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Research Projects and Impact

Project on Contemporary Indigeneous Identities

CERS supports the work of the photographic project 'Perceptions of Contemporary Indigenous Identities'.
The project aims to open up research to a diverse and mass audience by chronicling the new relationships, the new dynamics and challenges faced by, indigenous peoples. It thus aims to contribute to breaking down stereotypes that have been constructed about indigenous people, identifying and showing different ways of being and living as indigenous people in contemporary society. This public engagement project is led by Denisse Sepúlveda Sánchez and Madolyn Sepúlveda Sánchez, two women who were born in the Araucanía region and who identify as Mapuche indigenous people.

Quilting Points - Postgraduate Forum and Research

CERS is proud to be affiliated with Quilting Points, an interdisciplinary postgraduate forum which runs lively reading groups and seminar series at the University of Leeds. This year, through reading Paul Gilroy's works, the group engages with questions of race, identity, Black culture and representation.
If you would like to join and take part please follow the link.

Policy Briefing: Migrant Roma, the EU Settlement Scheme & Challenges

The closure of the UK’s EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) poses new challenges for migrant Roma in the UK and could further increase existing inequalities, create barriers to work for Roma, and contribute to ongoing marginalisation.This research and policy document by Dr Markéta Doležalová (CERS, University of Leeds), Dr Roxana Barbulescu (CERS, University of Leeds), Dr Noreen Mirza (University of Manchester), Mr Nicu Ion (Councillor in Elswick, Newcastle) examines the the likely future challenges for migrant Roma in the UK in relation to the scheme.

Health and Returned Migrants from the UK and Spain post-Brexit

Full title of project: RETORNO: Interventions on Social Determinants of Health – A comparative study of returned migrants from the UK and Spain post-Brexit referendum.

RETORNO study will develop an evidence-based, context-sensitive theory of how intra-EU returned migrants’ health could be improved using the case study of return migration between the UK and Spain post-Brexit referendum.

Primary investigator: Dr Pilar Serrano-Gallardo; Co-investigators: Dr Ana Manzano, Prof. Adrian Favell, Dr Roxana Barbulescu.

Feeding the Nation

"Feeding the Nation: seasonal migrant workers and food security during the COVID-19 pandemic" is a research project examining the recruitment and experiences of seasonal agricultural migrant workers throughout UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research team will work with the charity New Europeans to develop information and guidance materials for seasonal migrants, and with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to ensure that the project informs policymaking.

The project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of the UK Research and Innovation’s rapid response to COVID-19.

The project is led by CERS member Dr. Roxana Barbulescu (PI) and Dr. Carlos Vargas-Silva of the Centre on Migration Policy and Society at the University of Oxford (Co-I).

Northern Exposure

"Northern Exposure: Race, Nation and Disaffection in 'Ordinary' Towns and Cities after Brexit", is a major social science project which will examine the implications of Brexit on race relations, new migrations and Northerners’ sense of place and belonging.

The Northern Exposure project is part of ESRC’s ‘Governance after Brexit’ programme, which is working closely with the UK in a Changing Europe initiative to maximise the wider impact of long term research on Brexit.

Roma in Northern England

"Roma in Northern England: Creating interventions towards a better quality of life" is a 12 month project which builds on previous ethnographic research among Czech and Slovak Roma in Leeds.

The project is based at the School of Sociology and Social Policy and is led by Dr Marketa Dolezalova, with the participation of Dr Roxana Barbulescu.

Faith and Secularism in a Close Encounter

"Faith and Secularism in a Close Encounter: The Contextualisation of Divine Healing by Pentecostal Africans in Germany" is a research project led by Dr Abel Ugba.

The research is funded by the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.

Counter-Islamophobia Kit

This two year project was funded by the European Commission – Directorate of Justice, and brought together experts from across Europe.

A Counter-Islamophobia Toolkit, authored by CERS members Prof. Ian Law, Dr Amina Easat-Daas and Prof. S. Sayyid, was published in September 2018.

The Commission on Diversity in the North

The Commission on Diversity in the North is a newly founded working group whose mission is to facilitate dialogue and knowledge transfers between academia, local government and civil society in the North of England. The Commission examines the challenges that the Brexit vote and the ongoing negotiations on leaving the European Union bring to diverse communities in the North of England.

The Anti-racism Toolkit

This toolkit has been constructed as part of a HEFCE funded Innovations project looking at the question of Institutional Racism in Higher Education, using the University of Leeds as its case study, and comes in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (1999) and the subsequent passing of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

Student Publications

In November 2020, papers from current Postgraduate Researchers in our centre are being added to the Student Publications page, on themes including: Brexit, Islamophobia, diaspora & migration, anti-racism & decoloniality, and riots. You can also find here student papers on racism and racialisation in different contexts around the world, now archived in Mapping Global Racisms.