The arrival of asylum seekers on small boats to British shores and the public’s attitude to the issue will be examined as part of a new study on the past century of immigration to the UK.
Dr Ellen Pilsworth has been awarded nearly £2 million from UK Research and Innovation’s Future Leaders Fellowships fund to study how Britain has welcomed refugees over the past century.
The four-year project, called Nation of Refuge, will look at three key moments in British history when large numbers of refugees arrived. These include people fleeing the Spanish Civil War and Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, Ugandan Asians expelled in the 1960s and 1970s, and people arriving since 2000 in the wake of conflict in the Middle East, including those coming to the UK across the English Channel in small boats.
Dr Pilsworth said: “This research comes at a crucial time in British political and social history. By exploring how public sentiment and discussion around refugees has shifted over the past century, we will be able to provide valuable context to current debates on Britain’s role as a nation of refuge in the future.
“While recent debates have focused on small boat crossings, Britain has liked to portray itself as a country that welcomes refugees. The Kindertransport, which brought Jewish children to safety in the run-up to the Second World War, is one example.
“It is vital to the strength of our democracy that we hold political discussions in the full understanding of the facts, not just in terms of raw numbers or historical context, but in light of public understanding and sentiment.”
Future thinking
Home Office data shows a total of 109,343 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2025, the highest annual figure this century. Compared with other European countries, the UK received the fifth largest number of asylum seekers in 2024 and the seventeenth largest intake when measured ‘per head of population’. Germany, Spain and Italy each received more than 150,000 asylum seekers in the same period.
Partners involved in the work include the Mass Observation Project, University of Sussex, Rank & File Theatre, which works with asylum seekers and refugees, and Reading Museum. Dr Pilsworth and her team will also interview people directly, including refugees themselves, to understand their experiences.
The project has been awarded funding to 2029 as part of UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships, which will distribute £120 million to 77 early-career researchers to lead vital research and develop their careers as the research and innovation leaders of the future. The University of Reading now has five UKRI Future Leaders Fellows.
Frances Burstow, Director of Talent and Skills at UKRI, said: “UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with long-term support and training to embark on large and complex research programmes, to address key national and global challenges.”
