Ishrat Hossain is a final year DPhil candidate in International Relations at Oxford University where she is studying as a Commonwealth Scholar. Born and raised in Bangladesh, Ishrat holds a BA and MA in English Literature from the University of Dhaka and a second MA in International Relations from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra where she was an Endeavour scholar.
Ishrat’s research lies at the intersection between comparative and international politics and focuses on the politics of ethnicity, conflict, and refugee movements.
Her doctoral project investigates the impacts of large-scale refugee influx on the ethnic relations of the host country through the case of Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh. It examines how ethnoreligious minority groups respond to intercommunal tensions and navigate security and social challenges induced by refugee movements through minority civic institutions. She uses comparative historical analysis and ethnographic fieldwork among minority groups in Bangladesh to capture variation in intergroup relations and refugee crisis response strategies.
Ishrat’s research project at the Centre for Fundamental Rights:
During the visiting fellowship Ishrat’s new research project will examine the workings of refugee social networks to explore how refugees use formal and informal networking mechanisms (both at individual and collective levels) to cope with hardship, navigate bureaucratic policies, engage in civic activism, and make decisions regarding onward mobility.
