Immigration & Inclusion: Lessons for the UK from Australia

Merton welcomed Tim Soutphommasane, the new Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Balliol College, and Tiphaine Le Corre, a current DPhil student in politics at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, as speakers for the ninth Merton Equality Conversation. 

Tim spoke on the issues of immigration, equality, and inclusion in liberal democracies, drawing from his rich experience as both a political theorist, previously at the University of Sydney, and as Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner from 2013–2018.

Tiphaine’s talk focused on a discussion of who is considered 'wanted' and 'unwanted' in the UK context.

About Tim Soutphommasane:

Tim Soutphommasane commenced as Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Oxford in January 2023. He is Professor of Practice in Human Rights and Political Theory at the Department of Politics and International Relations and holds a professorial post at the University of Sydney. He is the author of five books on patriotism, multiculturalism, and race, the most recent being On Hate (2019). He was Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner from 2013 to 2018. During his term as Commissioner, he led Australia’s National Anti-Racism Strategy and public advocacy in defending the Racial Discrimination Act from repeal and amendment.

About Tiphaine Le Corre:

Tiphaine Le Corre is a PhD student in Politics at the University of Oxford working on immigration deterrence policies in the United Kingdom. She is also a research review writer at the Nuffield Politics Research Centre. After coordinating a grassroots organisation supporting displaced women living in informal settlements in Calais and Grande-Synthe, she started conducting research on immigration deterrence policies. She is the winner of the Border Criminologies Master’s dissertation prize.