Summer Course on Forced Migration: Exploring the intersections between forced migration and technology
The CRS Summer Course will be held from June 3-7, 2024 in downtown Toronto (Bloor and St. George neighbourhood).
The course will be offered in a hybrid format, with some participants attending in person and some attending remotely.
For over two decades, York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies has run an internationally acclaimed, non-credit professional development Summer Course that brings together practitioners, policy makers, and researchers to learn together about the most pressing forced migration and refugee issues.
This year’s Summer Course, which is being offered in collaboration with Osgoode Hall Law School’s Refugee Law Laboratory, will focus on research, policy, and practices at the intersections of forced migration and technology.
The number of people on the move increases each year. To adapt to this trend, institutions that manage borders and refugee adjudication processes are deploying new technologies. At this year’s Summer Course, we will turn our attention to the problems and opportunities presented by new technologies for refugee status determination systems, human rights advocates, border management officials, and people on the move.
This interdisciplinary, interactive, and experiential course will explore how technology has been and can be deployed—in both rights enhancing and rights limiting ways—around the world in response to forced migration.
We will bring policy makers, adjudicators, researchers, refugees, and NGO actors together to develop ideas about how technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, can be used to increase fairness, protect rights, and help address forced migration at scale. Featuring presentations, panels discussions, and break-out sessions, participants will be invited to think critically and thoughtfully about how cutting-edge technologies can, should, and should not be used in the forced migration space.
All participants who complete the full course receive a York University Centre for Refugee Studies Summer Course Certificate.
If you would like to be kept updated about CRS, please let us know that you’d like to be added to our listserv by emailing Michele Millard at mmillard@yorku.ca.
Preliminary Schedule
(April 30, 2024)
Program overview
Summer Course on Forced Migration: Exploring the intersections between forced migration and technology
June 3-7, 2024.
This year’s Summer Course is offered in collaboration with Osgoode Hall Law School’s Refugee Law Laboratory and will focus on research, policy, and practices at the intersections of forced migration and technology.
The course will start off with an introductory day and a deep dive into the current state of play. To ensure a baseline level of knowledge for attendees, participants will receive an overview of major trends in forced migration as well as some of the vast array of technologies used for border enforcement, refugee adjudication, and the inspiring innovations by researchers, lawyers, and affected communities aimed at leveling the playing field.
Each subsequent day will then be oriented around a theme. The first theme, The Sharpest Edges of Border Technologies, is an exploration of surveillance technologies and projects used for border enforcement, including a panel discussion on the regulatory gaps in border surveillance globally as well as a conversation with members of displaced communities working with the RLL’s Migration and Technology Monitor directly affected by unregulated and high-risk technologies. The second theme, Helping Tools: How Technologies Are Helping us Understand Refugee Adjudication in Canada and Internationally, will invite reflections from Canadian and international practitioners, policy makers, and academics on the positive and empowering uses of technologies in migration. For a change of scenery, the middle of the week will take us outside of the university for site visits in vibrant downtown Toronto with leading experts in the field. At the end of the week, the course will then wrap up with forward looking exercises and broad discussions about governance, knowledge-production, and how to work with communities at the intersection of technology and migration.
Two public keynotes with noted experts in the field will also bookend the course, one focusing on critical issues in race, gender, and technology, and the other providing a former private sector perspective. We are curating a lively course that will bring together policy makers, adjudicators, researchers, refugees, and NGO actors together, to share varied perspectives and encourage course participants to share their experiences throughout.
Register Online
Applicants must submit a complete Summer Course Registration Form along with a short autobiographical sketch outlining their academic and practical background with respect to refugee issues. This information will be used to help tailor the program for the week.
Funding for the CRS Summer Course is organized by participants themselves. CRS offers partial bursaries to a limited number of participants based on availability of internal funding and need. In order to organize your funding, we recommend that you obtain sponsorship from the training allocation of a project or programme attached to your organization or donors that fund professional development activities.
Visa support
Update (March 2024)
For many attendees it can take many weeks for the immigration authorities to assess a visa application. We believe that for most applicants, it is now too late to apply for a visa and to have it issued before the course. We have therefore closed our visa letter issuing service. If, in light of your personal circumstances and the visa processing times with respect to your particular country, you believe it is reasonable to apply for a visa, please email summer@yorku.ca for instructions.
The CRS has observed in previous years that many applicants from the Global South have been denied visas to attend the CRS summer course (visa acceptance rates have been very low). As an organization committed to engaging collaboratively with individuals and organizations form around the world, this is a constant disappointment. As in past years, we provide a discounted online option for those who cannot join us in person.
For those planning on attending in person and who require a letter of invitation, we will issue visa support letters to each applicant after they have paid a non-refundable deposit of CAD$200. The purpose of the deposit is to defray the costs associated with processing applications and visa support letters and to demonstrate to the visa processing authorities each applicant’s commitment to the course.
