Violence, Harm, Recovery and Integration: Supporting Refugee Survivors of Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Countries of Refuge (Video Available)

Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Public Lecture: Professor Jenny Phillimore

Forced displacement has reached an all-time high with over 100 million people displaced as of the end of 2022. UN agencies and International NGOs have highlighted extraordinary levels of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) experienced by refugees during recent conflicts, throughout refugees’ flight, in temporary camps, and in immigration detention centres. Refugees may also experience intimate partner violence throughout their journey and upon resettlement. Little is known about how SGBV interacts with other types of violence specifically experienced by refugees, and how this affects refugees’ integration into countries of refuge. In this lecture Professor Phillimore presents findings from a multi-country study focusing on refugee survivors of SGBV now living in Australia, the UK, Sweden and Turkey. She outines the actions refugees take to overcome adversity, the ways in which adaptation to a new life is affected by SGBV, and how services and communities in countries of refuge can best provide support for both recovery and successful integration.

Presenter: Jenny Phillimore is Professor of Migration and Superdiversity at the University of Birmingham. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She was Founding Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) and is the project lead of the SEREDA projects which look at forced migrants’ experiences of sexual and gender based violence. Prof Phillimore is a Social Policy Analyst who has spent the last 25 years researching refugee integration largely from the perspectives of refugees. She has advised multiple Governments on refugee integration and is a co-author of the UK’s Indicators of Integration (2019) and a Commissioner on the Independent Commission on the Integration of Refugees. Jenny advocates for the use of evidence to develop gender and trauma-sensitive policy which can meet the needs of forced migrants and challenge hostile approaches to forced migration. Jenny currently holds a Leverhulme Major Fellowship.

Master of Ceremonies: Professor Jane Gunn, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne

Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Program: The Program enables overseas scholars of international distinction to make an extended visit to the University Of Melbourne and contribute to the university’s academic, intellectual, and Cultural life. The fellowships are awarded annually and generously supported by The Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund. Nossal Institute for Global Health are proud to host Professor Jenny Phillimore as part of this program.