Welcome to this year’s annual report! We are delighted to share with you the vibrant activities of the network and our plans for the future. Over the past year, we have seen the further consolidation of the new decentralised structure, evident in the activity, creativity, and autonomy of the thematic groups. From the bi-weekly online writing sessions organised and hosted by the Detention and Deportation group, to the May event organised at the University of Cape Town by the Law and the Courts group, members are actively shaping new ways of collaborating and connecting.
This work reflects a long-standing goal: to foster a participatory and responsive network grounded in collective initiative. As we continue to welcome new members in each group, we benefit from the diversity of their perspectives, experiences, and working methods. Their participation has enabled Border Criminologies to grow and shift in meaningful ways, and to avoid becoming too narrow or self-referential.
This year also saw the beginnings of a deeper engagement with the emotional dimensions of border control and enforcement. In September, the Border Policing and Emotions group hosted the workshop ‘Border Policing, Boundary Creation, and Emotions’ that formed the basis of a special issue. The event opened up important conversations around how emotions shape, sustain, and resist bordering practices—both institutionally and personally. This marks a promising direction for future work, as other members too begin to explore how affective dynamics intersect with structures of control, solidarity, and knowledge production across the network.
Another important development has been the positive impact of dividing key responsibilities between two paid roles – one in managing the website and blog by Diana Volpe, and the other, in our outgoing communications officer – Alla Sui Lau, who has played a pivotal role in expanding our digital presence and external engagement. As we say a warm thank you and goodbye to Alla, we are also excited to welcome Melissa Pawson, who will be stepping into the role and continuing to build on this important work. We are thankful to the Universities of Leiden, Oxford, Bristol and Warwick as well as to the British Academy under the terms of an ARP award, whose support makes these roles, and much of our work, possible. However, our financial situation remains precarious, and we continue to seek additional funding to sustain and expand our efforts. Please let us know if you have any leads in that regard.
The distribution of responsibilities both among the thematic groups and between Diana and Alla has not only increased our capacity but also enhanced our internal and external outreach. It has allowed people to lean into their strengths and suggest new ideas. One such initiative in autumn 2024 involved reaching out to Members of the European Parliament, offering our expertise. Diana Volpe went to Brussels to meet with several representatives. Alla has shifted the social media activity of the organisation onto Bluesky and Linked-in, and has produced regular newsletters. In that activity we have benefited enormously from a group of student volunteers, Thomas Pugh, Joseph Aimard, and Michael Chen, whose enthusiasm and dedication have been invaluable. We have also recently been joined by Ibrahim Ince who has taken over event management. Ibrahim will work closely with our fabulous book review editor Nayera El Bar to launch a new initiative that brings new authors together with students to discuss their recent publications. As part of our commitment to fostering inclusive research environments and supporting early career scholars from underrepresented backgrounds, we are delighted to participate in the UNIQ+ Research Internship Programme. Through this initiative, we are excited to welcome Ms. Daria Ionescu, who will join us and Bail for Immigration Detainees to contribute to ongoing work on borders, criminalisation, and immigration detention.
This year our members have been remarkably productive, publishing a range of academic monographs and reports. We are proud to have been involved in the publication of the first research handbook of the subfield, that was edited by four current or former members. Emerald Publishing is launching a new book series that will be edited by Andriani Fili and Anthea Vogl, while many members continue to publish their work in the Routledge studies in Criminal Justice, Citizenship and Border Control.
We were also honoured that our long-term collaboration with the Border Violence Monitoring Network and the Mobile Info Team was highly commended in University of Oxford’s Social Sciences Impact Awards for its contribution to public engagement. Francesca Esposito together with AVID and the Unchained Collective launched a short animated film, Removed! on the experiences of women in immigration detention in the UK, that is deeply affecting.
Our members have also contributed to urgent policy debates: In August 2024, we issued a joint statement opposing the reopening of Haslar and Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centres in the UK. In February 2025, we published a briefing on the UK’s proposed Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, highlighting the serious risks posed by expanding criminal offences tied to irregular entry. Vicky Taylor, joint chair of the criminology of asylum thematic group, has continued to work with a range of barristers and civil society actors to demand an end to the imprisonment of children crossing the channel on small boats in search of asylum. Most recently, in April 2025, a powerful report titled "No Beds, No Light, No Rights" shed light on the continued use of Greek police stations as de facto detention centres—underscoring our ongoing commitment to exposing hidden sites of confinement and rights violations.
In September we will once more be coming together in person, this time at the University of Cambridge. Last year, in Essex, we decided to try to focus on more hopeful themes, an approach that has resonated widely– with each thematic group proposing panels that reflect this intention.
Yet, it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge the bleak political landscape in which we all operate. As the politics of border control in the US hardens further and the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum continues to strip away asylum protections, it gets harder and harder to stay optimistic. Under these circumstances, maintaining spaces for connection, both online and in person, remains crucial.
It is easy to dismiss academic work as abstract or irrelevant. Yet as our members remind us over and over again, knowledge production is not just about evidence. In writing, thinking, talking, making films and documentaries, in meetings, and in doing, there are seeds of solidarity and transformation. These are not only acts of imagination, but acts of creation. Our role in this may be small, but it is a meaningful one, and one in which to remain steadfast and committed.
This commitment feels especially urgent in light of the recent attacks on academic freedom and student protest across universities in the United States. As students and faculty face increasing repression for speaking out against injustice, it becomes even clearer that spaces and organisations like Border Criminologies cannot be passive—they are part of a broader terrain and community of resistance. We stand in solidarity with those who are targeted for their efforts to challenge the violence of borders and to imagine more just futures worldwide. Our work, collectively and critically, continues.
Andriani, Mary and Sanja
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