Corporate Ethics and the Architecture of Asylum
Friday 27 March from 6pm to 8pm
Dr Jennifer Ferng will speak about her latest book Corporate Ethics and the Architecture of Asylum. From G4S, Decmil, Ventia, and other corporations that build immigration detention centres, this book questions why such companies have evaded penalties and deny ethical responsibility for asylum seekers. It examines how architecture and law intersect in remote places like Manus Island and Nauru, impacting how the public perceives the policy of offshore processing.
Jennifer will be joined by Dr Graham Thom, advocacy coordinator at Refugee Council of Australia. He also holds a wealth of experience working with Amnesty International. Together, they will lead a provocative, lively conversation about Australian offshore and onshore detention as well as how the built environment has been co-opted by multinational contractors who control the lives of asylum seekers and refugees in the Pacific.
Dr Jennifer Ferng is Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Sydney. Her research examines how environmental and humanitarian histories have impacted contemporary issues related to the climate crisis and the forced displacement of asylum seekers and refugees. Her next book will address immigration detention centres, cities, and urban life across Southeast Asia. She received her PhD from MIT.
Dr Thom is currently the Advocacy Coordinator for the Refugee Council of Australia. Previously he worked as Amnesty International Australia’s Refugee Adviser, from May 2000 to May 2024, working on behalf of individual asylum seekers as well as on broader human rights issues relating to refugees. In 2000 Dr Thom completed his PhD at the University of Sydney’s Department of Government. He has visited detention centres in Australia, including those previously on Christmas Island and refugee camps and detention centres in the Netherlands, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, PNG, Nauru and Thailand. Dr Thom continues to give lectures and publish articles on refugee issues, both globally and domestically.