Detention, Deportability and the Family: Migrant Men's Negotiations of the Right to Respect for Family Life

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bristol
Department Name: Sociology

Abstract

Article 8, the right to respect for a family life, is a keystone of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is also an area of fierce political debate, existing at the intersection of tensions around immigration, gender and ethnicity. Increasingly, politicians and the public display a belief that Article 8 claims allow undesirable aliens to undermine the State's ability to deport people. The result is a rapidly evolving area of legislation. Multiple, far reaching policy developments specifically relating to family migration were announced in 2012, and an equally dynamic response from the courts is expected. These developments exist in the broader flux of the immigration system generated by new targets to substantially reduce immigration, increased emphasis on enforcement measures such as deportation, and the recent emergence of the foreign national prisoner as a highly stigmatised category of migrant. These migration debates are the contemporary face of much older discourses regarding the nature of belonging and citizenship, and the place of foreign men and migrant families within this.

The proposed research explores the relationship between 'deportability' (c.f. De Genova, 2002) and family life, asking 1) how being at risk of deportation impacts on people's experiences and decisions around relationships; and 2) how having a family affects people's experiences of being deportable. In particular, it considers practices around family sustainability, including in relation to marriage, cohabitation and child-raising. It questions what impact the recent legislative and discursive changes are having on familial ties, and how individuals understand and negotiate changing rhetoric around 'genuine' relationships, the family and role of foreign fathers. The focus is on non-citizen, 'deportable' men (DM), with non-deportable (i.e. British or European) partners and/or children. Very little ethnographic research exists on lived experiences of deportability and immigration detention, particularly in relation to family ties. This is especially true for migrant men. Women remain prioritised by gender-information migration research as well as the non-migration literature on family and emotion. This is an important oversight given that the majority of immigration detainees, foreign national prisoners and undocumented migrants in the UK, are men.

Research with precarious migrants, particularly detainees and undocumented migrants, is extremely challenging. By working with a traditionally hard-to-reach group, the research builds on skills, trust and goodwill developed during the PI's doctoral research and her years spent working within policy and politics sectors. She has close links with a number of key NGOs and has confirmed support for this project from DM and experts working with them, including the private-sector manager running an Immigration Removal Centre in London. The research will combine documentary analysis with qualitative fieldwork in the form of semi-structured interviews, biographic narratives and multi-sited participant-observation. The primary subjects will DM and their family members, supplemented with interviews of relevant practitioners and analysis of policy documentation.

This project furthers knowledge production within multiple academic disciplines in addition to non-academic practitioners in law, politics, public policy, and the NGO and private sectors. It is pertinent to several ESRC strategic priorities, particularly those of social diversity and population dynamics, of a vibrant and fair society, and informing interventions. It will push the boundaries of knowledge in a number of critical areas, including: 1) men's negotiations of deportability, 2) the impact of immigration rules on family members who are not directly subject to migration control, 3) the use of gendered rhetoric in the management of migration and 4) the complex interplay of sex, gender and immigration status.

Planned Impact

Who will benefit:
Impact outside of academia is integral to this research, from ensuring its optimal design to delivering lasting outcomes. There are a wide range of potential beneficiaries. These include those the research focuses on - deportable men (DM) and their families - as well NGOs and advocates working with such men, judicial figures practicing in family and immigration law, and employees of the private companies running Immigration Removal Centres (IRC). Policy implications will be of interest to parliamentarians and public sector representatives, including at the Home Office, UK Border Agency (UKBA) and the Department for Education and Skills. Other potential beneficiaries include international organisations, such as the Council of Europe, International Organization for Migration and the UN High Commission for Refugees, teachers, the general public and media.

How they will benefit:
The project has three main areas of impact and participation:
1. Advisory Board: the close involvement of DM and experts working with them is key to ensuring the research is effective and ethical. An advisory board of such individuals will provide input at all stages of the project. Confirmed members include the private-sector manager running an IRC in London, the coordinators and directors of several key NGOs, and three migrant men, one of whom has spent many years in detention. I am also in dialogue with a UKBA representative about her joining the advisory board but she has not yet been able to confirm her participation. In addition to helping ensure that the research is conducted in a way that maximises impact potential, membership of the Advisory Board will offer practitioners the opportunity to forge links with the Academy, an opportunity furthered by participation at the final year symposium. Advisory Board membership will have particular benefit for certain individuals, including the three migrants, who will be supported to participate fully and engage theoretically with issues that they have first-hand experience of.

2. Dissemination of results: In order to ensure the long-term impact of the research, the PI will produce policy and good practice recommendations, practical advice and informed media messages. The dissemination routes will include:
i. NGOs: discussion of policy implications with advocacy organisations and best practice recommendations with key support NGOs. To include presenting at major NGO conferences.
ii. UKBA: several one-on-one and at least one group meetings will be held with strategic UKBA representatives. The PI will host a COMPAS Breakfast Briefing (held with policy-makers) in London and will work with the RA to participate in relevant policy consultations.
iii. Parliamentarians: communication with the All Party Parliamentary Groups on refugees and migration, and the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
iv. General public: the PI and RA will write short and accessible pieces for strategic digital resources, internet discussion groups and newsletters. The PI will also participate at the Bristol Festival of Ideas.
v. Media: the PI will write a piece for a non-academic journal such as the Economist and approach print and broadcast media to galvanise interest in running stories on family deportability. Bristol University's Press Office will facilitate further media contact.

