Impact case study database

The research has led to improved safety for refugees, changed international practice in communicating about and with migrants, changed public perceptions to generate solidarity and mobilise compassion, and changed curatorial practices to improve representation of and engagement with excluded communities.

4.1. Impact on refugee safety through reliable news and information provisionResearch on Syrian refugees’ use of smartphones [O4] and on the BBC’s diasporas [O3], led to the European Commission funding www.InfoMigrants.net [C1a] run by a consortium of European international broadcasters (value: EUR15,000,000). The OU “Mapping Refugee Media Journeys” report “ provided the evidence base on which the decision to set up a new online information and news platform for migrants was made. InfoMigrants was launched in 2017 to serve the needs of migrants. […]. The main problem that OU research helped to resolve was that of how the EC and InfoMigrants consortium could best provide reliable, timely, accurate news and information that would contest smugglers narratives and that would protect vulnerable groups and prevent deaths and dangerous journeys to Europe” [C2a]. The OU undertook the research and development of InfoMigrants in its first three years (current reach 54.3 million unique users on Facebook alone in five languages) [C1b]. InfoMigrants reduced the dangerous dependency of migrants on misinformation and fake news by smugglers on social media. Our co-researcher in Ghana reported: “As a result of reading InfoMigrants, several interviewees told me they decided not to take the Libya route in their lives; that they will never try again” [C3]. The project has been welcomed by Pope Francis as an important initiative, and by German Chancellor Angela Merkel [C1c].

4.2. Impact on international practice in communicating with and about migrants The research inspired European media organisations to collaborate to improve the quality of their news for migrants. Director of Research at France Medias Monde stated “ OU research led to new ways of thinking and working, new tools for researching online and social media engagement” [C2a]. Editor of InfoMigrants, Deutsche Welle reported “ your research and insights have helped us become more refined, more tailored to our audience and more sensible to the vastly diverse migrants' background/migration stories” [C2c]. Head of Communications Sector at DG Home/Migration at the European Commission, stated our research “ helped to change how we think about anti-smuggling campaigns, ways of evaluating them and communicating with refugees more effectively […]. The research helped […] better understand the needs of the migrants and in so doing helped the EC policy-makers involved in their management of migration from 2016-20” [C2d]. The significance for international organisations of the Value Analysis Framework [O1, O4] underpinning all this research and impact is evidenced by the Head of Evidence (Arts) at the British Council who stated “ The Open University’s research using the Cultural Value Framework on a dozen or so case studies of our international programmes since 2014 has led to a rethinking of approaches to and practices of evaluation […]. It has helped us understand how the goals of funders, delivery teams and audiences/users differ but can be better aligned to achieve a greater level of all-round success of our programmes aimed at improving international understanding and intercultural dialogue” [C2e].

A collaboration between OU and UN Women in Jordan including focus group interviews with some 500 Syrian refugee women in Za’atari and Azraq camps has led to changes in policy and practice on digital access, use and inclusion for civic participation and community engagement before and after Covid 19. UN Women stated OU research “assisted UNW to meet the challenge of using digital technologies to empower women for work, education and training, community engagement, civic participation and tackling gender based violence […] and better understand how poverty, privacy and security concerns powerfully shape women’s uses of technology [...]. These changes in understanding and practice feed into revising and developing our evolving strategic goals and decision-making about how best to implement new technologies and how they can best be used to meet our overall aims” [C4]. 4.3. Changing public perceptions of migrants and migrationOU researchers Gillespie, Erel and Canning contributed knowledge, fact checking, ethical advice and feedback to the production team of Exodus: Our Journey to Europe [C5a] . Production company Keo Films drew on their research as they invited refugees to film their journeys on smartphones. In regular meetings with the production crew at the height of the ‘migration crisis’, Gillespie and Erel shed light on various issues, including the ethics of working with and representing refugees which helped them to avoid the pitfalls of portraying them simply as victims. As the testimony provided by Keo confirms, OU input ensured that the films offered unique and alternative insights into refugee journeys through mobilizing refugee creativity and self-representation. The BBC series changed audience perceptions: “The heroes of the documentary are Akkad and the other refugees […] their bravery has helped create the most powerful and moving account of the refugee crisis to date” [C5b]. The impact on the public has been profound, and many reviewers described the extent of their emotional engagement, calling the documentary “essential” (Prix Italia) [C5f]. 4,390,000 viewed it in the UK in 2016 [C5d] and scores of millions across the world [C5e]. It has won eight major awards including an Emmy and two BAFTAs [C5f]. 14,473 viewers visited the OU’s Open Learn educational resource [C6a], many leaving comments that the documentary generated a feeling of solidarity with refugees and prompted them into action to support refugees as a result, e.g.: “ Registered with a couple of charities to campaign and make small donations [...] including an on-line petition to […] help unaccompanied children” [C6b].

