Dates of Conference:
6-7 November 2018
Call for Papers
Most former refugees to Aotearoa/New Zealand are resettled in cities. But how do specific urban areas influence refugee resettlement? What opportunities and challenges surround such aspects as housing, education, health and language provision? This two-day conference seeks to examine refugee resettlement in New Zealand by bringing together academics, policymakers, NGOs, practitioners, former refugees, and the general public.
We seek proposals for 30-minute papers that consider any aspect of refugee resettlement in urban New Zealand.
Please provide in a Word document, Times New Roman 12pt font, before the deadline of 1 August 2018:
- a title
- abstract of your paper (maximum 100 words)
- your name, affiliation and contact details
Please send proposals to Lea Doughty at gmevents@otago.ac.nz
Conference Programme
Our conference programme is available here (PDF 127KB).
Invited Speakers
Professor Max Abbott (Auckland University of Technology)
Max Abbott is the Director of the Centre for Migrant and Refugee Research at Auckland University of Technology. The Centre seeks to undertake and promote research that advances understanding of issues that can improve access to healthcare and promote good health among the migrant and refugee populations in New Zealand.
Zeina Al Naasan (University of Otago)
Zeina Al Naasan is a former refugee from Syria who is studying at the University of Otago's School of Dentistry to qualify in her profession as a periodontist. She volunteers with the Red Cross' Dunedin homework club and has a keen interest in supporting Syrian refugee students with their study.
Associate Professor Sara Kindon (Victoria University of Wellington)
Associate Professor Sara Kindon is a social geographer whose research includes work with refugee-background communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her current research includes discourse analysis of representations of refugee women and men in New Zealand health literature.
Dr Najibullah Lafraie (University of Otago)
Dr Lafraie is a research fellow with the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and an honorary member of the Department of Politics at the University of Otago. He came to New Zealand as a refugee from Afghanistan in 2000.
Associate Professor Jay Marlowe (University of Auckland)
Jay Marlowe is an associate professor in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work at the University of Auckland. His research interests relate to refugee settlement and how refugees can participate as peers in civil society. He is currently leading a Marsden funded project on how refugees use social media to practise transnational family and friendship and has recently published a book with Routledge entitled: Belonging and Transnational Refugee Settlement: Unsettling the Everyday and the Extraordinary.
Govinda Regmi (Red Cross)
Govinda Regmi is a cultural advisor and resettlement case worker with the New Zealand Red Cross. A former refugee from Bhutan, Govinda and his family arrived in Nelson in 2010, after 18 years living in a tent in a refugee camp in Nepal.