Delivering a refugee-led research programme
Led by our team of trained peer-researchers, we learn from and share findings from refugee-led research.
Working together with Durham University
Making Stockton a Home is a collaborative research project between Refugee Futures and Durham University exploring how refugees dispersed to Stockton-on-Tees experience arrival, welcome, belonging, and long-term settlement.
Led by Dr Lauren Martin (Associate Professor in Political Geography) and five Stockton-based refugees, the research provides the first systematic, place-based evidence about the real factors shaping whether people build a life in Stockton—or leave after receiving status.
Stockton hosts the third-largest asylum-seeker population in the North East, yet little research has focused on how people settle in the Borough or how local conditions influence long-term decisions.
This study addresses that gap using a lived-experience-led methodology, producing insights directly relevant to Stockton Borough Council, organisations, community groups, funders, and policymakers.
You can read the research report here: ‘Making Stockton a Home: Refugee Experiences of Settling in Stockton-on-Tees’
Dance Workshop
In May 2024, we received funding from Durham University’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Award to build on the research findings from the ‘Making Stockton a Home’ project and embed evidence-based changes in Stockton’s refugee sector.
This included working with Stockton Borough Council and other key stakeholders to shape services locally, particularly Service Fairs which have become a key part of our Welcome Project.
The research also told us that people are looking for different types of spaces to explore challenging ideas and conversations. We therefore supported the creation of a weekly Dance Exchange for women to explore ideas of home and belonging, led by Jane Bizimana, an artist and researcher.