Dr Zoe Jordan

PhD

Senior Lecturer

School of Architecture

Role

I am a Senior Lecturer with the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) and co-lead of the Migration and Refugees Research Network

My research and teaching is about how refugees and other forced migrants navigate living in displacement. I am interested people living in situations of protracted urban displacement, and my research aims to understand how refugees interact with and are part of cities, and how these relationships change over time. Within this, I am particularly interested in how refugees support each other in informal 'everyday' ways, and how humanitarian actors can learn from and support these forms of everyday humanitarianism.

I am also co-Post Graduate Research Tutor (with Dr Emma Rowden) for the School of Architecture, supporting MPhil and PhD candidates within the school.

Teaching and supervision

Courses

Modules taught

DEVP7028: Forced Migration, Protection and Humanitarianism
DEVP7012: Humanitarian and Peacebuilding Programmes in Urban Conflicts
DEVP7017 Dissertation Supervision
DEVP7032: Human Rights, Forced Migration, and International Protection in the 21st Century,
DEVP7039 Dissertation Global Development and Humanitarian Practice

I am co-Subject Coordinator for the MA Global Development and Humanitarian Pracitce. I also regularly contribute to the interdisciplinary cross-faculty "Migration Dialogues" teaching, organised via the Migration and Refugees Network (MRN)

Supervision

I am currently supervising three PhD students, working on research related to internal displacement, education, livelihoods, and the local politics of international aid. I would welcome contact from prospective applicants with research interests in forced migration and humanitarian action, particularly in the Middle East or the UK.

Research Students

Name	Thesis title	Completed
Enyew Arkel	Navigating Networks in Multiple Displacement: The Normative and Institutional Framework that Shapes IDPs Access to Education and Livelihood Assistance in Ethiopia	Active
Godsend Korosha	Impacts of Multiple Displacement on Access to Education and Livelihood of Vulnerable groups Among Internally Displaced Persons in Southern Ethiopia	Active

Research

I conduct research on the humanitarian response to forced migration in protracted urban crises. I am particularly interested in informal and everyday forms of humanitarianism, and how refugees and other forced migrants navigate their displacement. My current research looks at refugee vulnerabilty and substance use in Jordan. My research has primarily focused on the Middle East, and Jordan and Lebanon in particular, as well as in the United Kingdom. Recently, I have also been working on the role of the European Union in refugee policy and practice. I have published multiple journal articles and book chapters on these topics and related themes, and am a frequent peer reviewer. Research has been funded by the ESRC, NordForsk, and the Gerda Henkel Stiftung.

Projects

Projects as Principal Investigator, or Lead Academic if project is led by another Institution

The impact of the amphetamine Captagon on refugees and vulnerable populations in Jordan (led by HSS) (01/09/2024 - 31/08/2026), funded by: Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)

Projects as Co-investigator

The AD[A]PT Consortium - Architectural Design And Humanities Promoting Transformation(01/03/2026 - 28/02/2034), funded by: Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), funded by: Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Navigating Networks in Multiple Displacement: Connecting formal and informal education and livelihood assistance for Internally Displaced Persons in Southern Ethiopia(20/01/2023 - 19/01/2026), funded by: Gerda Henkel Stiftung, funding amount received by Brookes: £109,980, funded by: Gerda Henkel Stiftung

Publications

Jordan Z, Everyday humanitarianism: Household-level refugee-refugee hosting as a humanitarian act in Amman, Jordan
Journal of Humanitarian Affairs [in press] (2025) eISSN: 2515-6411 Everyday humanitarianism: Household-level refugee-refugee hosting as a humanitarian act in Amman, Jordan Open Access version on RADAR
Jordan Z, “If I fall down, he will pick me up”: refugee hosts and everyday care in protracted displacement
Frontiers in Human Dynamics 6 (2024) eISSN: 2673-2726 “If I fall down, he will pick me up”: refugee hosts and everyday care in protracted displacement Open Access version on RADAR
Jordan Z, Making Your Own Weather: Self-Reliance and Working for Resettlement Among Sudanese Refugee Men in Amman, Jordan
Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees 39 (2) (2024) pp.1-14 ISSN: 0220-5113 eISSN: 1920-7336 Making Your Own Weather: Self-Reliance and Working for Resettlement Among Sudanese Refugee Men in Amman, Jordan Open Access version on RADAR
Jordan Z, "The world we share": Everyday relations and the political consequences of refugee-refugee hosting in Amman, Jordan
Citizenship Studies 26 (6) (2022) pp.868-884 ISSN: 1362-1025 eISSN: 1469-3593 "The world we share": Everyday relations and the political consequences of refugee-refugee hosting in Amman, Jordan Open Access version on RADAR
Jordan Z, Brun C, Vital Conjunctures in Compound Crises: Conceptualising Young People’s Education Trajectories in Protracted Displacement in Jordan and Lebanon
Social Sciences 10 (7) (2021) ISSN: 2076-0760 eISSN: 2076-0760 Vital Conjunctures in Compound Crises: Conceptualising Young People’s Education Trajectories in Protracted Displacement in Jordan and Lebanon Open Access version on RADAR
Harriss L, Parrack C, Jordan Z, Building safety in humanitarian programmes that support post-disaster shelter self-recovery: An evidence review
Disasters 44 (2) (2019) pp.307-335 ISSN: 0361-3666 eISSN: 1467-7717 Building safety in humanitarian programmes that support post-disaster shelter self-recovery: An evidence review Open Access version on RADAR

Jordan Z, (ed.), From Education to Employment? Young people's trajectories in protracted crisis ,
Centre for Lebanese Studies (2022) ISBN: 9781914521997

El Abed O, Jordan Z, Shahzadeh Y, Youth-Oriented Spaces in Amman
in Al Husseini J, Neveu N, Napolitano V (ed.), Migrations in Jordan: Reception Policies and Settlement Strategies, Bloomsbury Publishing (2024) ISBN: 9780755606863 eISBN: 9780755606863
Jordan Z, Refugee-refugee hosting as home in protracted urban displacement: Sudanese refugee men in Amman, Jordan
in Ilcan, S., Squire, V., Shamma, Y., and Underhill, H. (ed.), Migration, Culture and Identity: Making Home Away, Palgrave (2023) ISBN: 9783031120848 eISBN: 9783031120855 Refugee-refugee hosting as home in protracted urban displacement: Sudanese refugee men in Amman, Jordan Open Access version on RADAR

Jordan Z, review of Bjarnesen, J. and Turner, S. editors. 2020: Invisibility in African Displacements: From Structural Marginalization to Strategies of Avoidance
Progress in Development Studies (2021) ISSN: 1464-9934 eISSN: 1477-027X

Further details

Before joining CENDEP, I worked with NGOs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Haiti, leading and supporting humanitarian projects responding to urban displacement, internal displacement, and disaster recovery.

I also have voluntary experience with community-based organisations working with asylum-seekers and refugees in Jordan and the UK.