Past events
PROTECT Expert Forums
autumn 2021, online
PROTECT has organized three Expert Forums in 2021, all of which sought to explore the legal potential and impacts of the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration:
I. Expert Forum (10 September)
> See the program and the speakers
> (Re)Watch talks and discussions
II. Expert Forum (15 and 22 September)
> See the program and the speakers for 15 September and for 22 September
> (Re)Watch talks and discussions
III. Expert Forum (7-8 October)
PROTECT’s Mid-term Conference
26 – 27 August 2021, online
During the Conference, we presented initial research findings from our Work Packages. Our Canadian partner Ryerson University hosted and organized the conference.
National Conference on Migration and Urbanisation
28 July 2021, online
This panel explored the ‘Boundaries of Protection and Human Rights for International Migrants’ in South Africa and included PROTECT researchers Jo Vearey and Nicholas Maple from Wits University.
> Download the presentation (video)
5th Annual Conference, Refugee Law Initiative (RLI): ‘Ageing Gracefully? The 1951 Refugee Convention at 70’
9 – 11 June 2021, online
PROTECT researchers Jo Vearey, Nicholas Maple, and Kudakwashe Vanyoro from Wits University held
a panel at the RLI Annual Conference dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the 1951 Convention.
The PROTECT panel explored the ‘Contemporary Role of the Global Refugee Regime in Sub-Saharan Africa’
14 april 2021, 6 – 7:30 pm CEST.
In partnership with ERIQA, the Jean Monnet Center welcomes PROTECT researcher Professor Daniela Irrera from the University of Catania for a conference on ‘the new vulnerability in times of pandemic: The EU and NGOs in managing migrant and refugee issues.’
> See more
Nationalism & Covid-19 vaccination: Refugee and Migrant Health
30 March 2021, 3-5 pm CET
PROTECT researcher Jo Vearey argues that states’ vaccination programs cannot be effective unless they include undocumented migrants. How to create a ‘Firewall’ so that this group can access the Covid-19 vaccine without fearing arrest, detention, and deportation?
The webinar was organized by the M8 Alliance and the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM).
International Women’s Day: Covid-19 and inequality: Gender, Work and Migration
8 March 2021, 2 – 3:30 pm CET
Join PROTECT researcher Christine M. Jacobsen as she explores ‘vulnerability in pandemic times’ and how Covid-19 has affected migrants with precarious legal status in France.
Webinar: Foreign African Nationals and Xenophobia in South Africa
27 January 2021
How have racist ideas and exclusionary frameworks persisted in modern South African society?
FASS2021 panel: University of Surrey Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Festival of Research
18 Januar 2021
> See festival program, panels and speakers
Dr. Theofanis Exadaktylos presented the aims and objectives of PROTECT – and how the researchers in Work Package 4 are overcoming the obstacles that Covid-19 has presented them with.
Seminar: Borders, mobilities and immobilities in Southern Africa
13 Januar 2021
In this seminar organized by the Migration Policy Institute, PROTECT researcher Kudakwashe Vanyoro present his research on Zimbabwean migrants at the Zimbabwean-South African border. Dr. Frank Musoni from the University of Kentucky gave a talk on ‘Border Jumping and Migration Control in Southern Africa’.
Seminar: Using the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration as an Interpretative Tool for legal practitioners
27 November 2020
This seminar presented the work conducted between Queen Mary University of London and ILPA on developing a Handbook on the Global Compact on Migration for immigration law practitioners.
Elspeth Guild 
Kathryn Allinson 
Nicolette Busuttil
PROTECT partners Elspeth Guild, Nicolette Busuttil, and Kathryn Allinson presented the theoretical framework of the Handbook and some key examples to elucidate its contents. Adrian Berry from ILPA discussed the application of the Compact for practitioners in light of this framework.
Photo: Kingsley Napley and Queen Mary University of London
Expert Forum #3: International protection and the Global Compacts in the time of Covid-19: lessons from South(ern) Africa
26 November 2020,
PROTECT’s third Expert Forum took stock of the role of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) in South(ern) Africa, two years after their adoption.
The Forum also explored the unique challenges the global COVID-19 pandemic has created in terms of implementation of the two Compacts at the city, national and regional level.
This forum was hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, which is PROTECT’s South African partner.
Expert Forum #2: Opportunity or Threat: receiving refugees in Canada and the effects of the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migrants
20 November 2020
PROTECT’s second Expert Forum explored refugee rights in Canada in the context of the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and the responsibilities outlined in two UN Compacts on Refugees and Migrants and in the 1951 Convention.
This Forum was hosted by PROTECT’s Canadian partner, Ryerson University.
Expert Forum #1: The Two UN Compacts – Refugees and Migrants: Challenges and Implementation in Europe
13 -14 November 2020
PROTECT’s First Expert Forum explored the EU’s asylum practices and challenges in light of the obligations and principles articulated in the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 2019 Global Compacts on Migrants and Refugees – and the potential impacts of the latter in creating a just and effective global asylum agenda.
The event was hosted by PROTECT partner Queen Mary University of London. Full recordings of talks and discussions are available here:
Conversations on the Moria fires
19 September 2020
PROTECT’s project leader Hakan G. Sicakkan and International Advisory Board member, Jan Fridthjof Bernt discussed the Moria fires, the Dublin Regulation and the New Pact on Migration and Asylum in the monthly event, ‘Insight’.
ECPR General Conference: PROTECT panel
25 August 2020
Three PROTECT researchers participate in this panel, which looks at the politics of international protection in a context marked by the tension between the rise of nativist ideologies and efforts to share the burden and responsibility of international protection at world scale.
Panel title: ‘The Politics of International Protection: New Perspectives in the Post-Global Compacts Era’
> Explore the PROTECT panel and papers
Virtual roundtable: Researching Migration & Law
18 August 2020
PROTECT researchers Siri Gloppen and Hakan G. Sicakkan participated in a roundtable discussion on ‘Researching Migration & Law’ during the 2020 Bergen Exchanges on Law and Social Transformation.
PROTECT kick off conference
9 March 2020
A number of high profile representatives from the academic community, civil society organizations, and international organizations were present for PROTECT’s Kick-Off conference in Brussels on 9 March 2020.
