The symposium will bring together around 30 ECRs from the UK and Germany from across the humanities and social sciences to discuss key questions around the theme of ‘What is a good city?’. Participants can apply for seed funding to pursue collaboration following the symposium.

Ashwiny’s project looks at the role of the city both as a sanctuary for refugee children and as a place where they are resettled and negotiate life as part of a community. The city as a vector of transnationalism and a space where cultures and nations meet is also a crucial part of her work, as she examines how cities and local councils take on the role of ‘home away from home’ for displaced children and the issues this raises.

She also examines how the city prepares for the arrival of refugees, how it looks at the future of refugee children and, specifically, how cities have reshaped themselves in the aftermath of the arrival of Afghan, Syrian and Ukrainian children, as cities change with new inhabitants.

Through her work, Ashwiny hopes to further help local cities in actively considering the particular needs of refugee children, mentally and physically, to ensure that cities become 'good' cities in a range of ways.

The symposium will take place in London on 11-14 May.

Ashwiny is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at ODID.

Find out more about the symposium.