Research and Teaching

University of Liverpool academic colleagues from several different Faculties, including Law, Political Science, Psychology, Architecture and Sociology, have conducted sector leading research on themes of forced migration and displacement, and teach on a variety of themes which intersect with issues around displacement and migration.

There are several large, funded research projects within the University, embedded within its praxis that focus on questions of asylum and sanctuary seeking, as well as children's right, border violence and border crossing, and historical and modern-day slavery. 

The ongoing nature of these projects, combined with the passion of the researchers involved, ensures that the knowledge and lived experiences of both scholars and contributors remain central to the University's long-term approach to knowledge production — as well as to its efforts to foster a more welcoming and inclusive environment.

We have a strong inter-disciplinary research profile, including academics from Law, Politics, Geography and Languages, to name just a few, who work on questions of asylum and displacement, collaborating with people who have experienced displacement themselves. This then translates into policy and teaching at the University, including an asylum support strand at the University Law Clinic, a broad range of modules across the University focusing on questions of sanctuary, the development of the Humanitarian Scholarship and the student led STAR and Amnesty societies. 

Sanctuary seeking is an ever changing experience; as an institution we are constantly learning, filling in gaps in our understanding and enhancing our knowledge. The innovative research work of academic colleagues, and our focus on research led teaching is a vital part of this, enabling a diverse student base to more deeply understand the lived experience of sanctuary seeking students, while also supporting sanctuary seeking students to feel understood as a part of the University of Liverpool community. 

Our research on the policy and lived experience of migration is both local and international. Within our Department of Politics and Management School we have leading experts on human trafficking, unfree labour and modern slavery within supply chains. Alongside our long-standing partner, the University of Georgia, we have delivered the African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery, a five-year programme funded by the US State Department. Our staff also direct the research work of the Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre, led by Oxford University.

Through our work with other institutions that have established support programmes with the University of Sanctuary, we have benefited from the opportunity to learn, develop our practice and policies via formal guidance, individual experience and shared best practice. These learning experiences have supported the Sanctuary team at the University of Liverpool as we navigated challenging journeys where we have had to self-learn quickly and efficiently, trouble shoot and address issues when liaising with the Home Office. This level of self-development, supported by the University of Sanctuary and the work of our academic colleagues, has been a key learning experience for our team and we now feel we are well placed to provide the support our sanctuary scholars need. 

From experience, we have found that there has been a lack of information to appropriately address the issues and concerns that our sanctuary scholars present with, particularly regarding UK immigration law. We have also found complying with Government legislation a constant challenge, with changes in policy, law and guidance regularly impacting on our practice. We have adopted a flexible approach, learning from experience and overcoming setbacks, while supported by the Sanctuary network and utilising experts within the University, such as academics from within our Law School.