Oral History and Collective Memory: Documenting Refugee Voices and the Challenges of Archival Representation

This paper will explore the concept of preserving refugee rights in the records that we keep, and will explore how we have undertaken civic engagement and outreach work with refugees and asylum seekers in London and beyond to explore ways of documenting their stories through the us of bottom-up oral history methodologies and the use of objectives and textiles as a means of preserving collective memories and a new modes of representation beyond the traditional written word. It will also consider the role of ethics and the role of archives in documenting under-represented communities. The Refugee Council Archive at UEL is a growing collection of archival materials documenting the refugee experience. This paper will reflect on our work exploring the very nature of what we mean by the concept of an “archive,” and explore the challenges of bottom-up methodological approaches for helping to preserve the collective memory of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in way that enables their voices to be heard in a positive way and is documentation along the best methodology to achieve this

The Seventieth Anniversary of the Refugee Council: Voluntary Action, Living Archives and Refugee Voices

This issue of Displaced Voices, published during Refugee Week, reflects on the 70th anniversary of both the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the establishment of the third sector organisations that were to become the Refugee Council. Our theme for this issue was: Twentieth Century Histories of Civic Society Responses to Crises of Displacement. Throughout these seven decades, the issues of refuge and displacement, and the challenges faced by those undertaking the migration journey, have continued to require an engaged response from third sector organisations, often filling the void left by the relative inaction of national governments. This article considers the key narratives located within this issue, whilst also exploring our role as the host archival repository of the Refugee Council. The anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on our work undertaking anti-oppressive, participatory and collaborative methods working directly with refugees, community groups and third-sector organisations

Aquaplaning assessment and mitigation in flat terrains

1.1 Aims The aim of this project is to research and analyse potential solutions to reduce the risk of aquaplaning on roads in flat terrain (particularly on transitions of superelevated curves) and determine whether the current design standards used in Queensland are appropriate. 1.2 Objectives The objectives of this research come under two broad categories. The first of which is to determine whether the current methodology and standard requirements used in Queensland for assessing aquaplaning potential are appropriate. Upon completion of this research project, a register of the methodologies and standards used internationally will be compiled. The underlying principles, assumptions and calculation bases of each method will be presented and compared with those of the Australian method. Advice regarding the suitability of the Australian method will be presented and recommendations for improvement will be given if applicable. The second objective of this research is to identify solutions to reduce aquaplaning potential and where they are most applicable. Several internationally used solutions to this problem will be investigated and evaluated to determine the advantages and disadvantages of each. Recommendations will also be provided regarding the applicability of each solution to the context of Southern Queensland