MHADRI · OUR JOURNEY
Our history
A decade of connection, collaboration and evidence-informed action in migration health.
Built on a shared purpose
From an inaugural meeting in 2016 to a global community of migration health researchers, MHADRI’s story is one of connection, collaboration and a shared commitment to evidence-informed action.
Our development has been shaped by in-person meetings, research partnerships, knowledge-sharing initiatives and contributions from members across disciplines and regions. Throughout this journey, our mission and principles have remained consistent: advance ethical research, include people affected by migration, strengthen Global South participation, and connect evidence with policy and practice.
2016
The beginnings of MHADRI
- MHADRI’s inaugural meeting took place at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom. This gathering marked the beginning of an international research network focused on migration, health and development.
- The founding ambition was to connect researchers across disciplinary and institutional boundaries, creating opportunities for collaboration around the health and wellbeing of people and communities affected by migration.
February 2017
First Steering Committee meeting in Sri Lanka
- MHADRI held its first Steering Committee meeting in Sri Lanka alongside the Second Global Consultation on Migrant Health.
- This was an early milestone in the network’s organisational development, bringing its emerging leadership together in the context of an international consultation on migration and health. It forms part of the foundations of the network’s Steering Committee structure.
May 2018
Edinburgh
- Members met on the sidelines of the migration, ethnicity and health conference in Edinburgh.
- The meeting continued MHADRI’s early practice of bringing researchers together alongside international conferences, providing an opportunity for face-to-face exchange within a geographically dispersed network.
September 2019
A collaboration with The BMJ and IOM
- The launch of The BMJ’s migration health series, developed in collaboration with MHADRI and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), marked an important publishing partnership.
- The series sought perspectives from migrants and refugee communities, researchers, government authorities, policymakers, practitioners and civil society. Its focus connected individual experiences with health systems and the political dimensions of migration health, creating a platform for evidence and analysis relevant to policy and practice.
2020
Sharing evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic
- As COVID-19 brought urgent attention to the relationships between health and human mobility, MHADRI shared research resources through its website, including information about IOM’s Migration Health Evidence Portal and bibliometric work on COVID-19 and migration health.
- These resources highlighted the importance of examining migrants’ health needs and experiences—not only the role of mobility in the spread of infection.
- The network also issued a call for papers and multimedia contributions to The BMJ series, encouraging contributions from low- and middle-income countries and collaboration between researchers and policymakers.
2021–2022
Opening opportunities for collaborative evidence review
- MHADRI invited members to support the review of publications for IOM’s COVID-19 migration health evidence work.
- The invitation offered opportunities to screen and tag relevant research publications, with training provided by IOM’s Research and Epidemiology Unit. It illustrated a practical route through which members could contribute to a shared evidence resource.
- 2022 | Sharing learning and research opportunities
- MHADRI continued to share opportunities for learning and scholarly exchange, including an online migration and health course and a call for critical perspectives on migrants, migration and COVID-19 vaccination.
- These activities reflected the network’s role in connecting researchers with training opportunities and emerging debates in migration health.
September–November 2023
Members contribute to regional capacity building
- MHADRI members contributed to the fourth online Health and Migration course organised by the Center for Health and Migration, Austria, and IOM.
- The course accommodated 70 participants from 11 countries in East and the Horn of Africa, working in policy development, programme coordination, healthcare and social work. A teaching team of 24 experts from 12 countries developed and facilitated 18 half-day sessions.
- New modules addressed nutrition and food security, climate change, and transnational families. Members’ contributions demonstrated one way the network’s expertise could support learning among professionals working with communities affected by migration.
18 March 2024
An in-person meeting in South Africa
- MHADRI’s in-person meeting in South Africa provided an occasion to take stock of the network’s development.
- The historical overview prepared for the meeting brought together its mission, vision and values, early meetings, research outputs, capacity-building contributions and organisational priorities. It also reaffirmed the importance of Global South representation, participation across institutional settings, and support for early- and mid-career researchers.
2026
Ten years since our beginnings
- Ten years after its inaugural meeting, MHADRI’s founding purpose remains the focus of its international research community: connecting people and evidence to advance migration health.
- The network’s published research portfolio includes BIB 2.0, an update mapping global migration health research published between 2017 and 2022, and a global mapping of migration health training and capacity-building programmes undertaken with the African Centre for Migration & Society at the University of the Witwatersrand.
- Looking ahead, our priorities remain grounded in our founding commitments: ethical interdisciplinary research, meaningful inclusion of people affected by migration, stronger Global South participation, support for emerging researchers, and closer connections between research, policy and practice.
Our story continues through our people
Join MHADRI and help advance collaborative research on migration, health and development.