2 March 2025
Date: September 8-9, 2025
Location: University of Birmingham (UoB), Edgbaston Campus, Birmingham, UK
The UKRI-funded Making Aid Work for Displaced Women Project at the University of Birmingham, in collaboration with the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, invites you to participate in the Symposium on Gender, Displacement, and Islamic Philanthropy: Advancing Humanitarian Innovation. This symposium seeks to mobilize new voices and conceptual resources to build bridges between mainstream humanitarian and Islamic philanthropic approaches to women in displacement and humanitarian crises. We invite multi- and interdisciplinary papers from social scientists, humanitarian practitioners and Islamic legal scholars to expand the evidence base on how Islamic philanthropy responds to humanitarian crises and addresses the specific needs and rights of women. We look forward to your contributions and to advancing the discourse on gender, displacement, and Islamic philanthropy.
This symposium aims to push interdisciplinary boundaries and contribute to developing an inclusive humanitarian policy and practice. By connecting humanitarian, migration, and religious systems, the symposium provides a platform to exchange and discuss innovative conceptual and financing solutions to support displaced women through integrating different aid paradigms.
In particular, the event aims to offer space for theological development and the integration of humanitarian law, Islamic law and ethics to advance displaced women’s protection in Muslim contexts. For example, the Symposium seeks to improve understanding of the relationship between Islamic philanthropy and displaced women’s protection by drawing on Islamic humanitarian law and ethics. The presentations and papers from the Symposium will inform gender-sensitive Islamic philanthropy models and a faith-sensitive framework for displaced women’s protection.
The symposium will feature three tracks:
- Islamic philanthropic responses to women in humanitarian and forced migration contexts (exploring diverse actors, interventions and Islamic law and ethics).
- Women-led Islamic philanthropy and humanitarian actions in forced migration.
- Lessons learnt from real-life practical case studies of Islamic philanthropy assisting displaced women.
Lessons learnt from real-life practical case studies of Islamic philanthropy assisting displaced women.
Areas of interest (non-exclusive):
- Experiences of displaced women receiving assistance from Muslim donors/Islamic philanthropy actors (mainstream charities, FBOs, states, multilateral and international organisations, including inter-governmental and financial institutions)
- Protection and inclusion of displaced women in Muslim-majority and minority contexts
- The role of state and non-state humanitarian actors and their approaches to gender, displacement and philanthropy
- Approaches and responses of Muslim donors to women in displacement
- Islamic social finance in international and multilateral organizations
- Displaced women in IHL and Islamic humanitarian law
- Islamic ethics of displaced women’s protection and inclusion
- Theological development for refugee women’s protection
- Islamic feminism, intersectionality and humanitarianism
- Humanitarian diplomacy, international relations and religion
- Gender accountability of Islamic social finance; gender responsiveness of Islamic philanthropy instruments; gender-sensitive Islamic philanthropy models
- The role of women in driving innovation in Islamic social finance
Authors will have the opportunity to publish their papers in a special issue of the Journal of Muslim Philanthropy & Civil Society and Muslim Humanitarianism Review Journal, published by Indiana University Press or in an edited book series, titled Muslim Philanthropy and Civil Society.
Keynote speakers, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (Professor in Migration and Refugee Studies, University College London) and Dr Khaled Khalifa (Senior Advisor, Representative to the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – UNHCR), will tackle the intersection of gender and responses to displacement in the Global North and Global South, while exploring the significance of Islamic social finance, emerging issues and tensions.
In addition, the Symposium will feature two workshops on fundraising and faith-sensitive framework for protection of displaced women.
Submission Guidelines:
Abstracts should be 500 words and include methodology and main findings. Oral presentations will be accepted.
All abstracts will be reviewed by the scientific committee.
Submission Deadline: April 10, 2025
Contact
For Symposium Call for Papers inquiries, please contact [email protected].
For Symposium Logistics, please contact [email protected].
