Displacement Studies Research Network
This research network seeks to provide a voice for the displaced and facilitates a platform for research projects with our global partners

The Displacement Studies Research Network is a global multidisciplinary community of scholars, practitioners and organisations working at the intersection between displacement, heritage, and creativity to research, share, and enhance the impact and power of the creative agencies of displaced peoples, their culture, identity, heritage, health and well-being.
The Network is dedicated to collaborative partnerships with displaced communities, and to tracing, responding to, and informing relevant policy and practice.
We have a breadth of research expertise including resilient community building through entrepreneurial activity, urban mapping, disaster risk management, heritage and peace building, creativity and psychology of the displaced, refugee law, identity, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, literature, poetry, art, media and performance.
We also welcome new members with complementary areas of expertise and who share our mission.
Hosted by the Justice and Imagination in Global Displacement research collective and the Displacement Studies Research Network part of Refugee Week 2021, Made in Migration is a digital exhibition created by a specialist team of displaced people, mixed-media artists, and academics who have worked together for over a year, using non-hierarchical and prefigurative methods of research and practice.
A symposium framing participatory and creative paradigms for recovery, healing and belonging after conflict, trauma and displacement.
Information about the event
Dr Sana Murrani has been interviewed by BBC Radio Devon in September 2018 to talk about Creative Recovery, a project funded by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) to work with 15 refugees and asylum seekers from Plymouth to represent their memories of home through drawings, maps and architectural models.
The ECF had over 500 entrees to their Courageous Citizens 2018 Research and Development scheme and selected only 31.
Dr Sana Murrani, Founder of the Displacement Studies Research Network at the University of Plymouth explains the Creative Recovery project.
Dr Sana Murrani celebrates the outcome of her research project with an exhibition of refugees’ maps and photographs.
The Shroud Maker is an evocative black comedy that delves deep into the troubles of Palestinians as they respond creatively to their challenging everyday lives under siege and occupation.
The Displacement Studies Research Network and Cornerstone Heritage based at the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business hosted the film screening of The Destruction of Memory which was followed by Q&A session with the writer, director and producer of the film, Tim Slade.
Launch event of the Displacement Studies Research Network
This event brings together for the first time the Arts, Sciences and Social Sciences for an international dialogue to explore the intersection between displacement, disaster risk reduction and creativity.
Joining leading experts at the University of Plymouth, some of the biggest international names involved in policy-making, funding and disaster risk reduction such as Professor Nasser Yassin and Professor Virginia Murray as well as other reputable researchers in the fields of contested arts practice and heritage, and migration geographies such as Dr Diana Walters, Dr Ahmed Masoud and Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh who will be debating, informing and uncovering collectively with established researchers and charity personals critical areas of research in displacement.