3. Informing interventions: the long-term impact and outreach of the project will be assured using a practical engagement strategy focusing on encouraging better provision for detained fathers. Unlike in prisons, there are no schemes in IRCs to help detained men maintain relationships with their families. The PI will engage with prison and IRC welfare officers to facilitate lesson sharing on establishing support mechanisms, such as piloting family-friendly visitor sessions. The PI will also work with NGOs to recognise the importance of supporting ex-detainees reintegrate with their families, including through family mentoring.
 
Description The award enabled the PI and two (consecutive) Research Assistants to produce high quality data on a set of particularly politically important set of issues, working with especially hard-to-reach populations living at the social and legal margins. Focusing on mixed-immigration status couples, the timely research examined the controversial subject of family life in the context of immigration enforcement and a decade of policy shifts relating to migration, criminality, deportation, the family and interpretation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The project objectives have been met, including the central objective to produce knowledge in response to the two key research questions, and five additional empirical and policy-related research questions. This includes generating knowledge regarding the lived negotiation of shifting immigration legislation and policy, not only on the foreign nationals, but the whole family (including British citizens and EEA nationals), and exploring the impact of intersectional variables (particularly relating to gender, ethnicity and class) in these experiences and assessments.
In ensuring the objectives were met, researchers collected data across four primary areas:
- Families: qualitative research with nearly 30 mixed-immigration status families (consisting of foreign national men with precarious or unlawful immigration status, and their British or EEA-national partners and children). Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, biographic narratives and participant-observation work. Recognising the extreme political and legal vulnerability of these couples, relationships of trust were developed over time, which allowed the PI to follow participants over the course of the award, which enabled repeat interviews, invitations to observe legal hearings and read documents, and to engage in other forms of ongoing communication.
- Practitioners: interviews with 19 'meso-level' practitioners from legal, private, state and NGO sectors. This includes three (current or former) inspectors of the immigration, prisons and detention systems; a former senior manager within the immigration detention field; two marriage registrars, four immigration lawyers and nine NGO representatives (working in asylum, migration and immigration detention).
- Legal hearings: Detailed observation of over 30 immigration legal hearings (primarily at the First-tier Tribunal (Asylum and Immigration Chamber), but observations were made at all levels of the judicial system, up to the Supreme Court). Half the observations were of appeals of Deportation Orders. Other observed hearings included immigration bail hearings, appeals of asylum refusals and appeals of immigration decisions regarding human rights applications, spousal visas, visit visas, revocation of protection and curtailment of leave.
- Documentary analysis: Researchers charted media and political rhetoric relating to immigration enforcement, Foreign National Offenders and Article 8 rights, between 2010 and the EU Referendum in 2016, in order to chart changing political and media rhetoric around foreign national fathers and male partners, the family and 'genuine' relationships. Documents relating to interviewees' immigration cases (such as removal directions, monthly detention reports, bail summaries, bail decisions and appeal outcomes), were also examined for insight into the legal arguments and categories applied.
Key findings include: UK-based family ties can help meet precarious and unlawful migrants' emotional, financial, practical and legal support needs, they often also produce feelings of guilt, separation or trauma. The deprivations and instability of an irregular immigration status results in early and often extreme dependency on partners. Contrary to popular assumption, men with irregular immigration status often seek to avoid relationships or delay marriage and child-raising until their immigration applications are resolved. Sensitive to widespread suspicion over their motives, male interviewees reported trying to keep their private and immigration lives separate, even when it weakens their legal cases. In contrast, British interviewees were much more likely to pursue marriage in an attempt to resolve their partners' immigration status (albeit with limited success).
Foreign nationals with family ties in the UK spoke of these as an 'umbilical cord' tying them involuntarily to the UK, especially when these included children. In contrast, decision-makers routinely undervalue or mistrust as opportunistic the private and family lives of foreign men, particularly in immigration enforcement cases, and with gender, racial and class biases apparent. The research also found that many aspects of the immigration system (e.g. immigration detention, indefinite uncertainty and forced unemployment) hinder precarious and unlawful migrants from performing spousal/parental roles, and sometimes pit these roles in direct tension with adherence to the Immigration Rules (e.g. obligations to support one's family encouraging illegal working). These hurdles weaken people's family life grounds for remaining in the UK, thereby facilitating their expulsion and reinforce gendered and racialised stereotypes of failed foreign and ethnic minority fathers.
