IDRP
INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT RESEARCH PROGRAMME
Ukraine. Newly displaced people arrive on an evacuation train to Lviv 2023 © UNHCR/Andrew McConnell
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 Thomas Mulder and Jane McAdam | Apr 17, 2026
Countries around the world are currently negotiating the first-ever global treaty dedicated to protecting people affected by disasters. The treaty on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters—due to be adopted in 2027—aims to improve how States prevent, prepare for and respond to disasters. At the most recent negotiations in New York in April 2026, States signalled their broad support for the treaty’s objectives, including respect for human rights, disaster risk reduction and cooperation to assist countries most affected by climate-related hazards. However, there is a significant omission: disaster-related displacement. This is concerning given that displacement is often one of the most serious and lasting impacts of disasters, which are occurring with greater frequency and intensity. In this blog post, Thomas Mulder and Jane McAdam explain why failing to address displacement risks leaving the treaty out of step with reality. If the treaty is truly to protect people in disasters, it must confront displacement directly—not treat it as an afterthought.
By Tomy Ncube and Una Murray | Mar 12, 2026
As climate impacts intensify, planned relocation is increasingly deployed as an adaptation strategy, yet outcomes for relocated communities remain consistently adverse. This paper argues that these failures stem from the treatment of planned relocation as a short-term, projectised disaster response rather than as a long-term developmental intervention. Drawing on social protection theory, this paper reconceptualises planned relocation as a form of social assistance, capable of delivering durable solutions. It demonstrates that planned relocation inherently performs preventive, protective, promotive, and potentially transformative social protection functions by minimising future climate risks, providing non-contributory transfers such as land and housing, and enabling livelihood reconstruction. However, when implemented outside formal social protection systems, these functions may collapse, often resulting in impoverishment and protracted displacement.
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
For our readership, we invite original contributions on internal displacement.
IDRP EVENTS
This online conference on 14-15 March 2024 marks the culmination of five years of increasing international engagement with the pressing challenge of ‘solutions’ to internal displacement. Registration now open!
By HIDN | Apr 19, 2021
This expert workshop gathered insight and evidence to advise on the gaps in policy and research relating specifically to the health needs of IDPs, involving over 30 leading researchers in health research from fifteen countries