Dr Bianca Fadel

Research Projects:

I have extensive academic experience in engaging with stakeholders and volunteers through qualitative and participatory methodologies, notably in East Africa. My PhD research in Burundi analysed local volunteering during protracted crises and its implications for humanitarian and development discourses and practices. In Uganda, my collaborative work as part of the Refugee Youth Volunteering Uganda (RYVU) research team explored volunteering experiences among refugees in Uganda through a mixed-methods approach, particularly engaging with young refugees from the four main nationalities present in the country: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Somalia. The RYVU research project challenges established thinking on volunteering, identifying the diverse roles of refugee youth volunteers in urban and rural settings in Uganda and revealing its impacts on their employability and the inequalities they experience. Importantly, the research was supported by local Youth Advisory Boards comprised of young refugees who shared their expertise and provided valuable guidance to the team throughout all project phases.

Selected publications:

Okech, M., Baillie Smith, M., Fadel, B. & Mills, S. (2024). The Reproduction of Inequality Through Volunteering by Young Refugees in Uganda. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organisations. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-023-00631-6

Baillie Smith, M., Mills, S., Okech, M., & Fadel, B. (2022). Uneven geographies of youth volunteering in Uganda: multi-scalar discourses and practices. Geoforum, 134, 30–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.05.006

Chadwick, A., & Fadel, B. (2020). Volunteerism and Community Resilience: Locally Owned Solutions Delivering Impact (Volunteering Together to Enable Change and Create a Better World Context Papers). IAVE, Washington DC.