Dr Harrell-Bond was the founding Director of The Refugee Studies Programme at Oxford University and served from 1982 until 1996. She fought hard to gain acceptance of the academic community of the importance and validity of research on forced migration, and has campaigned tirelessly for refugee communities around the world, particularly in Africa. She has often been severely critical of the attitudes of both governments and NGOs to refugees. In 1996 she was given the Distinguished Service Award by the American Anthropological Association. She is currently continuing her work at the American University in Cairo.
Dr Harrell-Bond matriculated at LMH as a postgraduate student and took a Diploma in Anthropology in 1966 and a DPhil in 1970. She was elected to an Honorary Fellowship in 2004.