The research produced strong evidence that immigration insecurity and enforcement harm the whole family, including British and EEA citizens who are not themselves subject to immigration controls. The data shows that the immigration system stretches into the heart of family life, colouring relationship dynamics and gender roles. Aspects of the immigration system such as detention and forced unemployment are described as producing 'role reversal' between partners. Male interviewees feel emasculated by an inability to perform 'provider' and 'protector' roles and their partners are burdened with financial and emotional responsibilities.
The 'collateral damage' to citizens was often extremely high, with the research finding that the mental health, financial security, private life and social mobility of British/EEA citizens are damaged by their partners' immigration status insecurity. Children and those families already marginalised (e.g. by low income) are hit hardest. Immigration-based separation from parents causes children emotional, behavioural and educational harm and can diminish children's sense of Britishness. Citizens work had to work multiple jobs and long hours to compensate for their partners' forced unemployment, with the financial burden affecting conception and breastfeeding decisions (e.g. British women sacrificing maternity leave to return to work quickly). Moreover, immigration detention and expulsion may disrupt care arrangements, producing single-parent households and actually increasing welfare reliance. Such impact, coupled with the insecurity or exclusion of their partners/parents, and the advice frequently made by state representatives that they either relocate to countries of deportation or conduct their family life through telephone and Skype, undermined the citizens' sense of membership to the country. Some spoke of civic disenfranchisement and started mirroring precarious migrants (living with packed suitcases, fearing immigration officers, carrying identification, etc).
For more detail on these findings and others relating to accessing legal advice, the immigration detention of fathers and the little-known police/Home Office initiative Operation Nexus, as well as for associated policy recommendations on all these topics, please download the full policy briefings on project webpage: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/ethnicity/projects/deportability-and-the-family/
In addition to meeting knowledge production objectives, the project also met the objective of effectively communicating the results of the project within and beyond academia. Good relationships have been developed and maintained with key individuals and organisations, including politicians, civil society organisations, independent inspectors of the prison system and Home Office, private contractors, and individuals directly affected by the immigration system ('experts by experience'). The findings have been presented formally and informally throughout the life of the award, to audiences within academia and externally, including with NGOs, service providers, those working in policy and politics, and the general public. A 100-page accessible main report and three policy briefings have been published and widely disseminated: to the general public through social media campaigning and multiple blog posts, and to a targetted selection of 300 individuals in the NGO, legal, policy making, local council, parliamentary, Social Work, inspectorate and media fields. The PI is also ensuring the data is shared internationally. She has presented the findings to colleagues outside the UK, including in Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and the USA. The project has been quoted in related research being undertaken in other countries (e.g. in the Netherlands by Prof. Betty de Hart and Dr Saskia Bonjour, and in Norway by Dr Helga Eggebø).
Work to ensure that the long-term impact of the research objective is met will be ongoing. For example, in January 2018, after the completion of the project, the PI presented the project policy briefings to the Detention Monitoring Group (a group of NGOs working on immigration detention) and is in discussion with two other NGOs (Asylum Welcome in Oxford, and Bristol Refugee Rights) to present the findings to their clients and volunteers. The PI has also made new contacts with the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (and Dr Alpa Parmer of the University of Oxford) since the end of the project, in order to take forward impact work on Operation Nexus (this will include a non-academic briefing and seminar on the topic in 2018). The PI has also written several non-academic blog posts after the end of the project in order to disseminate the findings and publicise publication of the policy briefings and main report (including for politics.co.uk, Freemovement legal blog, and the Conversation).
Exploitation Route The findings of the project have been welcomed by a number of 'experts by experience' and NGOs working in the field (e.g. "it is such an important piece of research and will be massively helpful for us, thank you", director of a detention NGO, "extremely interesting and valuable", major national human rights organisation). It provides evidence for their ongoing communication with politicians and policy makers, including in relation to the impact of separation-through-detention on children, and of bias against the valuing of male migrants' family lives. There has been positive feedback from lawyers, social workers, the Children's Commissioner and opposition politicians (including offices for the leaders of both Labour and the Green Party), who can use the findings both for progressing the general immigration debate and interventions in specific cases. Suggesting there may be scope for influencing private/public working on immigration enforcement, one senior manager working in detention anonymously responded to the project outcomes saying, "the policy suggestions make real sense."
Sectors Government, Democracy and Justice,Other
URL https://www.bristol.ac.uk/ethnicity/projects/deportability-and-the-family/
 
