What is policy relevance in refugee and forced migration research?: rethinking the dual imperative

Abstract Scholarship on forced migration regularly contends with the politicization of its subject. In 2026, scholars again confront heightened political anxiety around migration and refugees, begging a reconsideration of the ethical stakes and impacts of research in an expanded and transformed academic field. In 2003, Jacobsen and Landau published their seminal article on ethics in forced migration research, arguing that there is a “dual imperative” to conduct research that is both rigorous and policy relevant. This dialogue article considers how the “dual imperative” has evolved over the past two decades. Rather than reaffirming the dual imperative, the dialogue suggests a critical shift, from asking how researchers can better engage policymakers to questioning whether, when, and at what cost policy engagement should occur. In doing so, the article reframes policy impact as a contested and negotiated process and calls for greater reflexivity about the politics that refugee research serves.