Research into forced migration to support policy-making

School of Business (ASB) held its first research workshop on refugee studies and forced migration in Southeast Asia recently with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur.

The research workshop was attended by 70 participants including academics from Malaysia and Singapore who are involved in research into forced migration, leaders of local non-governmental organisations who work with the refugee community, as well as members of the refugee community themselves.

The workshop aimed to serve as a platform to connect local academics in hopes of expanding the body of ethical, well-informed and evidence-based academic literature surrounding refugee studies and migration in Southeast Asia.

The workshop covered academic poster presentations and relevant issues such as navigating research ethics in diverse and dynamic refugee populations, as well as refugee healthcare.

ASB Economics assistant professor Melati Nungsari said it is important to produce high quality research to support policy-making and the creation of impactful community interventions in this region.

“The vast majority of academic work on refugee studies has been Euro-centric and has focused on the movements of refugees from the Middle East into Europe,” she added.

“The documentation of socio-economic conditions, challenges faced and proposed solutions for refugee problems in Southeast Asian have not been tackled to the same extent. In Malaysia alone, we have more than 150,000 refugees registered with UNHCR. It is extremely important that we understand this population by conducting rigorous and ethical research to ensure policy-making or advocacy work done is relevant.”

Child activist and Yayasan Chow Kit and Voice of the Children founder Dr Hartini Zainuddin, who spoke at the event, said there is a huge gap at the grassroots level when it comes to proper documentation and research methods working towards advocacy and policy-checking.

“Working with academics will contribute towards a solid evidence-based advocacy which will strengthen our lobbying for policy change.”

Muslim Aid Education Fund general manager Ida Hariati Hashim, who spoke on the need to train teachers who teach refugee children in Malaysia, said: “Refugee children here may not have the access to formal education but there is still an opportunity to enjoy quality education.

“Teachers are agents of change. To improve refugee education, we have to start with teachers who are the strongest school-level predictor of student learning. An improvement in student learning creates educated and skilled refugees who will then become empowered to protect themselves, and to take care of their own needs during their stay here,” she added.

ASB and UNHCR hope that this research workshop will be the first in an annual series of workshops to promote academic work done on forced migration.