College Funded Research Projects

Socioeconomic Impact of Covid-19 on the Syrian Refugees in Scotland

Al-Maktoum College Funded Research in collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University

Start Date: 15 January 2021

End Date: 30 August 2021

Project Summary:

The UK government’s deadline for the resettlement of Syrian refugees was set for May 2020. However, the impact of Covid-19 control measures on the process of resettlement and its effects on the lives of Syrian refugees is currently unknown. The research project will therefore provide a unique perspective capturing Syrian refugees’ socio-economic and cultural precarity on their settlement journeys before, during and after the Covid-19 outbreak.

These findings will be communicated to a number of stakeholders, including the Scottish Government, NGOs and community groups working with refugees. By recording the diversity of rhythms in places and practices that often remain overlooked by stakeholders’ policy reports, this project will enable stakeholders to devise and implement policies that are attuned to the unique needs of the marginalised communities at the time of this crisis.

More specifically, this project we examine:

how the everyday life of Syrian refugees in Scotland is reconfigured after the COVID-19 outbreak, and, by doing so,
(b) investigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cultural, political and financial integration of Syrian refugees in Scotland.

By researching with members of Syrian refugee communities, the project will explore the coexistence of multiple, different, yet rhythmic worlds, which are being radically altered by the pandemic. To achieve this aim, the project will rely on a combination of qualitative methods, including timeline drawing, audio-narrated solicited diaries, and photovoice – as key elements in exploring the complexity of everyday life.

With the help of community organisations working with refugees in Scotland, researchers will identify 20 Syrian refugees in Scottish urban areas with high intensity of the Covid-19 outbreak. Their focus will be on what their lives were, what they are now, and how they may evolve in the new post-COVID context; this will provide a unique insight into how COVID-19 is impacting everyday realities of these marginalised individuals.

Research Team: