Refugees, Asylum and Inclusion Symposium

The Refugees, Asylum and Inclusion Symposium is a satellite event of the highlight successful Migration, Refugees and Statelessness Interdisciplinary Conference run in November 2025. Convened by Professor Karen Block and Dr Meg Lee, the event will feature presentations by four University of Melbourne early-career researchers from a diverse range of disciplines.

The first group of papers focus on refugees, inclusion and place in Australia and the critical role of housing and employment. The second group of papers are international in outlook, one examining the experiences of a Chinese-Mexican community in San Antonio and the other examining the role of third-states in externalised asylum governance.

The symposium will end with reflections from Professor Eva Alisic, an ARC Future Fellow from Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, and Dr Ash Alam, a Senior Lecturer in Social Planning from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.

Visit the Melbourne Social Equity Institute website to view the speakers' abstracts and biographies

Speakers:

Sheenagh McShane,  ‘I Wish I Had a House Like This’ Reimaging Home: Refugee Experiences of Housing, Resettlement and Wellbeing in Australia – A Photovoice Study

Eun Su Lee,  Advancing Inclusive Recruitment of Refugees: A Practice-Based Analysis of Employer Responses to Proximal and Distal Barriers

Shouyue Zhang, La China: An Ephemeral Chinese–Mexican Community in San Antonio and One Family’s Extraordinary Journey across Asia, Mexico and the United States

Jemima McKenna, Domination and Asymmetric Choice Freedom: The Role of Third-States In Externalised Asylum Governance