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FDWG Hosts Fourth Meeting on Forced Displacement and Migration

June 2025

On June 13, 2025, PDRI-DevLab@Penn hosted the fourth meeting of the Forced Displacement Working Group (FDWG) at Penn Washington (formerly the Penn Biden Center) in Washington, D.C. The meeting brought together over 65 researchers, practitioners, and policymakers committed to advancing solutions to forced displacement, migration, and social cohesion across low- and middle-income countries.

About the FDWG

Launched in November 2023 by PDRI-DevLab at the University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with the Empirical Studies of Conflict (ESOC) group, the FDWG is a cross-sector platform aimed at bridging academic research with policy and practice. Prior meetings held in 2023 and 2024 laid the foundation for collaborative learning, evidence-sharing, and joint problem-solving across displacement-affected settings.

Highlights from the June 2025 Meeting

The full-day meeting featured presentations and discussions on:

  • Tools and datasets related to displacement policies, environmental shocks, and refugee economies

  • Empirical findings from Latin America, East Africa, and the Middle East on smuggling networks, reintegration challenges, and migration decision-making

  • Studies on return migration, climate-linked mobility, and the political tradeoffs of inclusive refugee policies

  • Innovations in research methods, including WhatsApp-based data collection, participatory approaches, and measuring social cohesion and gendered impacts

Looking Ahead

The day also carved out space for a forward-looking discussion on the future of displacement research in a rapidly changing global environment. Participants reflected on the role of rigorous evidence in shaping inclusive policy, the need for anticipatory systems, and the ethical responsibility to center local perspectives and agency in research and response efforts.

As the FDWG continues to grow, we remain committed to fostering thoughtful, policy-relevant dialogue and supporting context-aware, field-informed research that addresses some of the most urgent humanitarian challenges of our time.

We are pleased to share a few photos from the event that reflect the energy and collaborative spirit of the group.

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