Ongoing Research Projects

Solidarity, Sovereignty, and Sanctuary on the Seas: A Global History of Boat Refugees since the 1940s

This project, funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant (2022-2027, PI: Irial Glynn), looks at boat refugees, who generally escaped persecution or fled some kind of political or humanitarian crisis. They used boats as it was often the only way to access states that were otherwise closed off to them because of immigration restrictions. Funded by the European Research Council, the SOS project focuses on the experience of boat refugees and their reception across time and space since the 1940s. It also examines who hindered and who helped boat refugees on their journeys and why. Of particular interest is what happened at sea. The main sources that the project will rely upon will be interviews with boat refugees, non-state and state actors, oral history, state archives, NGO archival collections, legal cases and contemporary media coverage.

The project is led by Centre member, Dr Irial Glynn, and the research team includes Centre member, Dr Maria Cullen.

Full details about the project can be found at:

(opens in a new window)https://boatrefugeehistory.org/.