{"id":1185,"date":"2023-01-31T14:19:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T19:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfd\/?page_id=1185"},"modified":"2025-12-03T11:03:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T16:03:03","slug":"interdisciplinary-summer-school-on-forced-displacement","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfd\/education\/interdisciplinary-summer-school-on-forced-displacement\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Program on Forced Migration and Borders"},"content":{"rendered":"

CFD is now accepting applications for the 2026 Summer Program. Find the call for applications here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Boston University Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) invites applications for the 2026 Summer Program on Migration and Borders, a two-week intensive program designed for graduate students (MA, MPhil, PhD) whose research focuses on migration, displacement, and border-related issues (broadly defined).<\/span><\/p>\n

Traditionally open to both undergraduate and graduate students, the program has evolved alongside deepening partnerships in Serbia and shifting regional dynamics. Beginning in 2026, it will be exclusively open to graduate students, reflecting a transition toward a rigorous, research-oriented format that emphasizes comparative analysis, interdisciplinary dialogue, and collaborative inquiry.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the program, participants will travel to Serbia for two weeks in late May and early June, engaging in seminars, workshops, and field visits coordinated by the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, in partnership with CFD. Graduate students from Serbia will also join the program, creating an environment of mutual learning and cross-regional exchange between scholars from the Balkans and beyond. All selected participants are required to attend five, two-hour-long, in-person pre-departure sessions before their trip to Serbia. These sessions will be scheduled for March and April 2026.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Program Background and Rationale<\/h3>\n

Long before the so-called \u201clong summer of migration\u201d in 2015, both the United States and the European Union had been developing increasingly restrictive border regimes\u2014systems designed to limit access to their territories and asylum procedures for people on the move. Today, those on the move are routinely pushed back across borders, detained in zones of legal limbo, or contained in third countries such as Libya.<\/span><\/p>\n

This program examines how and why these strategies of deterrence and externalization have emerged, how they operate across different regions, and how they are experienced, resisted, and reimagined by communities, civil society organizations, and people on the move themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

While much of our conversation will focus on the so-called \u201cWestern Balkans\u201d and the EU, we will also engage with scholars and practitioners working on other regions\u2014including the Americas, the Middle East, and North Africa\u2014allowing participants to situate Serbia within a broader, comparative global framework.<\/span><\/p>\n

Program Objectives<\/h3>\n

The <\/span>Summer Program on Migration and Borders<\/span><\/i> aims to:<\/span><\/p>\n