Description The project was designed with impact beyond academia in mind from the outset. This included establishing an advisory board of practitioners and 'experts by experience' (including irregular migrants and ex-detainees) to feed into the initial design of the research questions and data collection. Members of the board and additional NGOs, lawyers, experts by experience, interviewees and employees within the immigration detention estate provided invaluable comments on drafts of the policy briefings and report. Two-way communication with a broad range of people and organisations outside of the Academy has been a feature of the project throughout the life of the award, and is continuing after its end in order to ensure long-term impact of the research findings in influencing policy, practice and debate. This has included ongoing dialogue with representatives of the public and policy sectors, third/voluntary sectors, religious groups and legal practitioners, including independent inspectors of the detention and immigration systems, a manager in the detention estate, and leading immigration barristers, in addition to people with first-hand experience of the immigration system. In 2017, the PI brought together these groups in a roundtable event co-hosted with Eiri Ohtani (coordinator of the Detention Forum). Entitled 'Reframing the Debate? Immigration Counter Conversations', the ambitious impact event brought together 40 campaigners, researchers, practitioners, lawyers, journalists, union representatives and 'experts by experience', to brainstorm new synergies and approaches required to respond to developments around immigration and xenophobia in contemporary Britain. Communicating the research - in an accessible format - to the wider public was a key objective of the project. To this end, the PI has employed social media, blog post writing and giving presentations, in order to reach new audiences, spread knowledge, challenge mainstream positions and encourage informed debate. This includes being invited to give public lectures in the UK and across Europe (e.g. Innsbruck University 2017, The Unicorn ecumenical group in Oxford 2018). She has been in discussion with journalists (radio, TV, online and print) over news stories relating to detention, deportation and immigration throughout the life of the award. This includes UK-based journalists working for the BBC, Panorama, Radio 4, the Economist, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, VICE and as independents, as well as journalists working overseas, including for RTTV (Russia) and Newstalk ZB (New Zealand). She has written 15 public-facing, accessible blog posts during the project, which for maximum reach, were published on a mix of academic (e.g. COMPAS, Border Criminologies) and legal, campaign, political and other online platforms (e.g. The Justice Gap, Detention Forum, Open Democracy, the Conversation, #Unlocked). These initiatives have resulted in individuals reporting new knowledge of immigration matters, change of attitude, desire to spread the information, informed media stories and led to requests for further collaboration or information. In order to communicate findings from the project to practitioners, policy-makers and the general public, the PI and research assistant co-produced a 100-page main report of the project (published March 2019) and three policy briefings (published Jan. 2018). The report gives an accessible overview of the research as a whole, with policy recommendations, and quotes and case-studies for illustration, as well as providing in-depth chapters on key areas arising from the data, such as issues relating to money and the right to work, and the impact of immigration status insecurity and enforcement on the citizens close to the foreign nationals targetted. It is due to be launched in spring 2019, with an event in London to include a presentation of the research by the PI, followed by an expert panel discussion with the PI, a 'deportable' interviewee, immigration lawyer and NGO representative. The report will be made accessible online and also sent to a targeted range of policy makers, parliamentarians, inspectors, civil society organisations, lawyers and so on. The launch will be accompanied by blog posts, including for politics.co.uk. The policy briefings were produced with Policy Bristol and identified policy-relevant findings and recommendations relating to the project overall ('Immigration Enforcement and Article 8 Rights: Mixed-immigration Status Families'), and two specific areas: Operation Nexus ('Deporting High Harm Foreign Criminals'), and immigration detention of fathers. Importantly, families involved in the research and others directly affected by the issues have reacted positively to the research findings, demonstrated by responses to the PI (e.g. "I really love it. You have humanised the whole thing Fantastic work Thank you" (ex-detainee)), and have shared information about project articles and policy briefings on social media, including Facebook and Twitter (e.g. "Fantastic article if you have not read it then do so now. Real insight into the Foreign Criminal rhetoric" (foreign national offender)). In collaboration with University of Bristol colleagues at Policy Bristol and the media team, the report and policy briefings were launched with considerable publicity within political, legal, NGO and public sectors, as well as reach amongst the general public through social media initiatives. Publicity for the briefings was bolstered by a simultaneously-launched 3-minute promotion video of the PI presenting findings from the detention of fathers briefing. The video is available on Twitter, Facebook and You Tube and in the first two months was viewed over 400 times on You Tube alone. The launch resulted in requests for blog posts for The Conversation (they have 93,300 Twitter followers) and the Freemovement legal blog. The Freemovement blog post was shared 124 times in the first two months, and will have been read by a much larger number of legal practitioners and others as the popular website has over 12,000 subscribers and 300,000 page views a month (some 12.2 million views in total). The project report will be launched in April 2018 with at least one accompanying blog post requested (for politics.co.uk, which has 37,400 followers on Twitter and over 150,000 visitors a month to its website). The briefings were disseminated electronically to over 300 tailored recipients in the NGO, legal, policy making, local council, parliamentary, Social Work, inspectorate and media fields. This includes 140 NGOs, 24 immigration lawyers, 40 Police and Crime Commissioners, and 100 MPs, Lords, prospective parliamentary candidates and Councillors (political recipients were identified as potentially interested through membership to a relevant Committee/group, having an Immigration Removal Centre in their constituency, lodging migration-related parliamentary questions, etc). Feedback from recipients included "your excellent policy paper and briefings" (leading NGO), "it is a very impressive piece of research" (expert by experience), "it is such an important piece of research and will be massively helpful for us, thank you" (leading NGO). The briefings have been presented to NGOs working on supporting migrants and immigration detainees, including through a presentation to the Detention Monitoring Group in January 2018. A number of key national and international organisations were represented at the meeting, including the Refugee Council, Detention Action, UNHCR and the Red Cross. Other NGOs, including Asylum Welcome and Bristol Refugee Rights have invited the PI to present the research and briefings to their volunteers, staff and clients. The PI has engaged with civil society and political/policy representatives throughout the life of the award. This includes voluntary for and being on the management committee of a number of local and national NGOs, including participating in the Detention Forum's annual social media 'tours' of immigration detention (a campaign that has successfully mainstreamed the topic of detention). Indicating the strength of good will sustained in this notoriously sensitive arena, during the project the PI was approached by three leading national NGOs to join their boards as a trustee and has received regular requests from them to write blog posts and participate in engagement activities (e.g. asked by Detention Forum to help run 'alternatives to detention' event in 2013, invited by a consortium of Bristol NGOs to deliver training on immigration detention in 2014, invited to present at the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group report launch 2017) and speaking events (e.g. invited by AIRE Centre to speak at their 2016 deportation workshop, and by Bristol Refugee Rights to give a keynote at their 2014 AGM). Leading detention and immigration NGOs have also referenced and disseminated the research (e.g. Detention Action have informed their members about the research through their online newsletter and Twitter account (10,900 followers)). Off the back of the research, Oxford charity Asylum Welcome invited the PI to chair a panel on immigration detention at their AGM in September 2018. The PI assembled a mixed group of participants for the panel, including a former detainee, an Asylum Welcome detention caseworker, volunteer visitor and outside expert working in the field. The participants gave short presentations on their experiences of immigration detention, before taking part in an open Q&A with audience members. The PI has communicated with policy makers through membership of NGO/Home Office meetings and regularly submits evidence to government consultations. Her submission to the parliamentary Detention Inquiry in 2015 was quoted in print in the Detention Inquiry report and verbally by Baroness Hamwee in the House of Lords during the Lords' debate of the 2016 Immigration Bill (the latter subsequently further publicised by NGOs including Detention Action and the Detention Forum). The Operation Nexus policy briefing directly resulted in new working relationship with the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. As a result, the PI and director have agreed to hold a briefing and seminar on the topic in 2019, in order to increase knowledge about the initiative amongst practitioners, policymakers and campaigners, generate the new cross-disciplinary collaborations required in the face of the scheme, and to encourage campaigning on the topic from large human rights organisations. The PI has invited (and as a result is developing a new working relationship with) Dr Alpa Parmer at the University of Oxford, to co-produce the deliverables, including co-writing a briefing on Operation Nexus.
First Year Of Impact 2014
Sector Government, Democracy and Justice,Other
Impact Types Societal,Policy & public services
 
