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 John Mussington | Dec 18, 2025
This short blog by a Barbudan community advocate examines how the Government of Antigua and Barbuda cynically forced the evacuation of Barbuda during Hurricane Irma in 2017 to make way for a luxury real estate development project catering to the exclusive private lifestyles of millionaires. Declaring the island ‘uninhabitable’, the government used threats and dubious legal procedures to confiscate all Barbudan land and prevent Barbudans from asserting their right to live on their land and island. Eight years on, Barbudans, led by community representatives and activists, continue their struggle. As the author notes, their challenges have strengthened the resolve of the people of Barbuda and helped forge alliances with other communities facing similar injustices.
By Steven Miron, Dyuti Tasnuva Rifat, Tanjib Islam | Oct 21, 2025
Foregrounding the voices of people living in three different communities of displacement in Bangladesh, this field research and advocacy report examines the nexus of climate change, loss and damage and displacement. This comprehensive report highlights promising interventions by Bangladeshi civil society organisations that have helped internally displaced people (IDPs) living in protracted displacement move toward durable solutions. It also examines positive developments on the policy front, including Bangladesh's fledgling National Strategy on Internal Displacement Management (NSIDM). At the same time, it calls attention to how Bangladesh's protracted displacement crisis remains under acknowledged and therefore under addressed in national policy and programming. The findings and recommendations in this report are intended to inform the UNFCCC's Loss and Damage mechanism – the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage (SNLD) and the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) ExCom, including its Taskforce on Displacement. Each must urgently demonstrate its commitment to addressing the growing displacement crisis and supporting durable solution programming. The report's findings and recommendations are also relevant to intergovernmental, governmental and civil society organisations working in and outside Bangladesh. Furthermore, the report suggests how conventional durable solutions approaches to displacement must evolve to remain relevant in a world of escalating losses and damages resulting from climate change.

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