Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: Narrating Stories of Child Evacuees and Refugees, Rethinking Reception Policies and Practices

This two-day conference explores past and present experiences of child evacuees around the world. Moving beyond temporal and geographical boundaries, the conference aims to identify similarities and parallels among the evacuation schemes, in order to develop a common strategy towards current migratory flows.

The rational for this conference lies in the awareness that evacuation schemes for children have always happened all over the world. While these initiatives have to be investigated against their specific socio-cultural and political contexts, it is nonetheless possible to identify several similarities and common patterns, which can constitute a starting point for a fruitful collaboration between researchers working in different countries. While it is essential to examine these operations through different paradigms, it is equally important to adopt a comparative and wider framework. For this reason, one of the aims of this conference is to establish a research network, bringing together researchers and practitioners with an interest in the migration of children and young people, which is a recent and specific area of concern. The collaboration between academia and industry will be an essential point for both the conference and the research hub. Academic research will be potentially reflected in more informed reception policies and practices, thus allowing us to provide better assistance to children on the move, effectively acknowledging and supporting their needs.

This conference is open to all, especially researchers, PhD students and practitioners interested in the experiences of children on the move. We intend to pursue publication of the proceedings in a special journal issue or edited collection.

Programme