What is the Syrian Refugees Research Network?
Many researchers who work in the area of migration, acculturation, adaptation and settlement have received requests for assistance in providing research and service help for working with Syrian Refugees. These requests often ask for advice on how to proceed, assessment tools (often in translation) and previous publications.
To avoid duplication and to streamline researchers’ efforts, a network has been developed. This network will host a website of researchers and clinicians who are involved in this kind of research and service, making it easier to find and contact researchers working on the issue of interest.
How can I join?
Please click here to have your information added to the Syrian Research Network. If you are experiencing any difficulties or have any questions or feedback, please contact Elcin Ray-Yol at 
.
Our Member List
| Contact | Affiliation | Status | Brief Summary | Scales Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nihan Albayrak n.albayrak1@lse.ac.uk | London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom | Past, Ongoing, Future | I conduct research on both Syrian refugees and those who are witnessing the sufferings of the Syrian refugees. Using quantitative methods, my research particularly examines the wellbeing and social cognition of Syrian refugees as well as other people’s helping policy attitudes, helping intentions, and helping behaviours towards Syrian refugees. In doing so, I do cross-cultural comparisons to identify the potential differences caused by physical and cultural context, which is expected to be useful to give context-specific directions at the end. I am very much interested in conducting collaborative research about Syrian refugees. I am especially keen to do cross-cultural research on (1) the social cognition of Syrian refugees, (2) the adaptation of Syrian refugees into their new societies and new life conditions, and (3) the interaction and intergroup relations between Syrian refugees and host societies, especially in terms of helping and prosocial behaviour. Although I live in London, I visit Turkey regularly and I can collect data in Turkey both from Turkish population and Syrian refugees. Similarly, I can of course collect data in the UK as well. | The Regulatory Focus Scale, Higgins et al. (2001) [Arabic] The COPE Scales, Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub (1989) [Arabic] The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25, Parloff, Kelman, & Frank (1954) [Arabic] |
| Joel Anderson joel.anderson@acu.edu.au | Australian Catholic University, Australia | Past, Ongoing, Future | I am interested in prejudice towards refugees, both understanding it, and intervening with it. I specialize in implicit measures. I am interested in the role of religion. I prefer experimental techniques. I have access to an Australian student pool (i.e. Data from local students readily available) | Prejudice against asylum seekers scale (Anderson, 2017) [English] Asylum seekers go/no-go association task – a measure of implicit prejudice (Anderson, 2016) [English] The academic adjustment scale – designed and validated with local, and sojourner students – would be useable with refugee/asylum seeker students and it was designed to be culture free (Anderson, Guam, & Koç, 2016) Implicit acculturation GNAT – (Anderson & Guan, 2017) |
| Dan Asfar d.asfar@vu.nl | VU Amsterdam, Netherlands | Ongoing | We collect data from a large pool of participants that includes (Syrian) refugees. This data includes a variety of constructs, including GMA, personality, and ”motivation” constructs. Soon we will develop an implicit instrument to assess refugees, aiming to predict outcomes related to performance and adjustment | HEXACO (Lee & Ashton, 2004) |
| Mudassir Azam mdsr_89@hotmail.com | University of Glasgow, India | Ongoing | Social And Educational Adjustment of Syrian Refugee Students in Colleges & Universities in Scotland | |
| Anna Hope Covington ahcovington@bsu.edu | Ball State University, United States | Ongoing | I am doing a qualitative study on potential resilience concepts among trauma-exposed Syrian refugees. The study will employ in-depth individual interviews to gather information from adult Syrian refugees resettled in Indiana. Interviews will focus on participants’ resilience in the face of traumatic experiences. The results of this study have the potential to provide mental health practitioners with a framework for understanding Syrian resilience, and assist counselors in building individual and community resilience among Syrian refugees using culturally relevant strategies. | |
| Adnan Farah afarah@uob.edu.bh | University of Bahrain, Bahrain | Future | I would like to establish a research team so we can conduct a field research on the somatization of illness as related to some demographic variables among a sample of Syrian refugees in Jordan. I am Jordanian psychologist living in Bahrain, working as a professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Bahrain. I am a former president of the Jordanian Psychological Association (JPA). Currently, I am the President of the Arab Union of Psychological Science and the Coordinator of International Affairs for the JPA. I am also a Board Member & Middle East Regional Coordinator of the International Association of Student Affairs & Services(IASAS). | |
| Mustafa Fırat mustafa.firat@boun.edu.tr | Boğaziçi University, Turkey | Past, Ongoing, Future | I am interested in the predictors of prejudice against Syrians in Turkey. I am also interested in the reduction of prejudice against them. I examine the roles of in- group identification, intergroup contact, perceived threat, and perceived cultural distance on prejudice against Syrians in Turkey. My past and present research has been and continues to be focused on these factors. | |
| Julia Puebla Fortierjulia.fortier@lshtm.ac.uk | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; DiversityRx, United Kingdom | Future | I am looking at the availability of psychosocial services for older refugees — whether their needs acknowledged by refugee service programs, and what programs exist to serve them. I am interested in these issues in both refugee camp and resettlement contexts. My background is in migrant health policy and the design of migrant-friendly health services in North America, the EU, Australia and Japan. | |
