Continuing our work in Europe

We are delighted to have been invited to join the Prague Process Targeted Initiative of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).  I attended a kick-off meeting in Vienna this week for the “Pilot Project 7: Quality in Decision-making in the Asylum Process” – a training and ‘train the trainer’ project which will continue ICMPD’s work implementing the EU pan-European approach to migration and asylum, particularly in eastern and south-eastern regions of Europe.  We are looking forward to working with decision makers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Turkey and other Prague Process member states. 

Experienced judges from Austria, Germany and the UK and myself have joined the project as experts, bringing not only training expertise but also deep knowledge of the intricacies of hearing claims for protection and making decisions based often on very little corroborated evidence – or sometimes even none.

It seems to me that this project is well placed to carry forward the work of the Credo project, drawing on and further disseminating the multidisciplinary and evidence-based training manual: Credibility Assessment in Asylum Procedures. I’m looking forward to our first seminar, and another opportunity to take psychological research findings to decision makers.  Watch this space!

Our Director Jane Herlihy reflects on multidisciplinary asylum interviewing and decision making

I'm back home from Hungary today and reflecting on my first international meeting of 2015 with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the UNHCR Division of International Protection and UNHCR’s Global Learning Centre, in Budapest. 

Image by: Edgar Barany C

Guest post: 'Your Grandmother's Middle Name was Rose'

CSEL friend and colleague Jennifer Verson of Migrant Artists Mutual Aid writes below on the impact attending a CSEL session on psychology and memory had on her work as an artist...

Digested: The importance of looking credible: the impact of the behavioural sequelae of post-traumatic stress disorder on the credibility of asylum seekers

Behaviours such as averting one’s gaze, fidgeting, and hesitant speech are commonly interpreted as signs of dishonesty, yet they are also symptoms of PTSD. What, if any, are the effects of this overlap on credibility assessment in the asylum process?

Associate Researchers Hannah Rogers and Simone Fox, and CSEL Director Jane Herlihy have recently published a new study in Psychology, Crime and Law, investigating whether observable symptoms of PTSD can be confused with perceived cues to deception, and how such confusion, where it arises, affects the assessment of an individual’s credibility in the context of a mock asylum interview. You can read through our digest below. If you would like more detail or to cite the paper in the future, click here to access the full paper (£), or here for a pre-print copy. (Image credit: Tori Rector)

Roundtable: Child psychology in asylum and immigration cases

Academic research is normally advanced by researchers performing a systematic review of existing literature, identifying gaps, or questions still unanswered, and then designing new research studies to fill those gaps.  At CSEL we want to go further.  We need to know that our research is not just interesting academically, but useful in practice. 

Digested: Overgeneral memory in refugees and asylum seekers

Have you ever wondered whether the effects of trauma on memory are the same across all cultures?

Image by: Dierk Schaefer

CSEL Trustee Chris Brewin, Associate Researcher Belinda Graham and Jane Herlihy have recently published a new study in the Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, to investigate the link between PTSD and overgeneral memory in refugees and asylum seekers from 18 different countries. Click here to access the full paper (£), here for a pre-print copy of the paper, or read through our digest below.

Law and emotion in the classroom: Honours students from Leiden University

On March 28th Jane Herlihy visited the Institute of Immigration Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands, along with Marcelle Reneman of VU University, to give a presentation on credibility as part of a series of multi-disciplinary sessions for honours students on asylum law and policy. For today, we’ve handed the reins of the blog over to Marit Jansen, one of the students who took part. Here’s her report: