis of its work on refugee-led organizations in East Africa and the Middle East and its more recent work, supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, on refugee leadership in East Africa and South America. Presented by the author, Dr. Stéphanie López-Villamil, the synthesis highlights the crucial role of refugee-led responses across regions, in areas as diverse as service delivery, advocacy, and policy development. By outlining the various ways that refugee leaders navigate shifting political opportunity structures, López-Villamil detailed the use of multi-level advocacy used across contexts to address power inequalities and enhance access and impact. The lessons of this analysis are particularly relevant given the moment currently faced by the global refugee regime.

The event then featured responses and perspectives from refugee leaders working in diverse contexts. In her intervention, María Guevara, Latin America Lead for R-SEAT, highlighted how the synthesis report captured the strategies employed by refugee-led organizations across Latin America and how the expertise of refugees is increasingly being recognized in national processes and regional efforts, such as the Cartagena +40 process. Abdullahi Mire, winner of the 2023 Nansen Refugee Award and founder of the Refugee Youth Education Hub, highlighted how the strategies outlined in the report are being used by leaders in places like the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya to navigate the profound consequences of collapse of funding to UNHCR in 2025. Alejandro Gómez, with Fundación Refugiados Unidos in Colombia, noted that while there has been an increased recognition of the substantive value of refugee participation, it is important to highlight that disproportionate barriers remain for many, especially leaders from the LGBTQI+ community. Ana María Díez, President of Coalición por Venezuela, noted that while refugee leadership had contributed to critical policy changes at the national and regional level, such as the regularization of status for some 2 million Venezuelans in Colombia, more work is needed to change the perception of refugees from a burden to a state to understanding refugees as individuals with skills and abilities to contribute to their host community.

The panel discussion was followed by a lively discussion with a highly engaged audience that illustrated the relevance of the results presented in the synthesis report to situations well beyond the contexts included in the report, along with the increased relevance of these issues in advance of the anticipated election of Dr. Barham Salih as High Commissioner for Refugees by the UN General Assembly later in the week.     

The panel highlighted how the challenges and opportunities faced by refugee leaders are remarkably similar across regions. While challenges persist around issues of funding, access and capacity, refugee-led initiatives have responded by drawing on the strength of coalitions, engaging with regional processes, leveraging the combined significance of their unique access to displaced communities and their moral and expert authority, and their ability to mobilize through alternate forms of media, such as social media and virtual networks. Ultimately, the event underscored the key lessons from the research on refugee leadership and refugee-led organizations: At a time of profound need and collapsing support from traditional partners, refugee-led responses bring the combination of moral authority, proven efficiency, technical expertise, and trust-based relationships with affected communities that are urgently needed to reimagine responses to forced migration in a rapidly evolving political reality.

The post Advancing South-South Strategic Dialogue on Refugee Leadership appeared first on LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

A new blog published by Dr. Jeff Crisp, reflects on the long and complex relationship between UNHCR and academia. Drawing on decades of UNHCR experience, Crisp examines why refugee research has often had only a limited influence on policy and practice, despite years of collaboration.

Using personal stories, honest reflections, and examples of newer research led by refugees and local researchers, the blog asks whether today’s changing research landscape might finally reshape how evidence informs humanitarian action.

Read the blog:

Related Content

1. Event Report – UNHCR at 75: Challenges and Opportunities

The post New Blog Post: Waiting for academia – The impact of research on UNHCR policy, programmes and practice appeared first on LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.