Projects

The Leir Institute’s research is rooted in our mission: to help policymakers and practitioners develop more equitable and sustainable responses to migration and its root causes by employing a human security approach. True to this approach, our programs combine practice, education, and research that employs multi-disciplinary frames of analysis, drawing on principles of governance, human rights, gender, conflict resolution, livelihoods, nutrition and public health, and humanitarian assistance.  

Our current projects include: 

Digital Portfolios of the Poor (DPP) is a multi-year, multi-country project aimed at creating better digital financial products for the poor by understanding how emerging technologies are viewed, used, understood, and perceived in low-income settings, particularly among women. The project is a joint initiative with Decodis, a social research company founded and led by Leir Senior Fellow Dr. Daryl Collins. 

Disrupted Mobilities is a multimedia project inspired by the Leir-sponsored 2019 documentary, Waylaid in Tijuana, that explores the intersecting effects of blocked asylum, deportation, and restricted cross-border movement in communities along the US-Mexico border. 

Hopes, Fears, and Illusion (HFI) examines how U.S.-bound migrants assess risk and process information along their journeys to the U.S.-Mexico border. This program is led by Professor Katrina Burgess and Dr. Kimberly Howe.

The Journeys Project (JP) examines migrant stories to better understand the costs and strategies involved in their journeys as well as the economic approaches they use when putting down roots in new surroundings. 

The Leadership in Migration Initiative (LMI) its primary goal is to establish a comprehensive understanding of migration leadership through global best practices and real-world experiences, fostering constructive dialogues on effective leadership in this domain.

The Refugees in Towns project (RIT)  promotes understanding of the migrant/refugee integration experience by drawing on the knowledge and perspectives of refugees themselves as well as local hosts.  

Securitization without Security: How Migration is Reshaping the Global Order (SWS) brings together a multidisciplinary team of scholars from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and the School of Social & Political Sciences (SSPS) at the University of Glasgow. This four-year project investigates how Western migration securitization policies may be reshaping the global order at both state and non-state levels. The research is guided by a central question: To what extent, and in what ways, does the securitization of migration and displacement pose a threat to global peace and security?

Learn more about Leir’s past programs here.