The Refugees in Towns project (RIT) promotes understanding of the migrant/refugee experience by drawing on the knowledge and perspectives of refugees themselves as well as local hosts. The project was conceived and is led by Karen Jacobsen.
- For refugees, migrants, and hosts, RIT offers an opportunity to develop and promote authentic narratives through participatory, reflexive, and local research. They author a range of case studies and reports in collaboration with students to identify the factors that enable and obstruct integration, and the different ways in which migrants and hosts co-exist, adapt, and struggle with integration.
- For academics, RIT analyzes the global differences and similarities in the factors that enable or obstruct integration. Researchers further explore thematic areas of interest, for example the impact of COVID-19 or racism on integration.
- For policymakers and practitioners, RIT seeks to develop an understanding of potential solutions to the barriers refugees, migrants, and hosts face in integration through collaborative research and policy briefs informed by case studies.