The Project
AEGIS stands for Advancing Equity for children and young people seeking asylum and refugees: a blueprint for Generalisable InterventionS. The research began in March 2025 and explores inequities faced by children and young people seeking asylum and refugees (CYPSAR), who often experience multiple adverse events such as illness, abuse, assault and adverse mental health. Their experiences can have life-long implications.
The NHS, national organisations, and local initiatives aim to support these children and young people but there is significant variation in provision for CYPSAR across England, including the extent to which services centre the preferences and experiences of children and young people themselves.
Project AEGIS will explore data, policy, existing practice, interventions and creative collaborations with CYPSAR to understand their needs and priorities. The research team will work with them to identify effective evidence-based interventions, mitigate inequities and align UK policy with the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC).
The team will also explore whether the findings of this first research iteration, focused on CYPSAR, can be generalised or applied to other vulnerable groups of children and young people.
In the longer term, findings from this early work will be used to inform development of interventions across health, education and social care. Implementation and evaluation of these interventions will inform law and policy, to ensure a sustained and wide- reaching improvement in outcomes for this vulnerable group and wider cohorts of children and young people.
The project is hosted at University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) in collaboration with RCPCH, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, The University of Salford, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Barts Health NHS Foundation Trust, University College London (UCL) and East London NHS Foundation Trust. It is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Join Project AEGIS
If you’re interested in CYPSAR health, work in the field, have lived experience of seeking asylum or other forms of international protection, or are a refugee then the team would love to hear from you. More information on the different types of protection is available on gov.uk here.
Get in touch via email for more information on the project: uclh.aegisproject@nhs.net
Follow Project AEGIS on LinkedIn for regular updates and opportunities to get involved: www.linkedin.com/company/projectaegis
The team
The project brings together a diverse multidisciplinary team of clinical, academic, policy, migration, law, and social science experts from across the UK, including:
Principal Investigators
- Dr. Sarah Eisen – Clinical-academic Consultant Paediatrician, UCLH/UCL/LSHTM
- Professor Michelle Heys – Consultant Paediatrician, NELFT, and NIHR Professor of Global Child Health, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, UCL.
Co-investigators
- Professor Andrew Rowland – Consultant Paediatrician, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust; Honorary Professor (Children’s Rights, Law, and Advocacy), University of Salford; and Officer for Child Protection, RCPCH
- Dr. Niloha Rangel – National Health Advisor at Doctors of the World
- Dr. Kate Lewis – Social Epidemiologist, UCL
- Dr. Alice Armitage – Clinical-academic Consultant Paediatrician, Barts Heath
- Dr. Sveta Alladi – Consultant Community Paediatrician and Named Doctor for Looked After Children, ELFT
- Dr. Ioannis Papadopoulos – Lecturer in Criminology specialising in the UNCRC and immigration, University of Salford
- Dr. Marthe Le Prevost – Postdoctoral Senior Research Fellow, UCL
- Professor Suparna Dasgupta – Consultant Paediatrician , Manchester NHS Foundation Trust; and Honorary Professor (Medical Education), University of Salford
- Dr. Allison Ward – Consultant Paediatrician for Vulnerable Children and Named Doctor for Safeguarding, CNWL
- Dr. Bryony Hopkinshaw – Early career academic paediatrician, UCLH/LSHTM
- Ms Grace Hastie – Policy Manager for Child Protection and Ethics, RCPCH
- Dr Donna Peach – Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Integrated Practice, University of Salford.
- Dr Sophie Esnouf – Medical doctor and research assistant