The First Annual Forced Migration Student Conference was held on the 22nd of February 2003 at St. Anne's College, University of Oxford. The event was conceived and organised by postgraduate students from different UK universities through a partnership between the Refugee Studies Centre (Oxford), University of Warwick-CRER, ICAR, University of East London and UNHCR.

It was created in response to the growing number of postgraduate students working in the field of Forced Migration, as a first effort in creating a forum for current students to share their research and experience with their peers.

Over 100 students attended the one-day event, MA and PhD students, from over 32 different UK and international universities. The day was structured around four panel discussions, with 13 postgraduates presenting their work. Four general presentation themes were conceived, including:

 a.. emerging asylum policy: European and global perspectives

b.. debating different faces of the integration process

c.. representing refugees: creating the other

d.. exploring the landscape of refugee women's experiences

The inter-university Steering Committee, Katia Amore (CRER-University of Warwick), Jeannine W. Brown (ICAR-UNHCR and U. East London), Drew Leyburne (RSC- University of Oxford), Eden Taddese (U. East London) and Priyanca Mathur Velath (RSC-University of Oxford) would in particular like to thank the Oppenheimer Fund (Oxford) and the Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department of the Department for International Development (DFID) for their generous financial assistance with the conference.

The conference aims to become a permanent fixture in UK forced migration studies, continuing each year at a different UK university. The Second Annual Forced Migration Student Conference will be hosted at the University of Warwick on the 15th of March 2004.