The Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) has launched the Refugees Studies Unit (RSU) on 24 November, 2020. The unit aims to support appropriate and empirically-informed responses by policymakers, donors and the humanitarian community that meet the needs of conflict affected populations and refugees.
Manzoor Hasan, Executive Director of CPJ, welcomed the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson to the virtual inaugural ceremony as the chief guest. The High Commissioner said that he thinks “[…] it’s really important that research facilities like this one can play a role in these crises.”
Vice-Chancellor Professor Vincent Chang and Ms Laetitia van den Assum, former member of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State chaired by Kofi Annan, were special guests of the event. Professor Chang said that “As an academic institution, Brac University is very keen on working out a pathway to higher education for the Rohingyas.”
CPJ began developing the Refugees Studies Unit in 2018 in order to support the Rohingya humanitarian response as a knowledge partner. As a central element of CPJ’s strategic plan for 2021-2023, it will build a research agenda and focus on four thematic areas: participatory action research, context and situation analysis, research and knowledge repository and higher learning in fragile settings. Professor Chang said that he is particularly interested in the last thematic area and assured that the Refugees Studies Unit will “remain an important component of Brac University’s research and impact portfolio.”
Manzoor Hasan thanked the Vice-Chancellor: “Brac University is the first university to have an office in Cox’s Bazaar […] We couldn’t have done this without your support.”
The CPJ Executive moderated the inaugural ceremony. M. Shahidul Islam, Research Fellow and Jessica Olney, Visiting Research Fellow of CPJ made a presentation on the Refugee Studies Unit.