Description Article quoted in House of Commons Library briefing paper
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Citation in other policy documents
URL https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9201/CBP-9201.pdf
 
Description Citation in the 2015 parliamentary Detention Inquiry report
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
Impact My written evidence to the Detention Inquiry team influenced the MPs involved in the inquiry, demonstrated by their inclusion of a substantial section of my submission in their final Detention Inquiry report (published 2015). The report itself was widely welcomed by the NGOs and activists in this policy area and appears to have directly influenced government policy, suggested by the recent decrease in the use of detention. My words were also subsequently quoted by Baroness Hamwee in the House of Lords, during the Lords' debate over the 2016 Immigration Bill.
URL https://detentioninquiry.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/immigration-detention-inquiry-report.pdf
 
Description Dissemination of project report to key politicians, policy-makers and national organisations
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health
 
Description Invited to meet with Anneliese Dodds MP, Chair of the Labour Party
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health
 
Description Joint application to the Independent Inspector for Borders and Immigration calling for urgent inspection
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health
Impact Fed into the ICIBI's plans for future inspections.
 
Description Quoted in the House of Lords
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Citation in other policy documents
Impact My submission to the parliamentary Detention Inquiry was quoted by Baroness Hamwee on 1st February in the House of Lords debate of the 2016 Immigration Bill. This was tweeted about by the Refugee Council and covered in a Detention Forum (NGO) blog post.
URL http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201516/ldhansrd/text/160201-0003.htm
 
Description Quoted in training material
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact My findings on the asylum system are used by third sector practitioners in the asylum field. This includes Clare Cochrane (Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law), in her training workshops on asylum seekers' memory and trauma.
 
Description Key member in a working group established for future research on children affected by parental deportation 
Organisation University of Liverpool
Department Liverpool Law School
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We first met as a group in 2021 in order to discuss common research interests and activities. We have had a series of regular meetings since then and have developed a project on children affected by parental deportation. We are in the process of applying for funding to conduct a 5 year project on this topic.
Collaborator Contribution Prof Stalford (Liverpool University) and I have led on writing up our plans for the research project and drafting funding applications. The two NGOs have been integral in the design of the project and (if we are funded) will be integral to the research itself.
Impact An application to University of Liverpool for pump priming funds for a pilot research project. An application to Nuffield Foundation for £730,000 to conduct a 5 year project investigating the legal, social and welfare impacts on children. This is an inherently multidisciplinary team, made up of myself (a social scientist), a law professor, a legal NGO and social workers.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Knowledge exchange at the University of Amsterdam 
Organisation University of Amsterdam
Department Department of Political Science
Country Netherlands 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The PI spent several months in 2017 as a visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam (March-Sept. 2017). She was formally invited and hosted by scholars in Political Science and the Amsterdam Research Centre on Gender and Sexuality (ARC-GS). The visit allowed the PI to develop professional relationships with Prof. Betty de Hart and Dr Saskia Bonjour, both experts in family migration and law. This included being invited by Prof Hart to present to the Centre for Migration Law at Radbound University, Nijmegen, an invitation that developed into a half-day workshop with two other external speakers. During the visit, the PI was invited to give a lunch time lecture about her ESRC project to PhD students and staff at Political Science and ARC-GS. She was invited to be discussant at a seminar on marriage migration in Australia at Leiden University, and to participate in the Final Advisory Board Meeting of the Migration Law as Family Matter project (held 18-19 May, at Vrije Universiteit). Whilst in the Netherlands, the PI also presented at two relevant conferences: one on mixed relationships organised by Prof Hart, and one on relationships and migration at the LOVA (the Dutch Association for Gender Studies and Feminist Anthropology) conference at the Vrijie Universiteit. The visit coincided with the analysis of project research material and drafting publications, so the timing was ideal. Indeed, one of the project's journal articles, 'My passport is my way out of here!' was written during the visit, for a special issue edited by Professor Hart and Dr Bonjour. The paper benefited from productive conversations had with these colleagues during the stay. Furthermore, the visit allowed the PI to develop new links with Amsterdam-based colleagues, including within Anthropology at the UvA (Dr Barak Kalir and Dr Ioana Vrabiescu, both working on deportation) and also at the Vrijie University (Dr Martijn Stronks, working on time, migration and law). As a result of these new networks, the PI has been invited to present at the Migration Law work-in-progress seminar at Vrije Universiteit in 2018, and to participate in the small UvA 'Ethics and Crisis' workshop organised by Dr Kalir and Dr Cabot in May 2018. She has also been invited to be a visiting scholar at Vrije Universiteit, which she will take up in 2019.
Collaborator Contribution The University of Amsterdam provided desk space, access to the library, computer and university card. They invited the PI to give a seminar about the project, which was well attended and provided helpful feedback. They also met with the PI in one-to-one meetings, feed into the writing of an article, invited her to participate in the university's academic life and helped facilitate new networks.
Impact Journal article written for special issue edited by Professor Hart and Dr Bonjour. Presentations given to the University of Amsterdam, University of Leiden, Radbound University (Nijmegen) and Vrije Universiteit. Invited to participate in family migration conferences/workshops at Leiden University, University of Amsterdam, and Vrije Universiteit. Invited to be a visiting scholar at Vrije Universiteit (which the PI will take up in 2019).
Start Year 2017
 