If an applicant is not able to attend the course, their deposit will be used to fund bursaries for other applicants. The deposit funds will be set against your tuition, whether you attend in person or online. For applicants who make a deposit but are refused a visa and decline to attend online, deposit funds will be used to support bursaries for other online or in-person attendees from the Global South.
We recognize that tuition and the deposit may be a barrier for some applicants. We urge each applicant to examine their own financial circumstances before making a deposit. Not only can we not guarantee that each applicant will be granted a visa, we know that many people from the Global South who wish to attend will not be granted a visa. If your financial circumstances, make an application in these circumstances difficult, we urge you to take advantage of the online option. No deposits are required for the online option.
Visa Information
2024 tuition fees
In-person*:
Early bird rate: $1,075 CAD + 13%HST (deadline April 15, 2024)
Early bird for participants based in the Global South: $750 CAD + 13% HST (deadline April 15, 2024)
Regular rate: $1,500 CAD + 13%HST (deadline May 25, 2024)
*This includes coffee breaks and a light lunch. Accommodation, travel and other costs are not included and must be covered by the participant.
Attending virtually:
Early bird rate: $925 CAD + 13%HST (deadline April 15, 2024)
Early bird for participants based in the Global South: $600 CAD + 13% HST (deadline April 15, 2024)
Regular rate: $1,350 CAD + 13%HST (deadline May 25, 2024)
Payment
All payments are by credit card only (please note that it is not possible to pay by debit card). This year, the Summer Course is open to anyone interested in attending. Once you've submitted your registration application, your acceptance has been confirmed and you can go to the next step and pay. Please click on the Eventbrite logo or the link below to complete your payment once your acceptance to the program has been confirmed.
Summer Course Registration Payment link
Visa support
Update (March 2024)
For many attendees it can take many weeks for the immigration authorities to assess a visa application. We believe that for most applicants, it is now too late to apply for a visa and to have it issued before the course. We have therefore closed our visa letter issuing service. If, in light of your personal circumstances and the visa processing times with respect to your particular country, you believe it is reasonable to apply for a visa, please email summer@yorku.ca for instructions.
For those who have already applied for their visas and are still waiting for the results, you are not required to pay the balance of the registration until you have been successful in getting a visa. You don't have to worry about the early bird registration deadline - we will make it available to you at any time once you have your visa.
If you paid the non-refundable CAD$200 deposit, we will give you a code that will reduce the registration amount accordingly once you have your visa and you're ready to complete your registration. Please email summer@yorku.ca for the discount code when you are ready to pay the balance owing.
At York University
Attendees who plan to stay at York University may request accommodation from conference services through their accommodation request form. Rates for a single room are $70.00 + tax per night and rates for a double room are $114.00 + tax per night.
Off-campus
For attendees who prefer to reside downtown, closer to the conference location, the University of Toronto offers residence rooms . In June 2024, rates start at $223 a night (which are very expensive, in our opinion!). The Toronto Metropolitan University , which is right downtown, near the Eaton Centre, also offers rooms, beginning at $75 a night. These rates are subject to change. Attendees may also find reasonably priced rooms through Airbnb, Expedia.ca or Kayak.ca.
York University is located at 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M3J 1P3
Directions
Taxi from Toronto Pearson International Airport
You can take a taxi directly from the airport to the York University Keele Campus. A taxi from the airport to the University is approximately $50 Canadian Dollars. Many taxi companies also offer a flat rate.
Driving from Toronto Pearson International Airport
Take Hwy 401 East to Hwy 400 North, exit at Finch Avenue going east, and turn left at Sentinel Road. Follow Sentinel until the end where you will find Pond Road. Turn right onto Pond Road. You are now on York University Campus. *If staying at the ELC continue on Pond Road and make a left onto James Gillies Street (the Student Services Parking Garage will be visible on the left). The Executive Learning Centre (ELC) is next door to the Student Services Parking Garage, on Fine Arts Road, adjacent to the Schulich School of Business.
Driving from Downtown Toronto
Take the Allen Expressway north to Finch Avenue. Turn left, going west on Finch Avenue to Keele Street. Turn right onto Keele Street going north to The Pond Road entrance. Turn left onto the campus via The Pond Road entrance. Take The Pond Road to James Gillies Street, the Student Services Parking Garage will be visible on the left. The Executive Learning Centre (ELC) is next door to the Student Services Parking Garage, on Fine Arts Road, adjacent to the Schulich School of Business.
Public Transit (TTC)
The subway now runs directly to York University on Line 1 Yonge-University.
* http://www3.ttc.ca for more information
Course Location
To access a York University campus map, please click HERE.
*The summer course will take place in the Kaneff Tower (#95 on the map) in room 519.
Summer Course Academic Director
Centre for Refugee Studies
York University
Kaneff Tower, Room 850
4700 Keele Street, Toronto
Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3
E-mail: summer@yorku.ca