Postdoctoral Research Fellow Seb Rumsby has written an article for The Conversation, titled "Economic migration: the root problem is not smugglers but global inequality."

This piece is based on his ground-breaking new research on the everyday politics of undocumented Vietnamese migration to the UK, which is being funded by the Independent Social Research Foundation. Seb says: "Ever since the tragic deaths of 27 migrants in the UK-France channel in December 2021, I've been burning to write something in defence of economic migration, which is much maligned in our mainstream media. I want to join the dots between my own research of undocumented migrants with other people's research exposing the massive inequalities of our global economic system. From here, I can show how economic migrants have just as much right to seek a better life as asylum seekers."

"Economic migration is not going to go away - I'm afraid it will only be a matter of time before the next dinghy sinks in the English Channel. On the contrary, it's only going to get bigger with climate change making more of the planet uninhabitable. We can challenge the familiar narratives of 'they're coming to take us over' or 'there's not enough space for them all', but only if we appreciate how our economic system creates such crazy inequalities that makes economic migration inevitable."

You can read Seb's article here.