Description Knowledge exchange with SFI Copenhagen 
Organisation Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI)
Country Denmark 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Visit to SFI, with particular links to Anika Liversage, working on family migration and policy in the Danish context. The PI contributed to professional life at SFI, including feeding into research funding applications they were drawing up, meeting with several PhD students to discuss their research plans, and presenting at a lunchtime seminar. The latter provided valuable opportunity to present early project plans and obtain feedback from SFI colleagues that fed into the project design.
Collaborator Contribution SFI provided an office, computer, staff card and wonderfully tasty subsidised Danish food. This meant a really productive space in which to focus on developing the project for a month. They invited the PI to give a lunch time work in progress seminar, where they offered helpful feedback. The PI also met with a number of individuals on a one-on-one basis to discuss shared research interests.
Impact Presented the project at a work in progress seminar, which provided helpful ideas for the design of data collection. Developed links with colleagues looking at family migration in a Danish context.
Start Year 2014
 
Description London Migration Film Festival: workshop expert 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to take part in a roundtable discussion as part of the London Migration Film Festival
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description 'I'm a nothing man.' Negotiating fatherhood and masculinity as a precarious male migrant (Men and Migration in Contemporary Europe workshop, Gothenburg June 2016) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to present at this international workshop
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description 'The British Boy': Articulating belonging in the face of deportation (EASA, Milan, July 2016) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Paper presented as part of a double panel Political subjectivities in the face of displacement
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Blog post: "My passport is just my way out of here": The Brits affected by deportation 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Blog post hosted on legal platform used by professional immigration lawyers and judges.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.freemovement.org.uk/my-passport-is-just-my-way-out-of-here-the-brits-affected-by-deporta...
 
Description Blog post: 'Fall in love at your own peril': Forcing British citizens to leave the UK 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Blog post hosted by NGO working with couples affected by the research themes, including people interviewed as part of the project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL http://britcits.blogspot.com/
 
Description Blog post: Boundary Making and the Broad Ripples of Immigration Enforcement, COMPAS, University of Oxford 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Blog post for this well respected University of Oxford ESRC-funded centre on policy and migration. Their blog post is read across the world, by a wide range of policy makers, third sector workers and students and scholars. As an indication of the numbers, COMPAS has over 9,800 followers on Twitter.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2016/boundary-making-and-the-broad-ripples-of-immigration-enforcement/
 
Description Blog post: Forced worklessness and fatherhood 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Blog post
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2021/forced-worklessness-and-fatherhood/
 
Description Blog post: Parenting through 'modern technology': learning from the pandemic 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Blog post hosted by academic platform.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://migration.bristol.ac.uk/2021/06/03/parenting-through-modern-technology-learning-from-the-pan...
 
Description Blog post: The freedom to love: Mixed-immigration status couples and the immigration system 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Blog post hosted by PolicyBristol
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://policybristol.blogs.bris.ac.uk/2021/07/20/the-freedom-to-love-mixed-immigration-status-coupl...
 
Description COMPAS seminar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Invited to give a presentation as part of the Centre of Migration, Policy and Society's (Oxford University) Hilary Term seminar series. Open to the public, with a mixed audience of academics and others. Sparked good discussion that continued well after the end of the seminar itself.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description COMPAS, Oxford Seminar (work in progress) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Introduced my research at an early stage to discuss the design and execution of the project with researchers and practitioners at the Centre of Migration, Policy and Society at Oxford University. Engaged discussion led to increase in knowledge on both sides.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Co-convener for panel: Undisclosed research and the future of ethnographic practice (EASA Conference, Milan, 22 July 2016) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Co-convened the panel with others of the Anthropology of Confinement Network. Some presenters were selected to public their papers on an online anthropology forum.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Deporting Daddy: UK-based precarious male migrants and their citizen families (Migration and Families in Europe: National and Local Perspectives at a Time of Euroscepticism, Manchester University, February 7th-8th 2017) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Supporters
Results and Impact Invited to present at this conference attended by a mix of practitioners, including Home Office representatives, lawyers and the directors of major refugee charities
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Deporting Daddy: mixed immigration status families and immigration enforcement in the UK, Families and Migration Law Workshop, Radboud University, Nijmegen Netherlands 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Was invited to give a talk Radboud University. As a result of the interest in the event, the organisers extended it into a half-day Migration Law Workshop, with additional presentations from academics and NGO practitioners.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Detention, Deportation, and the Family 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Blog post
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://bordercriminologies.law.ox.ac.uk/detention-deportation-family/
 
Description Dissemination of project report to politicians and key immigration/children organisations 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Disseminated the project report and policy briefings with cover letter of findings and policy recommendations to a targetted list of cross-Party MPs and Lords working on children, equalities and immigration, including the Chairs of relevant APPGS and Joint Committees. Also to Chairs and Directors of key organisations working on children's rights, families and immigration, including the Children's Commissioner, Coram Children's Legal Centre and Office of the Children's Champion.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Final Advisory Board meeting of the Migration Law as Family Matter project, Vrijie Universiteit, Amsterdam 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to join the final advisory board meeting of this multistranded, long term project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description From British Playgrounds to Immigration Removal Centres 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Blog post
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/...
 
Description Gendering the Irregular 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Blog post
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://compasoxfordblog.co.uk/2015/06/gendering-the-irregular/
 
Description Guest post: new research shows the impact of deportation on mixed-immigration status families 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Blog post requested for this leading legal blog for immigration lawyers, as a result of the launching of the policy briefings. The blog post was shared 124 times in the first two months, and will have been read by a much larger number of legal practitioners and others. The popular Freemovement website has over 12,000 email subscribers and receives over 300,000 page views a month (some 12.2 million page views in total).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.freemovement.org.uk/guest-post-new-research-shows-the-impact-of-deportation-on-mixed-imm...
 
