GW Diaspora, a new research and policy program housed in the Institute for Global and International Studies in the Elliott School of International Affairs, will study groups displaced from their native lands.

“Governments and international organizations are beginning to acknowledge diasporas as important political, economic and social actors on the global stage,” said Jennifer Brinkerhoff, the director of the program, in a press statement. “Diaspora remittances, human capital and entrepreneurship are increasingly acknowledged as vital to many developing economies across the globe.”

Diaspora is the study of a group that is forced to leave its native homeland.

“The GW Diaspora program will address several issues that have become increasingly important in international relations. This interdisciplinary program will advance our understanding of these dynamic challenges,” added Elliott School Dean Michael E. Brown in a press release.