Lori Interviewed in Pearson on Urban Refuge App
Noora Lori, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed about her work at the Pardee School including her efforts on 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 interviewed for an article in Pearson Degrees digital magazine entitled “An Hour with Professor Noora Lori.”
From the text of the article:
Cities aren’t designed for refugees who don’t know local codes and norms. This, Noora said, sparked the idea for her students’ project. Their aim: to help refugees living in Jordan gain access to information about what’s available and where.
Naturally, they turned to digital. Noora’s students are designing a mobile app that will use symbols to signpost the most critical aid points around the country: healthcare facilities, food distribution points, and other places where help can be found in real time.
Noora says she’s been inspired by the passion her students bring to the project. “They started out saying ‘How on earth are we going to build an app? We don’t know anything about coding or tech!’ They’ve since learned how to tap into their own networks, building allies throughout BU and from larger organizations who are willing to help… and even code.” They’re now fortunate to be partnering with Microsoft, which is lending generous manpower and funding to ensure that coding and back-end development is done properly.
“Getting funding and backing was a struggle,” she admits. “There was a period where I didn’t think we could get this off the ground.”
You can read the entire 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.