Sanctuaries and solidarities– the IRiS International Conference 2026

Katarzyna Byłów reflects on migration, displacement, diversity, and belonging at the IRIS International Conference 2026.

In September, the academic conference season is still in full swing. Presenting at a conference, though sometimes lined with stage-fright, provides a wonderful opportunity to test the arguments we are making and see if we can communicate our findings in a way that resonates with our intended audiences. Speaking to people in front of us, an embodied, relational practice, is an indispensable part of the research process.

Big international conferences, like the biennal conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists, hosted with great success by our own university in Poznań in July this year, tend to provide a great deal of inspiration and excitement. But smaller, topical conferences offer more space for reflection, scientific brainstorming and less hurried, more in-depth conversations with colleagues, who might come from as diverse backgrounds as social anthropology, sociology, human geography, criminology, philosophical theology, and international, human rights and migration law. That was indeed the case at the IRiS International Conference, held between September 7-9, 2026 at the University of Birmingham.

Organized around the theme of UNSETTLING COMMUNITIES: diversity, mobility and displacement in an age of growing authoritarianism, the conference explored core research concerns around diversity, belonging, mobility and displacement, understood as historically grounded, politically contested and unevenly lived. During plenaries, semi-plenaries, roundtables, panels and workshops, we discussed the intersecting geopolitical, economic, environmental and ideological crises that are now shaping diversity, mobility and displacement. We talked about intensifying border violence, the introduction of increasingly selective mobility regimes and the erosion of international protection frameworks. Scholars presented their research on new alliances across difference forged by political and activist communities, mobilising in radical new ways to re-imagine collective power and belonging.

I had the pleasure to present our findings on educational innovation (Migrancy at school in times of ‘crisis’ ) at the panel discussion Un/welcome: The structural and discursive positioning of migrants by host communities, chaired by Dr Rachel Ayrton from the University of Birmingham. The follow-up discussion, which brought together all four presentations, focused on categorizations of others as ‘neighbours’ (or not) and on the impact of public discourse and stereotyping on administrative initiatives and educational innovation.

Right after the panel discussion, we took part in the moving semi-plenary on the ways and impact of specific kinds of storytelling related to migration in the media and public courts. The discussion, centred around policy, advocacy and storytelling, was chaired by Professor Daniel McNeil (University of Birmingham), with contributions from Zoe Bantleman (barrister and legal director, University of Oxford), Daniel Trilling (journalist and writer), Danai Papachristopoulou (Refugee and Migrant Centre) and Dr Mihnea Cuibus (Migration Observatory, University of Oxford).

Among many other inspiring conversations, one that made an especially strong impression on me was the plenary session held on the second day of the conference, titled Sanctuary and the end of asylum. It was chaired by Professor Jenny Phillimore (University of Birmingham), with contributions and a discussion with Professor Jonathan Darling (Durham University), Dr Amani Hassani (Brunel, University of London) and Professor Rachel Humphris (Queen Mary, University of London). The speakers painted a gloomy picture of increasingly multiplied borders and ubiquitous bordering practices in everyday life contexts. Noting the implicit bias in social welfare systems, they also highlighted the multiple and diverse forms of resistance based on the evolving concepts and practices of sanctuary, non-cooperation and solidarity. As scholars, we were asked to reflect on bordering practices at the institutions with which we are personally involved, and the need for universities of sanctuary.

Birmingham was indeed a perfect location for our discussions. The birthplace of the Black Sabath band and a city with 100 miles of navigable canals, it has also been officially recognized as a City of Sanctuary and is home to the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity. Birmingham hosts a very diverse population and has a long-standing tradition of community dialogue. The picture that illustrates this post was taken in one of the main squares, right in front of the impressive City Library. The sculpture by Gillian Wearing is titled A Real Birmingham Family (2014) and depicts the Jones family – two sisters, Roma and Emma, and their children Kyan and Shaye. It conveys the idea that “what constitutes a family should not be fixed” (Gillian Wearing) and was curated by a panel of local community, cultural and religious figures.