4.4. Making refugee voices heard, changing curatorial practicesThe OU’s contributions to the Who Are We? Tate Exchange programme [C7a] (2016-20) are based on the concept of ‘cultural citizenship’. The project attracted a high proportion of young, migrant, and black and ethnic minority audiences [C8] among 11,500 in-person and 117,000 online visitors [C7b]. The programme changed audience’s views of refugees. Visitor feedback to exhibition, workshops, and symposia showed how visitors learned more about the situation of refugees and migrants and felt more keenly that they were personally connected to the challenges of migration. “ That exhibition gave me so much stimulus, hints and ideas. So, then, I did something else after the exhibition […]. Having much more clues about what refugees are experiencing obviously pushed me to take the decision to volunteer, to be much more involved” reported one visitor [C7c]. Another: “definitely broadened my understanding and deepened my compassion for people displaced by war” [C7d]. Audiences spoke to researchers, artists, and others, who discussed and engaged in participatory activities, such as co-creating poetry with refugee poets who joined over Skype from refugee camps in France and Germany.

Who Are We? was one of the most successful of the various Tate Exchange programmes. Its success contributed to a change in culture and practice at Tate Exchange with an intention to continue the participatory programme. Our training of Tate staff in participatory methods changed curatorial practices, inspiring them to “ think about […] participatory research” with different audiences [C7e]. It resulted in the Tate Neighbours project, “ one of the central programmes by which Tate Exchange and Tate opened its doors to artistic and cultural expression from marginalised and diverse migrant audiences” [C7f]. As part of the OU’s contribution to Who Are We? a travelling exhibition and book were produced Communities of Solidarity: the Story of Pikpa refugee camp. 1,000 copies of the book were disseminated in UK, Greece and Norway generating donations of approximately EUR10,000 to support Pikpa and migrant solidarity [C9].

A digital map of refugees’ journeys discovered during the research [C10a] was the focus of a BBC Radio 4 online feature [C10b], and the first object acquired by the Royal Museums Greenwich as part of their permanent collection on ‘Europe’s migration crisis’. The Director of Acquisitions said the report “sensitized museum audiences and educators to the role of communications technologies and border regimes in refugee journeys in the contemporary world. In influencing the permanent collection of a national museum, the research will continue to reach museum publics for generations to come” [C11]. It was part of a Maritime Museum Facebook webinar discussion on Navigation, Twitter and You Tube [C10c].

The pandemic has created new problems and opportunities for migrants, as explored in the OU digital resource Covid Chronicles from the Margins [C12a] and associated digital exhibition Unlocked Archive [C12b]. The exhibition launch in December 2020 attracted 174 people from UK, USA, Greece, Netherlands and Ghana and engendered numerous positive comments confirming improved understanding of the issues, motivating some to donate to support refugees, particularly those living in dire circumstances on Lesvos in Greece [C12c]. The Covid Chronicles website tracks the unfolding of the impacts of the pandemic over time, particularly on inequalities and solidarities. A digital space for encounters, it hosts contributions from over 200 migrants. User analytics data [C12d] are impressive given the website’s short life (since April 2020). Its impact can be felt most acutely in the quality of the engagement it inspires in bringing together diverse groups of people, leading them to a better understanding and motivating them to participate, to represent themselves, and to contribute to policy debates [C12b]. Prominent asylum-seeker support group representatives commented: “ It is rare for refugees to find such a platform […]. It is a living archive of this extraordinary moment” and “It will last forever as piece of oral history that promoted the rights of asylum-seekers […] a very important project in enabling participation” [C13]. These digital resources bring together a global community of migrants, artists, academics and community organisations to debate matters of collective concern, represent their lives under the pandemic, enabling greater social solidarity with migrants and contributing to policy change.