This project brings together inter-disciplinary scholars from a newly formed Girlhood in Migration Network to develop a comprehensive and coordinated interdisciplinary, international research agenda on girlhood in migration. Although available research explores gendered migration for adults, few academics address girlhood in this context and several theoretical, methodological and ethical questions remain underexplored. Further, migration research has largely been discipline-specific resulting in missed opportunities for integrated knowledge and practice development.

Key unanswered interdisciplinary questions include: How should we study girlhood in migration and its intersections with age, racialisation, sexuality and other identity positions? What are commonalities in responses to girls in forced migration and how do they differ? How can we ethically bring together scholars from the Global North and Global South to identify tensions and commonalities and develop new knowledge? What methodologies would best promote ethical participation of migrant girls in the production of knowledge?

Funding will enable a two-day self-directed workshop with Girlhood in Migration Network scholars. The workshop will further establish the Network in its initial phase of implementation and strengthen collaboration across members’ disciplines and institutions. Workshop aims are two-fold: Firstly, to map the existing knowledge base and identify synergies and gaps to deepen our understanding of key issues for girls in migration; secondly, to foster long-term research collaborations and the extension of the Network within and beyond Europe. There will be three main outputs. A position-setting paper will identify missing areas of knowledge about migrant girls from an interdisciplinary, intersectional perspective. A special issue of Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies or Journal for Refugee Studies will explore key themes and potential theoretical frameworks for inter-disciplinary research with migrant girls. Finally, a 3-Year Research Strategy will establishing a future international research direction to improve responses to girls in forced migration.