| Igor Grossmann igrossma@uwaterloo.ca | University of Waterloo, Canada | Future | Interested in conducting research on reasoning and emotion regulation in reflection on past experiences, reflection on experiences in the new country, and the role of affect and reasoning for balance between homeland and new country’s value systems. I am a behavioural scientist exploring the interplay of sociocultural factors for wisdom in the face of daily stressors. His interdisciplinary work uses innovative methods, including big data analytics, psychophysiology, diary surveys, and behavioural experiments. | |
| Sara Hosseini-Nezhad sara_hosseininezhad@yahoo.com | Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary | Future | I have volunteered with a playback theatre team at a refugee camp in Hungary for two years, and since then I have been very motivated to do research involving refugees, particularly their long-term psychological health. My research is focused on the psychosocial adaptation of Iranian international students abroad. | |
| Yasin Koc yasin.koc@sussex.ac.uk | University of Sussex, United Kingdom | Ongoing, Future | My research aim is two-fold. On the one hand, I am trying to reduce prejudice against Syrian refugees. On the other hand, I am trying to reduce the stigma attached to Syrian refugee identity to promote satisfactory sense of identity for Syrian refugees, and promote their acculturation processes. I am an experimental social psychologist. I would like to apply experimental methods to manipulate perceptions of acculturation orientations, and motivate certain orientations and increase wellbeing. Also, I would like to understand the nature of identity threat to Syrian people (not only their refugee identities), and help them cope with the threat based on their other available identity resources (not only their stigmatised refugee identity). | |
| Karen Medica karen.medica@monash.edu | Monash University, Australia | Future | The role of Syrian diaspora and humanitarian assistance. | |
| Kyle Msall kyle.msall@gmail.com | American University of Kuwait, Kuwait | Past, Ongoing, Future | I focused on Syrian refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan. I interviewed several families within refugee camps to understand their perspectives about the mental health services available for them. Qualitative inquiry is the best way to understand the cultural aspects of minority populations and the interview questions are developed from the evidence-based Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines. My current research includes understanding the minority populations’ culture through their perspectives and how these cultural aspects can be implemented into humanitarian organizations and programs. By having more culturally-relevant organizations and programs for minority populations, the discrimination that these individuals may perceive due to lack of cultural awareness on the part of the humanitarian program/organization could be decreased. This may also decrease the instances of displaced individuals within the Middle East being recruited by extremist groups with the promise of a better life. Because minority displaced populations often face different and possibly more challenges than majority populations, the findings may include a cultural change due to the threat of terrorism, discrimination, and possible genocide. | |
| Luciara Nardon luciara.nardon@carleton.ca | Carleton University, Canada | Ongoing | In this project we will: 1) explore the career experiences of refugees in Canada and Australia to understand the barriers they face to occupational integration and the strategies they have used to overcome them; 2) explore the role of host-country agents (both individual and organized) and employment infrastructure (e.g. job-search portals, recruitment agencies) in facilitating occupational integration of refugees; and 3) expand existing global mobility conceptual frameworks used in organizational scholarship to incorporate refugees and their occupational integration challenges, drawing on exploratory data and literature from other disciplines. | |
| Omar Reda redaom@yahoo.com | Providence Health & Services, United States | Ongoing | Untangled Psycho-Social Healing Project for Family Bonding & Youth Empowerment. | Harvard Trauma Questionnaire |
| Jaclynn Robinson No e-mail submitted | Gallup, Inc, United States | Past, Future | No summary submitted | |
| Priya Roy priya.roy@sydney.edu.au | University of Sydney, Australia | Future | I am doing a qualitative study on potential resilience concepts among trauma-exposed Syrian refugees. The study will employ in-depth individual interviews to gather information from adult Syrian refugees resettled in Indiana. Interviews will focus on participants’ resilience in the face of traumatic experiences. The results of this study have the potential to provide mental health practitioners with a framework for understanding Syrian resilience, and assist counselors in building individual and community resilience among Syrian refugees using culturally relevant strategies. | |
| Saba Safdar ssafdar@uoguelph.ca | University of Guelph, Canada | Past, Ongoing, Future | No summary submitted | |
| Maria Stogianni maria.stogianni@uni.lu | University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg | Future | My current research project focuses on identity construal processes during adolescence in the multicultural context of Luxembourg. I am interested in conducting research on: 1) the impact of refugee crisis on host labour market 2) attitudes towards Syrian refugees 3)implications for identity, acculturation processes and psychological well-being of refugees. To date, I have conducted research on social identities and acculturation processes using a mixed methods approach. I have a Master’s degree in Social Psychology from Tilburg University, The Netherlands and I have participated in several research projects in the fields of social and cross-cultural psychology. | |
| Josephine Tan jtan@lakeheadu.ca | Lakehead University, Canada | Ongoing | Our work looks at the resettlement experiences of Syrian refugees, the factors that make their acculturation process easier or more difficult. | |
| Cynthia Tilden-Machleidt e_tilden@doz.hwr-berlin.de | Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany | Ongoing | No summary submitted |