Justice and Imagination in Global Displacement (JIGD)

A multidisciplinary collective working on global issues of social and spatial displacement
Justice and Imagination in Global Displacement
We are a research collective of multidisciplinary academics whose work deals with global challenges cross-cutting issues of social and spatial displacement (and associated harms), migration, memory and material culture, identity, race and ethnicity.
We believe in combining a person-centred approach with a critical in-depth examination of lived experiences and narrative construction. We generate knowledge in the fields of experimental filmmaking and moving image, post-colonial literature, medical anthropology, spatial justice and their methods of practice.
The collective is dedicated to collaborative partnerships with marginalised communities locally and globally, to trace, respond to, and inform relevant policy and co-design and develop new forms of practice. We work iteratively using multimodal mixed methods of research that are decolonial, ethnographic, creative, psychological and anthropological. We have existing partnerships through our research consultancies across Higher Education Institutions, government organisations, NGOs and charities.
The research collective is based at the University of Plymouth with key collaborators across global research institutions, charities and thinktanks. The full list of members and partners can be seen below.

Research areas

  • 3Social displacement

  • 3Spatial displacement

  • 3Harm

  • 3Migration

  • 3Memory

  • 3Material culture

  • 3Identity

  • 3Race

  • 3Ethnicity

  • 3Experimental filmmaking and moving image

  • 3Post-colonial literature

  • 3Medical anthropology

  • 3Spatial justice

  • 3Architecture

People

Our recent news

NBC News interview
Dr Sana Murrani was interviewed by NBC News for an opinion piece about lived experience of displacement and fleeing war and conflict as part of an article that discusses the issues raised in Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-nominated ‘Belfast’. 
Safer Keyham project
Professor Zoë James, Dr Daniel Gilling and Dr Katie McBride have successfully attained the Home Office, D&C Police, OPCC and Plymouth CC funding to evaluate the Safer Keyham project, set up to support the Keyham community following the serious violence incident in August 2021. The significant funding provides among other things a full-time funded PhD student position. This prestigious research will inform national (and international) policy and practice on dealing with serious violence incidents.

Our research projects

Find out more about our projects and research consultancies

Hope in Plymouth artwork depicting a boat in the sea heading towards Smeaton's tower in Plymouth UK.  Routes to Wellness
 Dr Helen Lloyd, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

The 15 spatial interpretations of traumatic events that people shared as part of the Rupturing Domesticity project (Credit Sana Murrani, University of Plymouth) Ruptured Domesticity
 Dr Sana Murrani, supported by funding from the British Institute for Study in Iraq

Crime and Justice Experiences of Gypsies and Travellers in England. Justice and Imagination in Global Displacement (JIGD) Gypsies and Travellers Experiences of Crime and Justice Since the 1960s: A Mixed Methods Study
Dr Zoë James, funded by ESRC

Creative Recovery: Mapping Refugees’ Memories of Home as Heritage Creative Recovery: Mapping Refugees’ Memories of Home as Heritage
Dr Sana Murrani is the Principal Investigator with Dr Ioana Popovici as a researcher

Displacement hero image Displacement Studies Research Network
 Founded by Dr Sana Murrani, this research network seeks to provide a voice for the displaced and facilitates a platform for research projects with our global partners

Refugee camp Made in Migration
 Dr Sana Murrani is a research consultant for this British Academy funded project led by Dr Rachael Kiddey from Oxford University (Archaeology)

Getty - dark earth map with glowing details of city and human population density areas. view of middle east Nahrein Network
 Dr Sana Murrani is a member of the Management Committee for this network, GCRF funded project led by Professor Eleanor Robson from UCL (History)

stop hate NETHATE: Network of Excellence of Training on HATE
Dr Zoë James, funded by European Commission/Marie Skłodowska-Curie

Fez: The Royal scent Fez: The Royal scent
 Dr Anya Lewin, funded by Arts Council England

Chez Paulette Coffee House Chez Paulette on the Sunset Strip
 Dr Anya Lewin, funded by Arts Council England

More than Stories: A Film Trilogy. Image courtesy of Anya Lewin With Heartfelt Gratitude for the Painless Treatment
Dr Anya Lewin, funded by Arts Council England

