On Tuesday 7 February, LMH hosted an evening marking the establishment of a Junior Research Fellowship in Refugee Studies and Forced Migration funded by Ockenden International and to be named in honour of their Founder, the late Joyce Pearce, OBE (LMH 1934-37).

The Chancellor of the University, the Rt Hon the Lord Patten of Barnes, CH, spoke on Oxford’s international reach. A trustee of Ockenden International, Stephen Claypole informed the audience about the charity and introduced them to the post holder, the Junior Research Fellow, Dr Kirsten McConnachie.

BBC journalist and news presenter, Michael Buerk, announced the creation by Ockenden of an annual award of £50,000, open to NGO’s and their partners to recognise and reward innovative work with displaced people around the world, particularly in the field of self-reliance. The objectives of the award will include highlighting the challenges faced by displaced people, raising awareness of their range of needs, and providing reward and recognition for those giving inspirational support.

Ockenden International and Joyce Pearce

Ockenden International’s roots lie in the work of three British schoolteachers, led by Joyce Pearce, who created the Ockenden Venture in the 1951.  Their aim was to receive in Britain young East Europeans from homeless persons’ camps in Germany and to provide for their maintenance, education and welfare. This work later extended to projects in India, north Africa and south-east Asia.  The venture’s expertise and skills in helping people help themselves was so well recognised by 1979 that the British government asked Ockenden to be one of the three charities tasked with helping Vietnamese ‘boat people’ resettle in the United Kingdom.

After the driving visionary of the organisation, Joyce Pearce, died in 1985, the charity took stock of its work and by 1999, as Ockenden International, had concentrated nearly all its work overseas. In 2007 the trustees decided that continuing to be an operational charity was no longer sustainable and that it could work more effectively by becoming a grant-maker and promoting awareness of the challenges facing displaced people.

Photography by www.RichardBudd.co.uk (C) 2012.

Related links

Oxford University news: Lady Margaret Hall creates new scholarships, fellowship with Santander and Ockenden International

Signing Ceremony with Santander and the University of Alcala