Research Corner launch

Photo by Nong V on Unsplash

We’re excited to launch our new Research Corner today, where we’ll share our reflections as peer and community researchers working on a range of research projects at Migration Yorkshire.

If you’re thinking about doing research with people with lived experience of migration, look out for our regular blogs. They’ll form part of a toolkit we’re developing about this topic.

When organising the publication of these blogs written by Migration Yorkshire’s peer and community researchers, many times I was thinking about Geoffrey Chaucer’s storytellers from the Canterbury Tales and about the danger of stereotyping in Chimamanda Adichie’s ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ – centuries between each but, to me, closely attached. These two pieces insist upon the spirit, the concept, and the individual voices of the authors; what makes a voice credible is its uniqueness and the author’s identity being intact.

It is very rewarding to listen to real-life experiences which portray identities and life histories of people from a range of backgrounds and cultures. While reading the blogs you will hear harmonious but diverse voices reflecting on their experience of being a peer or community researcher. These blogs aim to act as resources to support the Arabic saying ‘اسأل مجرب و خذ النصيحة’ (‘to have a better journey, seek advice from those who have been through a similar experience’).

Sameerah Mahmood, Community Researcher at Migration Yorkshire.

In part one of the first blog you can read Tesfalem and Vanja’s reflections on aspects of the peer research experience, including issues relating to methodology, identity and language.

In part two you can read further reflections from Vanja and Tesfalem on aspects of the peer research experience, where they consider questions such as what constitutes the ‘peer’ in peer research.

In our second blog, Akosiwa shares how her experience of applying for a peer researcher role helped overcome some of the barriers to employment that new migrants can face.

In our third blog, Jack shares his experience of applying for a peer researcher role at Migration Yorkshire, and how he feels about the job.

In our fourth blog, José shares his tips for peer researchers.

In our latest blog, Sameerah considers the importance of handling participants' stories responsibly.