Empowering Communites in Exile

For our initiatives we work with communities in exile, for example:

Cambridge Refugee Week 2025

Politics of Knowledge, Power, and the Struggle for Academic Futures: Higher Education and Schooling Amidst War and Displacement

In times of crisis, displacement, and war, education becomes both a battleground and a site of resistance. Schools and universities are not only places of learning but also spaces where power is negotiated, knowledge is contested, and futures are shaped. This conference seeks to critically examine the role of higher education and schooling amidst conflict and forced migration, bringing together scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners to rethink the politics of knowledge production in times of upheaval.

Coinciding with World Refugee Day in June, the event interrogates dominant, top-down approaches to education in crisis settings—approaches that often reinforce global knowledge hierarchies and marginalize the voices of those most affected. It calls for a radical reimagining of education: not as a system imposed on displaced communities but as one co-lead by refugees and forcibly displaced people. How can higher education and schools serve as a space of resistance, inclusion, and collaboration? What does it take to develop knowledge production models that centre local expertise, lived experience, and the agency of refugee scholars and institutions—including those operating in exile?

This conference is grounded in a decolonial ethos, foregrounding equity, relationality, and resistance to structural inequalities in global education governance. Participants will explore the challenges of building partnerships in emergency settings, the politics of solidarity, and the role of both schooling and higher education in shaping the futures of displaced populations. Key themes include:

– The power dynamics of knowledge production in crisis-affected education

– Refugee-led education initiatives and the decolonization of humanitarian aid

– The role of international organizations, donors, and local actors in shaping education governance

– The politics of academic exile and the possibilities for sustaining intellectual communities in displacement

– Strategies for co-producing research and teaching under conditions of war and forced migration

– The challenges of accountability, equity, and sustainability in education interventions

This gathering also marks the culmination of the British Academy Bilateral Chair Programme between the Centre for Lebanese Studies and the University of Cambridge and is hosted by the Cambridge Refugee Hub in collaboration with REAL Centre, CGC. Building on years of work on refugee education and its politics, the conference offers a moment to reflect on the trajectory of the field over the past two decades—while pushing toward more just, inclusive, and sustainable academic futures.

Forum on the Future of Afghanistan 

Forum on the Future of Afghanistan serves to discuss new visions for Afghanistan and to explore concrete solutions in the current context. We bring together young Afghan leaders and researchers, now in exile, to establish a diverse and representative platform, to discuss and create consensus on key issues, such as women and minority rights, reconciliation, and in particular educational initiatives for Afghan women and refugees.

Workshop on the Future of Afghanistan
Thursday, 22nd of June, 12.00 until Friday, 23rd of June, 17.00. Workshop by invitation.

As part of its programme on understanding crises and displacement, the Cambridge Refugee Hub is holding a workshop with young Afghan leaders on the Future of Afghanistan, Thursday, June 22^nd and Friday, June 23^rd, 2023. The objective of this workshop is to bring together young Afghan leaders and researchers, now in diaspora, to establish a diverse and representative platform, which will meet regularly over the following years to discuss and create consensus on key issues, such as women and minority rights, reconciliation, and in particular educational initiatives for Afghan women and refugees. As result of these workshops, we hope to develop position papers and shape interventions, with the support of academic experts at the University of Cambridge, to then share with Afghan, regional and international stakeholders. 

Afghan Diaspora Conference, 17 October, 2022

Together with the Rahela Trust and Omid International, The Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement hosted a conference, “What next for Afghan women? Education and empowerment under the Taliban” on 17th October 2022. Keynote speakers were the former Foreign Minister and National Security Advisor, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta and former MPs and women’s rights activists, Fawzia Koofi and Shukria Barakzai. The objective of this Afghan-led event was to find solutions for Afghan women and refugees whose education has been disrupted by the Taliban’s return to power. Updates and videos to follow.