The Graduate Institute’s Programme for the Study of Global Migration is pleased to welcome Jean-François Durieux as Research Associate who will be carrying out work as part of a new and ground breaking initiative, the Humanitarian Innovation Project based at the Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre.

The Humanitarian Innovation Project explores the emerging and under-researched way in which innovation can be harnessed to transform humanitarian assistance. It aims to creatively identify how innovation, technology and the private sector can enhance refugee’s entitlements and opportunities within both emergency settings and protracted refugee situations.

As a contribution to these broad objectives, Jean-François Durieux, while at the Programme for the Study of Global Migration, will focus on refugee protection as a concrete set of activities, carried out by the staff of international organisations working in the field, i.e. in direct contact with refugee populations. From this bottom-up perspective, the project aims to develop a novel theoretical framework for the analysis of protection activities, and to apply such a framework to the widest possible range of field interventions with a view to highlighting and promoting: (i) the innovative use of technology, in particular information and communication technology, in the delivery of protection; and (ii) creative ways of delivering protection in a non-intrusive and enabling, rather than controlling, mode.       

Jean-François Durieux completed a 30-year long career with United Nations High Commission for Refugees, his last assignment being that of Director in the Division of Programme Support and Management. He served in Sudan; Djibouti; Canada; Mexico/Cuba/Belize; Tanzania; and Myanmar. He also occupied senior positions at the UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, where he contributed to a range of the organisation’s accomplishments.

The Programme for the Study of Global Migration (PSGM) offers a unique interface between academia and the international community. The PSGM conducts advanced research as well as provides policy-relevant expertise and training on the multifaceted causes and consequences of global migration.