Lori in CSM on Technology and the Refugee Crisis
Noora Lori, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed on how technological innovations are aiding refugees across the globe. Lori discussed Urban Refuge, an app created by students in her IR 500 Forced Migration and Human Trafficking class last spring which aims to connect refugees with resources through a simple mapping tool.
Lori was quoted in an October 25, 2016 article in the Christian Science Monitor entitled “As Calais Refugee Camp Clears, Can Tech Innovations Provide Answers?”
From the text of the article:
For Noora Lori, a Boston University assistant professor of international relations, such innovations are especially necessary given the nature of the crisis.
“It’s not going to be nation states” that resolve it, she tells The Christian Science Monitor. “It’s a problem because of nation states.”
In one of Dr. Lori’s classes last spring, students drew up plans for an app, dubbed “Urban Refuge,” to connect Syrian refugees living in cities in Jordan with NGOs and service providers, and launched a crowdfunding campaign to finance the app’s development.
Like other developers of volunteer projects, Lori says she and her students have gotten advice from connections in the private sector, but haven’t sought out government funding.
“Donors don’t just give you money,” she says. “They need to know exactly what you’re using the money for, and do an impact assessment of that money.” All that takes time and imposes a structure that might not be in tune with rapidly changing situations on the ground.
You can read the full article here.
Noora Lori’s research broadly focuses on the political economy of migration, the development of security institutions and international migration control, and the establishment and growth of national identity systems. She is particularly interested in the study of temporary worker programs and racial hierarchies in comparative perspective. Regionally, her work examines the shifting population movements accompanying state formation in the Persian Gulf, expanding the study of Middle East politics to include historic and new connections with East Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Lori is the Founding Director of the Pardee School Initiative on Forced Migration and Human Trafficking. You can read more about her here.