EVENT POSTPONED This event did not take place due to technical issue and will be rescheduled in the future.    

Six years after the beginning of Europe’s so called ‘refugee’ or ‘migration’ crisis, we ask what has happened since and (how) has Europe changed? This event will explore Europe’s ‘refugee’ or ‘migration’ crisis, asking whether Europe has changed since, and what happened to the people who arrived and the policies that governed their arrival.

Meet our speakers and chair

Heaven Crawley (@heavencrawley) is Professor of International Migration at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations and at Coventry University. She is also the Director of the UKRI GCRF South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub (MIDEQ).

Sarah Mardini (@SarahMardini4) is a Syrian refugee, competitive swimmer and activist. Her journey to Europe made international news in 2015 when she and her sister saved 18 people by dragging their drowning boat to safety. After being granted asylum in Berlin, Sarah returned to Greece a year later to volunteer as a search and rescue swimmer and Arabic translator. In August 2018, Sarah was suddenly arrested by Greek authorities when flying back to Berlin from Lesbos. She spent 3 and a half months in jail for charges of human smuggling, being part of a criminal organisation, espionage and money laundering, before being released on bail in December 2018. Sarah’s arrest and incarceration has been heavily criticised by Human Rights organisations and the press.

Lucy Mayblin (@LucyMayblin) is a political sociologist whose research focuses on asylum, human rights, policy-making, and the legacies of colonialism. She was recently awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize for her research achievements in the area of asylum and migration. Lucy is the author of Asylum After Empire (2017), Impoverishment and Asylum (2019) and Migration Studies and Colonialism (2021). 

Catherine Woollard is Director of the European Council of Refugees and Exiles.

Manmit Bhambra (@BhambraManmit) is a Research Officer in the Religion and Global Society Research Unit at LSE, and Research Director for Migration at the 89 Initiative, Belgium. She is also based in the European Institute where she is a Research Fellow for the 'Generation Brexit' project and a Guest Teacher in Identity Politics.

More about this event

The European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector.

The 89 Initiative (@89initiative) is a European think-do tank. Through cutting-edge research, the Initiative seeks to help solve Europe’s biggest generational challenges and nudge policy-makers and society forward.

This event is part of the LSE European Institute Series: 'Beyond Eurocentrism’. This event series aims to explore how the shape and shaping of Europe – its political-economy, its political policy making, or its political culture – needs to be rethought in a time of the exhaustion of Eurocentrism.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEEurocentrism