Dear Members of the CRS Community,

I can’t believe it’s already my last day as CRS Director. I have had a wonderful experience as Director over the past five years. It was great to learn more about all the amazing research and advocacy about refugees and forced migration that happens at York University, and to play a small part in helping to support that work

The transition to our next Director, Yvonne Su, occurs on July 1. I know that you are already familiar with Yvonne and her work -- she’s a superstar! But here is a brief bio:

Dr. Yvonne Su is a specialist in forced migration, climate change-induced displacement and queer migration. She has worked extensively with vulnerable communities in Southeast Asia and Latin America and the Caribbeans including refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, indigenous communities, and 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. She has 25 peer-reviewed publications in journals like Geoforum, Third World Quarterly, Journal of Gender Studies, and International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction as well as more than 45 opinion pieces, newspaper articles and academic blogs in The Washington Post, The Conversation, and The National Observer.

Su has secured over $5.2 million in research funding and is co-PI on a $3.1 million New Frontiers in Research Fund grant (with Dr. Michaela Hynie as PI) to conduct research on the unintended consequences of climate change adaptation projects from a gender and displacement perspective in the Philippines, Ghana and Bangladesh. She takes an interdisciplinary, participatory and decolonial approach to scholarship that is focused on developing strong partnerships with local communities, NGOs, and policymakers.

CRS will be in great hands, and I’m excited to see where Yvonne helps lead our community.

In the meantime, I wanted to send out a quick thank you to some folks I relied on during my term as Director:

• Michele Millard: I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you so much!
• Faida Abu-Ghazaleh : You’ve done a great job with the Resource Centre. And thanks for all the Turkish Coffee and other treats!
• Michaela Hynie: I don’t know how you manage to do so much. You’re a force of nature! And thanks so much for running CRS during my sabbatical.
• Jennifer Hyndman: You left CRS in great shape at the end of your term as Director. I hope I didn’t mess it up too much! And thanks for all your help in your role as Associate Vice President Research
• Petra Molar: Thanks for all your work with the Refugee Law Lab and with the Summer Course. Onwards!
• Simon Wallace: Not sure how many hundreds of visa letters that you put through in the last few months, but it was a lot! For that, for your other work on the Summer Course, and for your research at the Refugee Law Lab: Thank you!
• Mavis Odei Boateng: Thanks for your help with the Summer Course, this year and last year -- and for all the great pictures!
• Romola Adeola: Thanks for your leadership as the first CRS Assistant Director and for your work on the 2022 Summer Course.
• Anna Purkey: Well, 2020 didn’t exactly go as expected. But thanks for helping us “pivot” on the 2020 Summer Course!
• Dagmar Soennecken: Amazing work with Refuge. You even managed to get my most recent messy article into good shape! Thanks!
• James Simeon: Great job on Congress! And thanks for all the other CRS events you’ve helped with.
• Christopher Kyriakides & Gemechu Abeshu: I’m grateful for your leadership on the Racism(s) and Refugee Subcommittee. Can’t wait to see the work published.
• Nergis Canefe: Thanks for the art that we used to update the images on the 8th floor. It’s so much better!
• CRS Board Members: Thanks for your advice and guidance.
• CRS Exec Members: Thanks for all your work over the years -- and for helping to keep me out of too much trouble!
• CRS Researchers: You’re at the heart of what we do at CRS. I’m so impressed by your work, and I’m excited to see what comes next.
• CRS Visitors: It was great to meet you all. You’re welcome back any time!
• CRS Students: It was a pleasure to learn with you. The future is bright!
• My colleagues at Osgoode Hall Law School: Thanks for giving me the space to focus on CRS over the past five years, and for taking up the slack. I’m looking forward to being around more.

That’s it from me as Director. I’ll be around, so please stay in touch.

And, for those of you in Toronto: Happy Pride!

s

SEAN REHAAG  

Director, Centre for Refugee Studies  

Director, Refugee Law Laboratory  

Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School  

York University, Toronto, Canada