Migration and Mobilities Research Network (MMRN) Annual Conference 2026: Migration, Mobilities, and the Politics of Hostility and Hospitality

The Migration and Mobilities Research Network (MMRN) invites you to its 2026 Annual Conference, taking place at Edinburgh Napier University's Sighthill Campus on 23 June 2026.

Programme: https://www.migrationmobilities.com

The final event programme is subject to changes due to last-minute changes in presenters' availability which are beyond our control.

This year's conference explores the entangled politics of hostility and hospitality as they mediate contemporary experiences of migration and mobility. Taking Derrida's concept of hostipitality as a starting point, we ask: under what conditions are people welcomed, refused, contained, and moved? And what alternative modes of solidarity, care, and reciprocity emerge in the cracks of bordered regimes?

The conference brings together researchers, practitioners, activists, and people with lived experience of migration from across disciplines and geographies. It features six thematic panels, a keynote address by Professor Nergis Canefe (York University, Canada) on Manufacturing Statelessness in the Middle East, and a screening of The Textile Generation - a documentary uncovering the hidden history of Syrian textile traders in Manchester.

Panel themes include hostile environments and state policy, conditional hospitality in theory and practice, displacement and urban belonging, voice and representation in migration research, and the politics of bordering and labelling.

The conference is free to attend. Tea and coffee will be provided, and we hope to conclude the day with a networking reception to encourage networking and conversation.