This is the power of the ‘small boats’ story. Why are the government and press so obsessed with an estimated 1% of immigration arrivals to the UK? Because they can be used to justify a racist fear-mongering narrative against all migrants. (At least, all non-white migrants)

This is disastrous, socially, economically. Think of the impact on business transactions, education (particularly women’s online studies), remittances… (The Taliban has shut off fibre optic cables www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...)

Good, nuanced analysis of the student mental health crisis at universities and the obligations & limitations of universities in responding to it: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Important news for anyone interested in the politicisation of immigration, and the intersection between war, migration and domestic politics. This involves a reckless endangerment of Afghan lives, a secret resettlement scheme and a super-injunction (only just lifted). www.ft.com/content/f6b4...

Visa policies harm science. In this panel as in many panels at #IMISCOE2025 and other conferences, there is an empty chair, because a scholar was not authorised to travel. We all loose as colleagues are blocked from sharing their knowledge.

New from OPUS! We’re proud to publish Refugees in a World Without Aid, edited by @oeppen.bsky.social, Ali Ali, @mikecollyer.bsky.social, Priya Deshingkar, Anne-Meike Fechter and Tahir Zaman.

📖🚨New #OpenAccess book from the #displacementeconomies team! 🚨📖https://openpress.sussex.ac.uk/refugeesinaworldwithoutaid/ The book demonstrates the need for a ‘more than economic’ approach to refugee and displacement economies. Including chapters on the DRC, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Myanmar and Pakistan.

#refugeeweek is over for this year, but I just realised I forgot to share our @scmrjems.bsky.social blog about the #oursuperpower theme: blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sussex-centr... Here it is!

Really important 🧵. It seems like the people behind this graph (which I’ve seen shared widely on social media) need to (re)take Demography 101. @amrcampop.bsky.social perhaps an interesting example for your students to analyse!

My @scmrjems.bsky.social co-director Tahir Zaman and I will be talking about our #displacementeconomies work here, as part of an event with Sussex colleagues from across social and health sciences. 18th June. Open to all, but please register here: www.sussex.ac.uk/research/abo...

If you care about the rights of people with disabilities in the UK, please consider signing this about the #PIP reform proposals: www.change.org/p/stop-the-n...

📢 Fully funded PhD opportunity at the University of Glasgow! Interested in the following questions? ❓How do national identities shape attitudes toward migration? 🌍 How does this relationship change over time and across countries? Apply before 21 April. Details here: tinyurl.com/3cxay963

Lectureship in Migration and Development available at Oxford. Apply by 22 Abril. Details: www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/vacancy/depa...

1/2 To “remove improper ideology”. Does anyone still baulk at naming this fascism? This is why it’s so important to resist History Reclaimed’s propaganda in The Telegraph, Mail, GB TV etc here too. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

As an unpaid carer (aka someone who loves someone else, who happens to have a disability) I’m subsidising the public purse by 💰 (alongside working full-time and paying taxes, btw). The meanness of the proposed reforms to #PIP and UCHealth, make me both furious and exhausted.

If you’re wondering why people are so upset about the proposed reforms to PIP, this excellent 🧵explains much of it.

It's completely disingenuous to bring PIP up in apposition to employment statistics. PIP is not a means-tested or employment-related benefit. It's not enough to live on. Nobody is claiming PIP instead of working. They might be enabled to work part time on PIP though!

Proud of my Sussex Global Studies colleagues for developing this exciting new degree. Know someone who wants to learn more about climate justice? Send them Sussex’s way! www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Great 2.5 year post-doc opportunity at the University of Brighton, on a project co-led by my @scmrjems.bsky.social colleague Prof. Linda Morrice, called "The role of digital technology in social networks and wellbeing of unaccompanied young refugees" jobs.brighton.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

🚨 Fully funded PhDs at the University of Glasgow! 🚨 We are offering 5 PhD studentships, incl. 3 for low/middle-income country applicants @uofgsps.bsky.social. 📍 Apply by 31 March 2025 👉 shorturl.at/tutIq 🔎 Anyone interested in a migration/refugee politics or MENA-related project, get in touch!

Thanks to everyone who came to this - we really appreciate your input and thought-provoking questions.

Come join us this Friday to discuss the concept displacement, hosted by @scmrjems.bsky.social. In person at Sussex and online - sign up at tinyurl.com/jemsforums.

Same story repeated over and over in British history... 'practice' on the insurgents, the colonised, the migrants; roll out to the police, the DWP, and other domestic institutions.

Meet Walid Arriving in Lebanon from Syria in 2013, he missed a year of school, but secured a scholarship in Canada through Mosaik’s programmes We’re raising £20k to reach more people like Walid. ALL DONATIONS ARE MATCHED 10 Dec buff.ly/4eM3gbG ⏳ One gift, double impact ✌️ youtu.be/det-aAnTtUY

Gradually 'migrating' fully to BlueSky (I used SkyBridge Follower) to find people I followed on twitter/X on here - it seemed reasonably straightforward (recommended!). Happy to find some of my #Afghanistan twitter people on here too!

Trying out this 'starter pack' idea :) This is extremely incomplete, but feel free to send me suggestions for others to add! go.bsky.app/8tGNGbx

I've suddenly gained new followers (thanks I think to @fitzgeralducsd.bsky.social's scholars of migration and refugee history starter pack!) I should introduce myself with more than just a post about my dog... I'm Dr Ceri Oeppen, Reader in Migration Geography at @sussexfss.bsky.social

I’m sure most of my posts on here will be work-related. But I’ll start with something cute…! Here’s Oko, my new puppy, in the very-not-blue-sky Sussex rain!