Anya Lewin At Home in Europe (three-month residency at InterSpace, Sofia, Bulgaria) At Home in Europe
Dr Anya Lewin, three-month residency at InterSpace, Sofia, Bulgaria

Testing a game out on a table A mixed-method investigation of the gaming/gambling interface
 Dr Helen Lloyd, funded by Gamble Aware

MOSAIC - Methodological solutions to support the Assessment of Individualised Care Methodological solutions to support the Assessment of Individualised Care: The Mosaic Project
Dr Helen Lloyd, funded by University of Gothenburg Centre for Person Centred Care

Young nurse measuring blood pressure of elderly woman at home. Female nurse checking blood pressure of a senior woman at home, home carer checking patients blood pressure Narrative for Person Centred Care
 Dr Helen Lloyd, funded by University of Gothenburg Centre for Person Centred Care

Related publications
2024 (forthcoming)
Murrani, S. (2024). Ruptured Architecture: Spatial Practices of War and Protection in Iraq 2003-2020. Bloomsbury. Hosale, MD., Murrani, S. and de Campo, A. 2018. ‘Introduction from the Editors’ to Worldmaking as Techné: Exploring Worlds of Participatory Art, Architecture, and Music. Cambridge, Ontario: Riverside Architectural Press, pp. iv-xxvi. 
2023
James Z (2023) 'Criminalizing Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers in the UK' The Routledge International Handbook on Decolonizing Justice Routledge 103-112, DOI
2022
James Z (2022) 'Roma, Gypsies and Travellers as a community of difference: Challenging inclusivity as an anti-racist approach' Critical Romani Studies 4, (2) 142-162 Publisher Site, DOI Open access
James Z & McBride K (2022) 'Examining the Contours of Hate: A Critical Hate Studies Analysis' in Hall E; Clayton J; Donovan C Landscapes of Hate Tracing Spaces, Relations and Responses Policy Press 22-37
McBride K & James Z (2022) 'Hateful subjectivities: Using intersectionality to inform a Critical Hate Studies perspective' in Healy J; Colliver B Contemporary Intersectional Criminology: Examining the Boundaries of Intersectionality and Crime Open access
Murrani, S., Lloyd, H., & Popovici, I-C. (2022) Mapping home, memory and spatial recovery in forced displacement, Social & Cultural Geography, DOI
2021
Chappell, A., and Parsons, J.M. (2021) How COVID, lockdown and isolation has fuelled our interest in the lives of others, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/how-covid-lockdown-and-isolation-has-fuelled-our-interest-in-the-lives-of-others-144033 
James Z & McBride K (2021) 'Critical Hate Studies: A new perspective' International Review of Victimology 1-17, DOI Open access
2020
Close J, Spicer S, Nicklin LL, Uther M, Lloyd J & Lloyd H.(2020). 'Secondary analysis of loot box data: are high-spending “whales” wealthy gamers or problem gamblers?' DOI
James Z (2020) 'Gypsies' and Travellers' Lived Experience of Harm: A Critical Hate Studies Perspective' Theoretical Criminology 24, (3) 502-520, DOI Open access
James, Z. 2020 The Harms of Hate for Gypsies and Travellers: A Critical Hate Studies Perspective. Palgrave Pivot cover image 
Murrani, S. and Popovici, I. (2020) 'Mapping Creative Recovery' report (European Cultural Foundation).
Murrani, S. 2020. Review of Refugia: Radical Solutions to Mass Displacement, Journal of Refugee Studies, feaa077, DOI.
Naldemirci Ö, Britten N, Lloyd H & Wolf A. (2020). 'Epistemic injustices in clinical communication: The example of narrative elicitation in person-centred care' Sociology of Health and Illness: a journal of medical sociology, DOI  
2019
James ZC & Southern R (2019) 'Accommodating Nomadism and Mobility: Challenging the sedentarist binary approach to provision for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma' International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 39, (3/4) 324-336, DOI Open access
Murrani, S. 2019. ‘Contingency and Plasticity: The Dialectical Re-construction of the Concept of Home in Displacement’. Journal of Culture and Psychology. DOI
