
Welcome to our research
Research projects we’re working on at the moment cover the following themes:
- Social interaction and isolation among migrants and their local communities.
- Housing pathways for refugees.
- Initial assessment processes for ESOL [English for Speakers of Other Languages] learners.
- Skilled migrants rejoining their professions in the UK.
- Measuring integration in a local area.
- The planning and practice of hospitality among households hosting new arrivals.
You can find a taster of some of our recent research below.
What's the weather got to do with integration?
Our research includes two reports for Refugee Integration Yorkshire and Humber:
Living the weathers and other stories
Experiences of people who were forced to leave their homes and now live in Yorkshire and Humber: where they feel emotionally at ease and what makes them feel that way; what the weather has got to do with it all; and how the label ‘refugee’ shapes their daily life and future possibilities.
Find out more about living the weathers and other stories here
Sketches of hope, stairways, trees and more: building new lives in Yorkshire and Humber
Drawings and insights from research participants about the places where they now live.
Find out more about sketches of hope here

ESOL for refugees
Our research work includes:
ESOL for refugees: a toolkit for commissioners and practitioners
This is a toolkit offering useful guidance and highlighting current effective practice in ESOL [English for speakers of other languages] for refugees.
Written for funders, commissioners, providers and tutors, it’s illustrated by nearly 50 case studies from across England.

How can we do better at helping young refugees settle in and adapt to life in the UK?
To find out more about young refugees' perceptions and experiences, one of our researchers worked intensively with a small number of young people across Yorkshire and Humber. You can watch our researcher talking about the research on Vimeo.
Young people's digital stories
Part of this work included a group of young people producing digital stories, in which they tell us something they want to share in their own words, using their own images and technique: watch the young people's videos.
'Someone who smiles, that's all you need' - research report
Our research outlines priorities from the young refugees’ perspective and has great illustrations by one of the young people who participated in this project.
Download the research report and summary from the 'Someone who smiles' page.