Description Impact event on migration debate (Co-hosted with Eiri Ohtani) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Eiri Ohtani (Consultant and coordinator of the Detention Forum) and I designed and ran an ambitious whole-day event in London. Entitled 'Reframing the Debate? Immigration Counter Conversations', the ambitious roundtable event brought together 40 lawyers, journalists, NGOs, campaigners, experts by experience (ex-detainees), researchers and Union representatives, to discuss new ways of framing the immigration debate and to explore opportunities for productive cross-sector collaboration in order to respond to developments around immigration and xenophobia in contemporary Britain. The event also provided an opportunity to launch the project's policy briefings, contributing to the widespread dissemination of the findings amongst practitioners.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Interview for documentary by Channel 4 Investigative Journalism Masters student 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Gave a visually-recorded interview to a Channel 4 Investigative Journalism Masters student for her documentary in the effects of deportation on British children. She plans to make it available widely on YouTube.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Interview for freelance TV producer working on immigration policies 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Interview given to Fiona Udahemuka, a freelance TV producer developing programmes about immigration and in particular the effect on the families who are left behind, especially the children.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Invisible fathers of immigration detention in the UK (Open Democracy blog post) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to contribute a blog post on gender and immigration detention, as part of a special online campaign around immigration detention, organised by the charity Detention Forum.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/melanie-griffiths/invisible-fathers-of-immigration-detention
 
Description Invited to jointly lead the Bristol Detention Campaign inaugural meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to jointly lead the inaugural meeting of a group of volunteers and activists that went on to establish the Bristol Detention Campaign, organised around campaigning for the end of immigration detention.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Joint application to the Independent Inspector for Borders and Immigration 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Worked with the NGO BID to write to the UK's Independent Inspector for Borders and Immigration arguing the case for his planning to conduct an urgent inspection of the Home Office's engagement with section 55 and the protection of children's rights.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Keynote Speech at Bristol Refugee Rights Human Rights Day event 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Was invited to give a key note speech at the NGO, Bristol Refugees Rights. To mark Human Rights Day, BRR held a large public event to raise awareness of immigration detention in the UK. I was asked to summarise the practice and issues relating to detention and then to answer questions from the floor. This was a largely uninformed but passionate audience, who learnt a lot from the event and became more engaged about the issues.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Lecture for The Unicorn Group (ecunemical organisation, Oxford) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to give talk to this ecumenical group, in the wake of Migration Watch UK recently presenting to them. I chose to present on a rather challenging topic in response (the 'foreign criminal'). Despite the extremely different perspective, I was able to persuade most of the audience to reconsider their understanding of migration, the immigration system and demonised categories such as foreign national offenders. Several audience members said during the Q&A or afterwards that I had really made them think and changed their viewpoint. One woman was even moved to tears!
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Love, Legality and Masculinity 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Blog post
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/...
 
Description Meeting on migration policy with Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact I was invited to participate in a small and select group of migration experts at the University of Bristol to meet with Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire to discuss migration policy. As a result of the meeting, I have maintained communication with Thangam Debbonaire MP (passing on migration literature suggestions as requested, sharing project report/policy briefings and receiving her public support on Twitter).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Negotiating belonging, masculinity, love and illegality: Processes of exclusion and claims for inclusion by UK-based precarious male migrants with citizen families (Revisiting borders and boundaries, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 3rd-4th November 2016) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to present at this international workshop and to contribute to a publication output
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Ongoing engagement with journalists working on immigration, detention and deportation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Throughout the project, journalists have approached from press, TV, radio and online fora with requests for more information about the immigration system, including detention and removal. This includes journalists from the New Humanist, BBC, Russia TV, and many independents.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015,2016,2017,2018
 
Description Operation Nexus briefing and seminar (Centre for Crime and Justice Studies) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Approached to co-produce a briefing on Operation Nexus, to be launched at a half-day seminar of policy makers and practitioners. Held June 2019.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/
 
Description Panellist on OAID workshop "Challenging border landscapes: the human realities for women and families" 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Expert panel discussion on deportation and impact on women and families, to mark International Women's Day. Organised by the NGO Oxford Against Immigration Detention. Other panellists included people with lived experience of the system (a woman whose husband was deported, and a mother whose son faces deportation), support workers, lawyers and academics.
Event well attended and attracted social media attention before and after (Facebook, Twitter). Recordings of the talks available online.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL http://www.oaid.org.uk/
 
Description Paper given at SOAS Migration and Diaspora seminar series 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Invited to give a seminar as part of SOAS, London's Migration and Diapora seminar series. In addition to speaking to established academics and building invaluable professional relationships with others working on related issues, I was able to inform a group of very engaged and interested Masters students, about an area of migration studies that they were largely previously unaware of. I also invited three of my London based participants to attend in order to have the opportunity to hear and influence research that they were part of. The discussion sparked by my presentation was extremely stimulating and a group of us (both interviewees and academics) continued it long after the seminar finished. In addition to providing an opportunity for meaningful accountability, and invaluable feedback and questions, the seminar led to plans with two separate academics for joint publications on areas of shared interest.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Paper given at The Problematisation of Family Migration workshop, University of Amsterdam 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Gave a paper at this highly stimulating workshop. The two day conference provided a wonderful opportunity to introduce my research to new audiences (from across the globe) and to gain invaluable feedback. My paper, "Migrant Men and Citizen Partners: Detention, Deportation and Mixed Citizenship Families in the UK" was subsequently invited to be part of a special journal edition of some of the workshop papers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Paper given at workshop: 'Transnational and Transborder Familial and Gender Relations: Comparing the Influence of Blurred and Brittle Borders' (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Gave a paper as part of participating in this highly engaging and intellectually stimulating workshop on family migration. Very useful discussion following the paper and my paper was later invited to be part of a special edition of journal articles on the topic.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description People like us just shouldn't fall in love: how British immigration rules are separating fathers from their families 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Blog post, requested by the Conversation in response to the launch of the project policy briefings. The Conversation has 93,300 Twitter followers. The blog post was read 5,783 times in the first fortnight.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://theconversation.com/people-like-us-just-shouldnt-fall-in-love-how-british-immigration-rules-...
 
