What does the future hold for refugees?
Recordings from the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023.
As the Kaldor Centre embarked on its 10th anniversary, the 2023 Kaldor Centre conference, Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration, harnessed strategic foresight to inform the agenda for the decade to come.
The conference featured a fresh, scenario-based program that brought together leading experts to unearth the challenges and opportunities for the refugee regime in the decade ahead, not to predict the future but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see, and to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come.
Explore the recordings and transcripts
Start here to set the scene and work your way the through the conference recordings on demand. Our keynotes set out big trends and questions to spark your thinking. Our panels discussed three distinct future scenarios set in 2033.
Conference opening remarks:
Frances Voon, Executive Manager, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law
How do we start thinking about the future of forced migration? Aarathi Krishnan brought her vast experience in humanitarian and development foresight to steer us on our journey into the future – and how we can prepare for it today.
Opening keynote address:
Aarathi Krishnan, former Senior Advisor on Strategic Foresight, UNDP Asia-Pacific
Panel 1 speakers:
Magdalena Arias Cubas, Red Cross Red Crescent Global Migration Lab
Louis Everuss, University of South Australia
Adama Kamara, Refugee Council of Australia
Nikolas Feith Tan, Danish Institute of Human Rights
Chair: Madeline Gleeson, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law
Panel 2 speakers:
Cathryn Costello, University College Dublin
Niamh Kinchin, University of Wollongong
Edward Santow, Human Technology Institute, University of Technology Sydney
Shahyar Roushan, Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Migration & Refugee Division
Chair: Daniel Ghezelbash, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law
Panel 3 speakers:
Peter Lewis, Essential Media
Amanda Tattersall, Sydney Policy Lab
Lenore Taylor, Guardian Australia
Shabnam Safa, National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group
Chair: Lauren Martin, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law
Will international refugee law still have relevance a decade from now? What role can – and should – it play facing adverse impacts of climate change, enhanced technological surveillance and increasing automation of decision-making?
Closing keynote address:
Jane McAdam AO, Scientia Professor and Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law