Murrani, S. 2019. ‘Urban Creativity through Displacement and Spatial Disruption’, In: Michael E Leary-Owhin and John P McCarthy (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Henri Lefebvre, The City and Urban Society. London: Routledge. ISBN: 9781138290051.
Naldemirci, Ö, Britten, N, Lloyd, H, Wolf, A. (2019). The potential and pitfalls of narrative elicitation in person‐centred care. Health Expect. 00: 1– 9. DOI
2018
Hosale, MD., Murrani, S. and Decampo, A. 2018. ‘Introduction from the Editors’ to Worldmaking as Techné: Exploring Worlds of Participatory Art, Architecture, and Music. Cambridge, Ontario: Riverside Architectural Press, pp. iv-xxvi. ISBN: 978-1-988366-09-8.
Lloyd, H., et al (2018). Validation of the person-centred coordinated care experience questionnaire (P3CEQ). International Journal for Quality in Health Care, DOI
Lloyd, H.,et al (2018). Patient-Reported Measures for Person-Centred Coordinated Care: A Comparative Domain Map and Web-Based Compendium for Supporting Policy Development and Implementation. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR). 14.02.18 in Vol 20, No 2 (2018): February. 
Murrani, S. 2018. ‘Estranged Space Appropriated’, In: Hosale, MD., Murrani, S. and de Campo, A. Worldmaking as Techné: Exploring Worlds of Participatory Art, Architecture, and Music. Cambridge, Ontario: Riverside Architectural Press, pp. 296-319. 
2017
James ZC & smith O (2017) 'Introduction to the Special Edition: Brexit Criminology' Safer Communities, DOI Open access
James ZC & Smith D (2017) 'Roma inclusion post Brexit: a challenge to existing rhetoric?' Safer Communities, DOI Open access
Popovici, I. (2017), 'Communist Romanian architecture. Des critiques autres: song, comedy, caricature', Critical Context Journal  (2017), 93-96.
Popovici, I. (2017), 'Two Churches and A Hat: The National Bucharest Theatre or the Mythology of Post-War Romanian Architecture’, PARSE Journal, 3, 109-128. 
2016
James Z (2016) 'Gypsies and travellers in the countryside: Managing a risky population' Rural Policing and Policing the Rural: A Constable Countryside? 137-146
Lloyd, H., Peters, M., Lloyd, J., and Fitzpatrick. R. (2016). The Role of Life Context and the Outcomes that Matter to People with a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia. Health Expectations. DOI: 10.1111/hex.12548 
2014
James Z (2014) 'Hate crimes against Gypsies, Travellers and Roma in Europe' The Routledge International Handbook on Hate Crime Routledge 237-248, DOI
James Z (2014) 'Hate Crimes Against Gypsies, Travellers and Roma in Europe' in Hall N; Corb A; Giannasi P; Grieve J The International Handbook of Hate Crime Routledge
James Z (2014) 'Policing Hate Against Gypsies and Travellers: Dealing with the Dark Side' in Chakraborti N Responding to Hate Crime: The Case for Connecting Policy and Research Policy Press
Popovici, I. (2014), ‘Architecture Competitions – A Space for Political Contention. Socialist Romania, 1950–1956’, Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38, 24-38. DOI
Popovici, I. (2014),‘”The City as a Part of Nature, and Concrete as a Kind of Earth.” Japanese Architecture Meets 1960s-1980s Romanian Modernism’, Studies in History & Theory of Architecture, 2 (2014), 116-139.

Postgraduate research

We welcome postgraduate research interests in any one or combined fields of medical anthropology, urban displacement, humanitarian and development architecture, spatial justice, mapping migration, refugee and asylum seeker housing, Gypsy, Traveller and Roma studies, hate studies, post-colonial literature, memory and moving image.

For further information regarding postgraduate research please contact a member of the team.

Group Hug by Flounder Lee 2020. PhD Researcher in Art and Media at UoP. Photo credit: Mehr Mesbah
Group Hug by Flounder Lee 2020. PhD Researcher in Art and Media at UoP. Photo credit: Mehr Mesbah

Impact case studies

REF Impact case study: Dr Helen Lloyd
Person-centred coordinated care: reforming national health policy and accelerating national and international care delivery.
REF Impact case study: Professor Zoë James
Influencing provision, policy making and police training in the UK and Romania to increase the profile of Gypsies, Travellers, and Roma.

Partners