BORDERS. BELONGING. BUILDING FUTURES.

A national, student-led conference on refugee health, rights, and belonging
Oxford · 16-17 May 2026 · Pembroke College

Access to health is a rights issue - shaped by policy, place, and power.

Why now?

Across the UK, debates on migration are loud but shallow. Health is treated as technical or transactional, rather than political and relational. This conference starts from a simple premise: access to health reflects who is seen, who is protected, and who belongs.In 2026, the gap between the realities people face and the rhetoric that dominates public discussion has never felt wider. Asylum seekers are routinely denied access to basic healthcare. Structural harms are misread as individual failings. And the people most affected are the least likely to be in the rooms where decisions are made.We believe that is not inevitable. Change requires clarity about how systems produce harm, and it requires people who are equipped to act on that clarity. That is what this conference is for.We're creating space to connect lived experience, evidence, and action - and to equip students, practitioners, and communities with the tools to turn care into something real.

Turn care to action.

What will happen over the weekend?

Day 1 - Saturday 16 May · UnderstandingDay 1 is about building the analytical tools to understand how harm emerges within migration and health systems:

  • Opening keynotes setting the political and systems context for the day

  • Global panel: Good Intentions, Broken Systems - examining how structural harm materialises in everyday practice across migration and health systems

  • Six parallel workshops covering systems thinking, power and influence, the politics of health, narrative and media, trauma-informed care, and sustainable advocacy

  • Community panel: Responsibility in Practice - community-led responses and what meaningful responsibility looks like beyond rhetoric

  • Closing testimonies grounded in lived experience

Day 2 - Sunday 17 May · BuildingDay 2 puts Day 1 into action. Participants work in interdisciplinary teams to design realistic policy interventions addressing specific harms in refugee and migrant health:

  • Policy hackathon with mentorship from academics, practitioners, and NGOs

  • Teams identify a harm, map the system sustaining it, and design a plausible intervention

  • Outputs include policy briefs, implementation proposals, and advocacy frameworks

  • Winning teams announced at the end of the day

Who can get involved?

  • Students across disciplines

  • Refugee and asylum-seeking students and community members

  • Researchers and practitioners in health, migration, and rights

  • NGOs, organisers, and advocates

You don’t need to be an expert - just curious, thoughtful, and willing to engage.

Our principles

  • Student-led and community-informed

  • Health as a rights issue

  • Evidence with empathy

  • Co-design over tokenism

  • From care to action

These principles shape how we design the conference, who is in the room, and what comes out of it.Borders, Belonging, Building Futures centres refugee and community expertise, treats access to health as a matter of rights and power, and brings evidence into conversation with lived experience.The aim is not just discussion, but shared tools, relationships, and ideas that help turn care into action - locally and beyond.

TICKETS

Get your ticket

Tickets are now on sale. We have kept pricing as low as possible to make the conference accessible.Day 1 only - £10Saturday 16 May · Keynotes, panels, workshops, and closing testimonies · Limited availabilityFull conference (Day 1 + Day 2) - £15Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 May · Full programme including the policy hackathonBursary and access tickets - freeA very limited number of free Saturday + Sunday tickets are available for those who would be unable to attend without financial support. Bursary funding covers the cost of catering. Apply via the link below.

VENUE

The conference takes place at Pembroke College, University of Oxford.Pembroke Square, Oxford, OX1 1DWPembroke College is in the heart of central Oxford, a short walk from Oxford train station (approximately 15 minutes on foot) and well-served by local and national bus routes. Oxford is easily accessible by train from London Paddington (approximately 55 minutes), Birmingham, and Bristol.Further travel and accommodation information will be sent to all registered attendees ahead of the conference.

Contact Us