Description Presentation at Time and Migration workshop, Stockholm 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited to give a paper at the small Time and Migration workshop that Rueben Andersson organised at Stockholm University in September 2014.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Presentation to Oxford University Unicorn ecumenical group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to present to this ecumenical group. Spoke about 'foreign criminals' and the asylum system.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Presented at Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group report launch (2017) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Asked to participate in the launch of the 'Don't Dump Me in a Foreign Land' report by the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, alongside Her Majesty's Independent Inspector of Prisons (detention lead). Gave a 5 minute presentation on my own research and how it connects with the report, before taking part in an hour-long panel Q&A with the audience. Disseminated project policy briefings and spoke to several members of the audience afterwards.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.gdwg.org.uk/perch/resources/dont-dump-me-in-a-foreign-land-1.pdf
 
Description Presented project findings to Detention Monitoring Group, London 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presented the project and resulting policy briefs to this group of NGOs working in the field of immigration detention. Concentrated on the 'Fathers in Detention' briefing, but also covered (and disseminated) the other two policy briefings. A number of key national and international organisations were represented at the meeting, including the Refugee Council, Detention Action, UNHCR and the Red Cross.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Press release around report launch 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Press release as part of the launch of the project report and associated event. Led to interest from local and national media outlets, including discussions with three leading national journalists about future collaborations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Project report 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Wrote, published and disseminated a 100-page main report of the project, including disseminating to policy makers, politicians, journalists, NGOs and project participants. The report gives an accessible overview of the research as a whole, with quotes and case-studies for illustration, as well as providing in-depth chapters on key areas arising from the data, such as issues relating to money and the right to work, and the impact of immigration status insecurity and enforcement on the citizens close to the foreign nationals targetted. Requests for more information and interviews includes a request for a blog post for politics.co.uk (37,400 followers on Twitter and over 150,000 visitors a month to its website).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.bristol.ac.uk/ethnicity/projects/deportability-and-the-family/
 
Description Public lecture: Here, man is nothing! Gender and asylum in the UK, Innsbruck University, Austria 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to give a public lecture on asylum and men and masculinity. Event was well publicised and well attended, including many non-academics from the NGO and local government sectors.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Published and disseminated 3 policy briefings 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Wrote, published and disseminated three project policy briefings (on Mixed Status Families and Article 8 Rights, Fathers in Detention, and Operation Nexus). The briefings were sent to a targetted selection of 140 NGOs and Social Workers, 24 immigration lawyers, 40 Police and Crime Commissioners, and 100 MPs, Lords, parliamentary candidates and Councillors. The political recipients were identified as potentially interested through membership to a relevant Committee/group, having an Immigration Removal Centre in their constituency, lodging migration-related parliamentary questions, etc. A 3-minute promotion video of the PI summarising one of the briefings was simultaneously launched on social media to increase reach. The briefings resulted in multiple requests for interview and blog posts, including for The Conversation (they have 93,300 Twitter followers) and the Freemovement legal blog. The Freemovement blog post was shared 124 times in the first two months, and will have been read by a much larger number of legal practitioners and others as the popular website has over 12,000 subscribers and 300,000 page views a month (some 12.2 million views in total). Feedback from recipients included "your excellent policy paper and briefings" (leading NGO), "it is a very impressive piece of research" (expert by experience), "it is such an important piece of research and will be massively helpful for us, thank you" (leading NGO).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.bristol.ac.uk/ethnicity/projects/deportability-and-the-family/
 
Description Report launch, Chaired by Baroness Shami Chakrabarti 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact 8 June 2021: project report launched at an online webinar. The panel was chaired by Baroness Chakrabarti CBE and included four speakers:
Myself, Dr Melanie Griffiths, Birmingham Fellow and author of new report 'Deportability and the Family: Mixed-immigration status families in the UK' (Birmingham University).
Sonali Naik QC, senior public law and immigration practitioner at Garden Court Chambers.
Rudy Schulkind, Research and Policy Coordinator at Bail for Immigration Detainees and author of their new research into the impact of deportation on children and families.
Ace Ruele, British actor and father-of-three fighting to remain in the UK.
This live event included presentations from each panellist followed by a roundtable Q&A session with questions from the audience. The recording was subsequently made available on YouTube.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://youtu.be/ODBxbfUUMx8
 
Description Short online video (Twitter, Facebook, Youtube) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact PolicyBristol (University of Bristol) recorded and published a 3 minute video of me summarising one of the project policy briefings (fathers in detention). It was launched at the same time as the policy briefings and helped spread the word. The YouTube version alone was viewed over 400 times.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://youtu.be/70Li2AZVN10
 
Description The Birmingham Brief: Insecure immigration status and UK families 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Published information about the project, report and its launch as part of a 'Birmingham Brief', which targets policy makers and politicians.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/2021/june/insecure-immigration-status-and...
 
Description The Home Office within the Home: Negotiations of immigration enforcement by mixed citizenship families in the UK (Regulating relationships workshop (Bristol, May 2016)) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presented at Regulating Relationships workshop
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description The changing politics of time in deportation regimes, Max-Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, and Humboldt-University Berlin 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited to present at a Migration and the Transformation of Public Law workshop, predominantly made up of academics and lawyers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description The course of true love never did run smooth 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Blog post
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://compasoxfordblog.co.uk/2014/08/the-course-of-true-love-never-did-run-smooth/