I'm happy to say that Mireille Paquet and Chedly Belkhodja provided an exemplary summer school experience with excellent presenters, a real diversity of student backgrounds, and a clear sense of organization and direction. Their course provided an important and rare opportunity to hear and speak with an industry-spanning array of governmental officials of multiple agencies, NGO representatives, community workers, and academic researchers. I also think that it is a mark of distinction to see that other high-profile researchers would sometimes drop in and , at times lending their experience to practical questions about research production and early-career issues.
Discussions were always lively and collegial. Happily, the required work was designed to reflect on class topic and also to provide a foundation for a student's own research to come, which is a really thoughtful reflection of course design. Mireille and Chedly are welcoming and rigorously attentive leaders. I always felt that the course was in good hands. After this experience, I can't imagine my own research into the politics and pragmatics of migration and refugee issues without the background and impetus that this summer school provided. I would strongly recommend that any interested students apply to a similar summer school in the future.