The Growth of an Academic Field of Study: From Refugees to Forced Migration

Date

Developments

1981

- Special issue of International Migration Review lays foundation for new field of “refugee studies” (read esp. "Foreword," pp. 5-7);

- Refugee Documentation Project is created at York University (Canada);

- Refuge: Canada’s Periodical on Refugees is launched

1982

- Refugee Studies Programme (RSP) is established at Oxford University (UK)

1985

- Refugee Studies Programme is established at Juba University (Sudan) (note: the programme is now defunct)

1988

- Journal of Refugee Studies is launched;

- Refugee Participation Network (RPN) (periodical) is started;

- Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS, Canada) succeeds Refugee Documentation Project

1989

- International Journal of Refugee Law is launched

1990

- International Research and Advisory Panel (IRAP) begins holding regular meetings to review the state of the field and identify new directions for research

1992

- Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) is established at Moi University (Kenya)

1994

- Refugee Survey Quarterly is launched (formerly Refugee Abstracts)

1995

- Centre for Study of Forced Migration (CSFM) is established at University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)

1996

- International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) is established (evolved out of IRAP)

1998

- First Master of science programme in forced migration is offered by Refugee Studies Centre (formerly RSP);

- Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) is established at Wits University

- RPN becomes Forced Migration Review

- Conference held on "The Growth of Forced Migration: New Directions in Research, Policy and Practice" 

1999

- UNESCO/UNITWIN Forced Migration Network is formed to link five academic centres

2000

- Forced Migration & Refugee Studies Program (FMRS) is established at American University in Cairo (re-named Center for Migration and Refugee Studies in 2008)

2001

- Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees in the UK (ICAR) is established

- “Fifty Years of Refugee Studies: From Theory to Policy" article published in International Migration Review, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 57-78.

2002

- Forced Migration Online (FMO) is launched

2005

- Three volume encyclopedia Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present is published

2007

- Conference held at RSC on “An Unsettled Future? Forced Migration and Refugee Studies in the 21st Century”