Focus area: Sanctuary

Our region has been forged by movement and migration, and has offered sanctuary for millennia. From the Dutch and Huguenot refugees of the 1600s to the Belgians in the First World War, the Kindertransport that disembarked at Harwich, the Kitchener Camps at Richborough, and the Empire Windrush docking at Tilbury, the Eastern Arc region has been the point of arrival and home for many migrants, displaced persons and others seeking sanctuary.

With the meeting of different cultures comes opportunity, but also challenge. Our history demonstrates both the prosperity that comes with migration, and the resistance and unrest that
can result. We seek to foster the former and help to address the latter.

Three of our four members are already Universities of Sanctuary, with Kent currently working to gain accreditation. Through this they work to make their institutions places of safety, solidarity and empowerment for people seeking sanctuary, providing specific support for those affected, funding sanctuary students and supporting the Researchers at Risk programme, as well as hosting a range of engagement and information events for staff, students and the community. Such
an approach aligns with the radical foundational principles of social justice that all four universities share.

Our focus on sanctuary will build on existing areas of research and activity taking place within our universities, such as the Sussex Centre for Migration Research, the Migration Research Network (UEA), the Human Rights Centre (HRC), the Centre for Migration Studies and the Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees (CTAR) (Essex).