Refugees as Peer Researchers

This research explored the lived experiences of young people and their parents or carers, living in England, who have been displaced from their home countries for reasons including, but not limited to, conflict, poverty and experiences of discrimination. The research involved in-depth interviews
with 57 young people, aged 14 to 19, and 33 of their parents or carers. The majority of those interviews were conducted by peer researchers – seven young people with lived experiences of displacement.

You can read about the background, findings and methodology of this research in the report published on the ONS website. The research report describes the experiences that participants shared in their interviews, such as their arrival in the UK and their access and engagement with key services: education, healthcare, housing and other support. In this report, you can also read about other participatory research methods that we used, including consulting with an ‘experts by experience’ group of 14- to 17-year-olds with experience of displacement, in developing this
research.

While the purpose of the research report is to centre and convey the voices of the interview participants, this accompanying Peer Researcher Report is a space for the peer researchers themselves to reflect on the research process, themes and findings, from their own perspectives.

The peer researchers who contributed to this report have all chosen their own topics to focus on in their essays. Haleemah discusses the strengths and challenges of involving refugees as peer researchers in projects about the communities they belong to, and critically considers her own status as both an insider and an outsider within the researched community.