BU Center on Forced Displacement

Join us for an insightful conversation with Aleksandar Hemon and Velibor Božović! The event will be moderated by Stacy Mattingly (coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Unlikely Angel, now a feature film, Captive.)

Link in bio to register!!!

Exploring the ideas, policies, and lived experiences shaping forced displacement today. Join us at the Center on Forced Displacement’s Annual Conference 2026 for two days of critical conversations, interdisciplinary insights, and community engagement.

From keynote discussions on the foundations of the modern refugee regime to panels on deportation and detention, and interactive workshops on collective healing—this year’s conference brings together scholars, practitioners, and advocates working toward meaningful change.

📅 April 13–14, 2026
📍 665 Commonwealth Ave, Room 750

Register now through the link in our bio.

Join us for the Center on Forced Displacement’s Annual Conference 2026, featuring keynote speaker Laura Robson. A leading scholar on forced migration and refugee studies, her work sheds light on some of today’s most pressing global challenges. Tickets in bio!

📅 April 14 | ⏰ 9:30–11:00 AM
📍 665 Commonwealth Ave, Room 1750

CFD’s annual conference is just around the corner, and we’re excited to spotlight one of the voices helping shape this year’s conversations.
Stay tuned as we continue highlighting the speakers and discussions you won’t want to miss.
~Tickets in link in bio!

Join the and professors this Thursday for a community discussion about current events in the Middle East. ‘Beyond the Headlines: The U.S.- Israeli War on Iran and Regional Spillover.’

📆: Thursday, March 5
🕕: 3:30pm-4:30pm
📍: 121 Bay State Road

🔗 Register via link in bio or scan QR code

Join us for a film screening + discussion with MIT D-Lab and innovators in Uganda. After the screening and discussion, we will have interactive stations: VR headsets showing landscapes in Uganda and Tanzania, technology demonstrations, and artwork from refugee youth in Uganda.

Link in bio to register!

CFD takes pride in celebrating global perspectives and opening doors for new opportunities all over the world. Join us as we dive into past memories of the various programs we offer.

The Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) at Boston University is launching a new zine based on the themes of liminality, physicality, and sentimentality among people on the move and forcibly displaced persons in the Boston area and beyond. Our expansive definition of forced displacement includes incarceration, involuntary hospitalization, and war/conflict. We are looking for artistic submissions to be featured in the first issue. These contributions can include poetry, paintings/murals, photography, sculptures, artisanal crafts, and more. Artists and contributors who would prefer not to share their names have the option to have their work featured under a pseudonym.

Sub-themes and ideas of interest to the zine’s creators are:
- Maps
- Ecologies and plants
- Liminal spaces, and the sense of waiting, anticipating, and/or feeling stuck
- Building and maintaining community ties
- Objects and material culture that “feel like home.”

For more information, please contact Aislinn Mershon ([email protected]) and/or Maryam Khalil ([email protected]).

Call for Contributions - Critical Forced Displacement Magazine Vol. 4

We are inviting contributions to our interdisciplinary, multi-genre magazine. The magazine, published quarterly, will bring together a variety of original works across disciplines in a peer-reviewed publication that examines the global challenge of forced displacement through a multi-faceted lens. We welcome contributions from any field, perspective, or style exploring themes related to forced displacement for Volume 4 of CFD Magazine.

Link in bio!