On April 14th and 15th, 2025, the ROCIT Research Team held an international meeting and seminar in Warsaw, attended by team members and invited guests. This time, we focused on two main themes: collective accommodation, reflecting on the experiences of hosting forced migrants from Ukraine over the past three years, and the theoretical concept of unequal citizenship.
The first day started from the panel “Between Emergency and Permanence: Collective Accommodation for Displaced Ukrainians in Poland” with Natalia Bloch and Zbigniew Szmyt (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland), Małgorzata Kołaczek (Towards Dialogue Foundation, Warsaw, Poland), as well as Monika Szewczyk and Ignacy Jóźwiak (Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw). Following the 2022 Russian aggression on Ukraine, Poland was the main destination and transit country for the forced migrants from the war-torn country. They found temporary accomodation offered by individuals, enterprises, local and regional administration, religious groups and other actors. In the panel, we critically analysed the role of collective accommodation centres, which have become a key mechanism for crisis management especially in the context of the amendments to the March 2022 law on assistance to Ukrainian citizens, commonly referred to as specustawa (“special law”).
In their presentation, Natalia Bloch and Zbigniew Szmyt (Adam Mickiewicz University), based on data from the Ministry of Interior, conducted qualitative research and attempted to assess the functioning of collective accommodation centres, highlighting both their strengths and their limitations. In their presentation, they shed light on the cooperation between state institutions, local authorities, NGOs and private entities, raising important questions about management, sustainability and strategy. The March 2023 amendment to the specustawa made it mandatory for the forced migrants to pay 50% of the costs for their stay in Collective Accommodation Centres, and 75% of the costs from May 2023 (up to 1,800 PLN per adult per month and 450 PLN per child).The amendment indicates categories of people exempted from the fee, such as single persons with more than two children, pregnant women, people with disabilities or other persons in a “difficult life situation”. The buildings designated for the Collective Accomodation Centers are often of a low standard and the costs are often inadequate for the living conditions there. The location of Collective Accommodation Centres in places far from larger towns and cities, with limited access to public transport limits access to the labour market and social services, which makes social inclusion and integration more difficult. You can read more about their project on the website Hosting Refugees.
In the following speech, Małgorzata Kołaczek from the Towards Dialogue Foundation (Fundacja w Stronę Dialogu) talked about the Foundation’s experience of supporting Ukrainian Roma forced migrants since the outbreak of the full-scale war. The activities have been aimed at improving their social, educational and integrational situation and raising awareness of the needs and problems specific for the Ukrainian Roma forced migrants. To this end, the Foundation has been cooperating with local communities, institutions and international organisations. Volunteers and staff supporting Ukrainian Roma have repeatedly reported acts of discrimination, marginalisation and segregation. You will find more about the Foundation’s work and their interventions on their website.
Monika Szewczyk and Ignacy Jóźwiak from the ROCIT Research Team delivered a presentation titled “Collective accommodation centres in Poland – Rural idyll or rural isolation?” based on our ethnography of the collective accommodation centres that host the Ukrainian Roma forced migrants. This multi-sited ethnography provides us with an in-depth knowledge and the perspectives and testimonies of those who live there. Part of the research has been also conducted in Germany, where we visited the relatives of our Poland based interlocutors. The residents of the centres in Poland fear for their residence statuses and social entitlements and their uncertain right to stay in Poland. This anxiety stems from the state’s gradual withdrawal from the assistance and possible the closure of the government-supported accommodation facilities, and partly from a lack of information about the laws that regulate their situation. They live in a limbo and constant uncertainty, to quote one of our interlocutors: “You see life passing around you. Years keep passing, everything changes and your life stands still. It’s as if someone took a remote control and pressed a pause button”
On this day, we were hosted by the Centre of Excellence in Social Sciences located at the University of Warsaw Library. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, we enjoyed our lunch break in its magnificent rooftop gardens.
In the second part of the day, we took part in a workshop on flash ethnography led by Natalia Bloch from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Unlike “traditional” ethnography which involves long-term immersion in a community or setting and extensive, in-depth writing, flash ethnography focuses on the fast track processing and sharing of the key in-depth insights on the studied phenomena. The key features of flash ethnography include: pace; length (2-4 pages); focus (specific issues, events and characters rather than a broad, holistic understanding. Some of the examples of flash ethnography you will find on the webpage of the project run by Natalia, and hopefully some more will come up as a result of our own work:
On the second day, our guest speaker, Aleksandra Tarkhanova from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) presented her past and ongoing research about different shades and facets of Ukrainian citizenship in the context of war, displacement and occupation. Here you can read more about her project, entitled: “Radical reconfugurations of state-citizen relations. The case of Ukraine”. In her presentation, Tarkhanova, described the ways internally displaced persons and residents of occupied territories navigate citizenship amid these shifts. Drawing from her research conducted before 2022 at the contact line and state welfare institutions in Eastern Ukraine, Tarkhanova illustrated the everyday practices and struggles of those living in precarious borderlands. Her analysis, starting from 2014, shed light on the fluid and contested nature of citizenship in conflict zones, where access to social rights, symbolic recognition, and the broader social contract are constantly redefined. The full-scale invasion in 2022 not only accelerated but furthered reconfigured state-citizen relations in unprecedented ways. Tarkhanova’s work underscores how displacement and occupation are not merely disruptions but catalysts for deeper political and social change, challenging the boundaries of belonging and state responsibility.
We are grateful for the opportunity to engage with her research and look forward to following her work as it continues to unfold. We are especially grateful for her active participation in the workshop, where she generously shared her insights and provided thoughtful feedback on our ongoing work around unequal citizenship. Her reflections helped us refine our ideas and think more critically about the intersections of citizenship, displacement, ethnicity, and state power.
Our third onsite meeting was hosted by the Centre of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw, and we are immensly grateful for their generous support and exceptional hospitality.
This meeting marked an important milestone for the ROCIT Research Team. Over the course of two days, we shared critical reflections, engaged in thought-provoking discussions, and collectively deepened our understanding of the ongoing transformations in displacement and accommodation. We are immensely grateful to all the speakers and participants for their insightful contributions, which brought to light the complexities of collective accommodation, the experiences of Ukrainian Roma forced migrants, and the shifting dynamics of citizenship in times of war and displacement. Your reflections and expertise have enriched our dialogue and strengthened our commitment to addressing these pressing issues with depth and empathy.
Thank you all once again for being part of this important meeting!
