IDRP

INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT RESEARCH PROGRAMME

The Internal Displacement Research Programme (IDRP) is hosted at the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI), School of Advanced Study, University of London.

The IDRP is a specialised programme that promotes research on internal displacement, including but not limited to policy-relevant research. The IDRP, as an independent research programme, has the following objectives:

 

  • Raise the profile of research on internal displacement in academic and practitioner circles
  • Support, disseminate and share current and ongoing work by researchers in this field
  • Connect research in this field with that in cognate areas, including refugee studies
  • Bring new researchers to the field and develop new cross- and inter-disciplinary work
  • Promote and support research capacity in countries affected by internal displacement

LATEST IDRP RESOURCES

By Ranjan Panda and Dr. Sankalpa Satapathy | Oct 22, 2026
This fourth article in RID's miniseries, Towards Dignified Climate Relocation: Community Perspectives from around the Globe, shines a light on the hardships faced by older people following planned relocation in the Indian coastal state of Odisha. The authors, researchers who have worked with these erosion-affected communities through the India-based network “Water Initiatives”, describe how older adults experience challenges to their cultural identity and traditional knowledge systems following planned relocation, including the fracturing of their relationship with nature, loss of sacred spaces, and ‘solastalgia’ – the acute distress and melancholia caused by the environmental degradation of one's home environment. The paper also highlights the lessons learned from the lived realities of older persons undergoing planned relocation, including the need to pay more attention to the social, cultural, psychological, and care-related dimensions of climate vulnerability and, vitally, why approaches to planned relocations must be inclusive and age-sensitive. The series is published in collaboration with the Coalition on Dignified Climate Relocation.
By Kadidjatou Sawadogo | Jun 30, 2026
The working paper examines the impact of humanitarian funding contractions on the realisation of economic and social rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Haiti and South Sudan. Drawing on a human rights-based framework, documentary analysis, and key informant interviews, it analyses how reductions in humanitarian assistance affected access to adequate food and healthcare in contexts of protracted displacement, institutional fragility, and humanitarian dependence. The findings show that funding cuts reduced food assistance, disrupted health services, suspended mobile clinics, and weakened nutrition coverage for displaced populations. Humanitarian actors adopted hyper-prioritisation approaches that focused on life‑saving interventions but left significant protection and socio‑economic needs unaddressed.

The IDRP is led by the RLI Director, Professor David Cantor. Its early career Research Affiliate and established Senior Research Associate networks bring together research specialists in this field.

The IDRP hosts the INDCaP project that created Researching Internal Displacement and works to support the regional networks GENIDA, LANID and MERNID.

THE IDRP PROGRAMME, NETWORKS AND ACTIVITIES

See the IDRP website for further details of the programme and its networks and activities.

LATEST IDRP NEWS

IDRP EVENTS