Kurdish community organisations in London: a social network analysis

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on ethnic community organisations and social capital analysing the structures and functions of networks among Kurdish community organisations in London. Though encompassing a wide range of differences, Kurdish communities show a significant internal cohesion, which has strengthened in recent years. In the last two decades several organisations have been set up to address the specific needs of these communities and to promote their cultural identity. The complex network of relations in which Kurdish organisations operate has a major role in shaping their daily life and activities. Personal relations between coordinators and board members emerge as the main factor influencing the development of organisational links. An important role is also played by the kind of services provided and by the characteristics of users and members of staff. Organisational networks appear to enhance the Social Capital of both organisations and the people they serve. This ‘network of organisations’ is often perceived by its members as a social reality in its own right. However, formal coordination activities are still very limited and the organisational networks are far from being used at their full potential. Kurdish organisations have also developed an important capital of ‘weak ties’ with local authorities and mainstream organisation, apparently without major conflicts for ‘external representation’; on the other hand, Kurdish communities are not able to speak with a common voice on a London-wide scale. Attempts to develop a formal consortium or umbrella body in the past were frustrated by personal differences and political divisions. A new initiative in this direction is currently under development

Outsourcing the State’s responsibilities? Third sector organizations supporting migrant families’ participation in schools in Catalonia and London

Based on two case studies of Third Sector Organizations (TSOs) working with schools and parents in Catalonia and London, this paper aims to discuss some of the implications of ‘participative’ programs aimed at involving those migrant families seen by schools as ‘hard to reach’. Firstly, we describe how an ambiguous notion of participation can shift responsibilities to families and leave internal school practices free from critical gaze. Secondly, we focus on the complexities and tensions involved in the process of partnering TSOs with schools, because of the bureaucratic nature of educational institutions and unresolved conflicts of interests and responsibilities. Finally, we argue that the potential of these initiatives were limited and diluted by being stand-alone and time-limited. Our analysis suggests that, in spite of their apparent success, they ended up being part of powerful authorizing narratives that justify the outsourcing of public services and the abdication of State’s responsibilities

Screening by coral green fluorescent protein (GFP)-like chromoproteins supports a role in photoprotection of zooxanthellae

Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-like pigments are responsible for the vivid colouration of many reef-building corals and have been proposed to act as photoprotectants. Their role remains controversial because the functional mechanism has not been elucidated. We provide direct evidence to support a photoprotective role of the non-fluorescent chromoproteins (CPs) that form a biochemically and photophysically distinct group of GFP-like proteins. Based on observations of Acropora nobilis from the Great Barrier Reef, we explored the photoprotective role of CPs by analysing five coral species under controlled conditions. In vitro and in hospite analyses of chlorophyll excitation demonstrate that screening by CPs leads to a reduction in chlorophyll excitation corresponding to the spectral properties of the specific CPs present in the coral tissues. Between 562 and 586 nm, the CPs maximal absorption range, there was an up to 50 % reduction of chlorophyll excitation. The screening was consistent for established and regenerating tissue and amongst symbiont clades A, C and D. Moreover, among two differently pigmented morphs of Acropora valida grown under identical light conditions and hosting subclade type C3 symbionts, high CP expression correlated with reduced photodamage under acute light stress

Particle acceleration and radiation friction effects in the filamentation instability of pair plasmas

The evolution of the filamentation instability produced by two counter-streaming pair plasmas is studied with particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations in both one (1D) and two (2D) spatial dimensions. Radiation friction effects on particles are taken into account. After an exponential growth of both the magnetic field and the current density, a nonlinear quasi-stationary phase sets up characterized by filaments of opposite currents. During the nonlinear stage, a strong broadening of the particle energy spectrum occurs accompanied by the formation of a peak at twice their initial energy. A simple theory of the peak formation is presented. The presence of radiative losses does not change the dynamics of the instability but affects the structure of the particle spectra.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, submitted to MNRA

Enfield Citizens’ Advice Bureau - clients profile & needs gap analysis

This research report maps the characteristics of Enfield Citizens Advice Bureau’s clients and explores their needs and the impact of CAB services on their lives. The report also identifies challenges and opportunities faced by the organisation and, more generally, by local third sector service providers in the changing funding and policy environment

Measuring integration? Exploring socio-economic indicators of integration of third country nationals. MITI: United Kingdom national report

This document is the UK report of a European project which explored the measurement of migrants’ integration. The project, Migrants’ Integration Territorial Index (MITI) was funded by the European Union as part of its INTI programme on the integration of Third Country nationals. The project aimed to gather available statistical data on themes relevant to integration and to explore the possibility of developing an index of integration which could compare progress towards integration in the different regions of an individual state

Changing times: migrants’ social network analysis and the challenges of longitudinal research

Focusing on migrant social networks, this paper draws upon the sociology of time to incorporate complex notions of temporality into the research process. In so doing, we consider firstly, the challenge of going ‘beyond the snapshot’ in data collection to capture dynamism through time. Secondly, we apply the concepts of timescapes to explore ways of addressing the wider context and the interplay between spatiality, temporality and relationality in migration research. We argue that integrating a mixed methods approach to SNA, crucially including visualisation, can provide a useful methodological and analytical framework to understand dynamics. SNA can also be helpful in bridging the personal and structural dimensions in migration research, by providing a meso level of analysis. However, it is also important to connect the investigation of local and transnational networks with an analysis of the broader social, economic and political contexts in which these take shape; in other words, connecting the micro and the meso with the wider macro level. Drawing upon reflections from our migration research studies, we argue that different combinations of quantitative, qualitative and visual methods do not just provide richer sets of data and insights, but can allow us to better connect conceptualisations – and ontologies – of social networks with specific methodological frameworks

From mobile workers to fellow citizens and back again? The future status of EU citizens in the UK

Growing concerns and hostility towards continuing large-scale flows of immigrants following the two rounds of EU enlargement and high levels of net migration played a major part in the Brexit referendum result for the UK to leave the EU. So too had welfare chauvinism, or the belief that welfare benefits should be restricted to citizens, come to the fore in negative attitudes to EU immigration, reflecting a rejection of EU migrants as fellow citizens. As the article shows, proposals as of summer 2017 for the status of current EU citizens in the UK indicate a desire by the UK government to incorporate current EU citizens within the far more restrictive British immigration rules, thereby curtailing some of their basic free movement rights, especially in relation to future family members. Leaked proposals for future EU citizens post-Brexit are to bring them within a single overall immigration system covering EU and non-EU migrants and applying differential rights of residence to skilled and less skilled, thereby stratifying EU migrants according to educational level and labour market sector. This would represent a return to the status of mobile workers with conditional rights of residence and social entitlements similar to those faced by non-EU migrants