UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

Their core work

UNHCR is the UN's refugee agency, mandated to protect and assist refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced populations worldwide. In EU research, they contribute operational field expertise on refugee mental health, asylum governance, and migrant narratives — areas where they hold unmatched real-world data and access to displaced communities. Their involvement in H2020 projects brings the perspective of the world's largest refugee protection organization, grounding academic research in frontline operational reality.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

UNHCR's H2020 involvement shifted from direct humanitarian intervention research toward governance and historical narrative work. Early projects (2017) focused on mental health service delivery and psychosocial scaling in active crisis zones (Syrian refugee crisis). Later projects (2019-2021) moved upstream to policy analysis, asylum governance frameworks, and archival work on migrant experiences — reflecting a broader trend from emergency response research toward systemic and structural questions.

UNHCR is moving from crisis-response research toward policy architecture and historical documentation of displacement, suggesting future collaborations will focus on governance frameworks and rights-based approaches.

How they like to work

UNHCR participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as an operational agency contributing field expertise rather than managing academic consortia. With 39 unique partners across 18 countries from just 3 projects, they work in large, diverse consortia. This means partnering with UNHCR connects you to wide international networks, but expect them to contribute domain knowledge and field access rather than project management.

Despite only 3 projects, UNHCR has connected with 39 partners across 18 countries — an exceptionally broad network reflecting the large consortia typical of societal challenge projects. Their reach spans well beyond Europe, consistent with their global operational mandate.

What sets them apart

UNHCR is the only global intergovernmental refugee agency participating in H2020 research, giving them unmatched access to displaced populations, field operations in 130+ countries, and real-time data on asylum systems worldwide. For any consortium working on migration, displacement, or refugee-related topics, UNHCR brings immediate operational credibility and access that no university or NGO can replicate. Their involvement signals to reviewers that research will be grounded in actual refugee protection practice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ASILE
  Directly evaluates the UN Global Compact on Refugees — one of the defining international policy instruments on displacement — with UNHCR itself as a research partner.
• ITHACA
  Their only project with recorded EC funding (EUR 381,250) and an unusual combination of digital archives with migration studies, representing a newer direction for UNHCR in research.
• STRENGTHS
  Addresses the critical gap of mental health services for Syrian refugees at scale, combining UNHCR's field presence with implementation science.