PLEASE NOTE: The application period for this award has closed.

The Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS), in collaboration with the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN) and the Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER) project, are pleased to announce an Annual Award to recognize the outstanding scholarship produced by students and early-career researchers within the academic field of refugee and forced migration studies with a lived experience of having been forcibly displaced.

This joint Award aims to ensure that refugee and forced migration research is shaped by a more inclusive and equitable collective engagement, and with the objective of amplifying and highlighting the voices of those who has lived an experience of forced displacement.

The finalists will be awarded a $500 prize for one winning research paper in each of the three categories:

  • Undergraduate students
  • Graduate and law students
  • Early-career researcher (defined as having completed their highest degree no more than six years before the competition deadline)

In addition, each of the winners will receive an award certificate signed by CARFMS, LERRN, and BHER recognizing their exceptional work and the opportunity to present their paper at a CARFMS conference or virtual event. Submissions may address any issue relevant to refugee and forced migration studies in Canada or elsewhere.

The deadline for the annual competition is April 30, 2023.

The papers will be evaluated through an anonymous review process. Please do not include any identifying information in the paper. Composition of the evaluation committee will be as follows: 2 members from CARFMS, 1 community research partner with lived experience of displacement (recommended by LERRN), 1 representative from LERRN, and 1 representative from BHER. In following years, the community research partner position will be filled (if so desired) by the previous emerging scholar winner.

Applicants may only enter one submission in either the CARFMS Lived Experiences of Displacement Essay Contest or the CARFMS Student Essay Contest.

For more information, please visit the CARFMS webpage for this announcement:

CARFMS Lived Experiences of Displacement Essay Award