Inaugural Lecture: Professor George Palattiyil

Carrying Tomorrow: Hope in Exile and the Will to Begin Again

In a world fractured by conflict, climate change, and growing hostility towards displaced peoples, refugee lives are often narrated through a lens of crisis and despair. But behind the headlines and across the borders, another story unfolds — one of fierce resilience, quiet resistance, and the will to begin again.

With a depth of understanding forged in dialogue, not distance, Professor George Palattiyil draws from years of work across refugee contexts to offer his professorial lecture anchored in human dignity and political courage. This is not a story of despair — but of determination, defiance, and hope.

Rather than recounting only loss, this lecture invites us to understand exile as a site of meaning-making. Refugees do not simply survive; they resist erasure, reimagine the future, and teach us what it means to carry hope beyond borders. In Jordan, girls navigating early marriage still dream of classrooms. In Uganda, young women find ways to survive with dignity amid hunger and displacement. In Scotland, asylum seekers living with HIV fight for visibility, care, and inclusion. These are not isolated acts of resilience — they are lessons in human possibility.

At the heart of this lecture is a simple yet poignant message: refugees are not only survivors — they are teachers, visionaries, and carriers of tomorrow. Their voices challenge how we understand belonging, policy, and justice. As the world grows more fragmented, this lecture contends that exile is no longer the experience of a distant few — it is a possibility for anyone of us. It is the defining question of our time.

With clarity and compassion, George invites us to rethink exile — not merely as a legal category, but as a human condition shaped by uncertainty, endurance, and the unyielding search for safety and meaning. Through the lives of refugees, we are called to listen again: to the fragile threshold between hope and despair, and to the responsibility of those who remain sheltered from displacement.

This is a lecture that refuses despair. It asks how we — as social workers, scholars, and fellow human beings — might respond differently. And what we might learn from those who have lost so much, yet still refuse to let go of tomorrow.

It is a call to listen more deeply, act more justly, and recognise hope not as a luxury — but as a moral and political imperative.

And the question that remains — the one we must carry with us — is this: If they are carrying tomorrow, what are we doing with today?

Introduction and closing remarks

Professor John Devaney, Head of the School of Social and Political Science, introduces the inaugural lecture of Professor George Palattiyil, October 2025.

Professor John Devaney's introduction

Good afternoon, everyone. It is really nice to see you. This is our first professorial inaugural lecture of the new academic year. And I'm really delighted that the first person we have in this series of lectures for 25/26 is my dear colleague and very good friend, Dr George Palattiyil. George is the Professor of Social Work and Refugee Studies here in the School of Social and Political Science. My name is John Devaney, I'm the Head of the School of Social and Political Science. And one of the nicest things about my job is that I get an opportunity to stand here at the front of the room to welcome all of you into, the lecture, and also to say some very nice things about the great colleagues that we have within the school.

For those who are new to a professorial inaugural lecture, it's really an opportunity for somebody who has either arrived in the university and taken up an appointment as a professor, or, as in George's case, been an existing member of staff and been elevated to a Chair at the university, to introduce themselves and to explain to you about some of the work that they're engaged in, that has helped them to be appointed as, a professor in the University.

On the basis of some sort of housekeeping, please, could you all just check that your mobile telephones are turned to silent? We're not expecting any fire alarms. And if anybody does need to use any of the washrooms, if you just go out the door here, turn to the right and go through a couple of doors and you'll find some toilets just on the left-hand side.

The structure of the evening is that I'm going to shut up in a couple of minutes, because you're not really here to listen to me. I'm going to hand over to George. George is going to speak for about 45 minutes, on his, topic tonight, and then George is open to ten minutes of, opportunities for people want to ask any questions, make any reflections, just comment on what you've heard. And sometimes we have colleagues who move beyond just talking on about the lecture, but also talking about the individual and the contribution that they may have made to them personally or to the work in their area of interest.

As I said, George has been a really close colleague of mine during the eight years that I've been here at the University of Edinburgh. In terms of his own personal academic journey, George is a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Calicut in Kerala in India, and then did a Master of Social Work, specializing in medical and psychiatric social work, from Mahatma Gandhi University, also in Kerala, India. George got his PhD in Social Work from the University of Strathclyde, in 2005 and then George worked for a while as both a practicing social worker in Scotland, but also took up a lectureship at Strathclyde University before we were very fortunate in 2009 to be able to tempt George to move along the M8 and come here to Edinburgh. While George has been at Edinburgh, he's not only been a great colleague, a fantastic academic, but also somebody who's been an absolutely stunning citizen within the university. He was Deputy Director for the Edinburgh India Institute between 2013 and 2015. He was Head of Social Work between 2021 and 2024, and he's also been the Director of the Master of Social Work programme for various periods between 2012 and 2021.

So, it's usually at this moment where I also give a personal reflection on having worked with somebody. And sometimes when I'm doing these inaugural lectures, there are people that I know a little bit, and other people I know a lot more of. And certainly, I've had the pleasure of working with George in many different ways. I had the great honour to accompany George and some other colleagues who are in the room here, on a visit to Rajagiri College in Kerala at the beginning of the year. I was asked to do a keynote lecture, sort of chaired one or two sessions at a conference that was taking place there. And then George asked me if I would be the auctioneer in an event that was taking place in the university, whereby the conference itself asks delegates to bring small gifts with them that can then be auctioned off as a way of setting up a fund to support those from low- and middle-income countries, to get a scholarship, to be able to attend the conference. I wasn't quite sure what I was thrown into. All I knew was that I had George to thank for being put another uncomfortable situation of having to imagine myself in a different space, but it also made me think about, yeah, could it be another career, after the one that I'm currently engaged in?

I also knew, sir, one of the things about George is that, alongside being somebody who's, an immense citizen in terms of, the roles that he's held within this university, he's also somebody who's very highly regarded outside the university in various roles that he holds, whether it's working with Social Work Scotland and being one of the academic advisors for Social Work Scotland. He's also been an advisor to the Ugandan government in terms of sort of, some of their social development policies that were taking place. And he's also a trustee of the Joint University Social Work Association, which represents all universities in the UK. These are all the things that George does, not because he has to, but because he's got a deep commitment not only to social work as an academic discipline, but also to profession of social work as well. And so, I'm very grateful on behalf of the profession, George, for you doing all of that outside of, your role here within the university.

We're joined this evening not only by George, which is really important, but also his family back in India or online with us, and will be watching the inaugural lecture this evening. We also have Dina, George's wife, who is here. Yeh…and who's sort of capturing him for posterity on camera and also Avinash, his nephew, who's here and I've had the pleasure of meeting before.

George, the lecture you're about to give this evening deals with both a very contemporary and a very important issue because it's trying to look at the issue of, how, in a world that's fractured by conflict, climate change and growing hostility; how do we think about displaced people in that context? And what does that mean, not only for the lives that they lead, but also how we frame their existence, their being and their experiences? And on the one hand, it is quite right and proper that we as a global society, look positively and generously on what we can do to assist those in need.

But I think your lecture is going to be talking about the other side of that, which is about the immense resilience for people in the face of such great adversity, can actually still find a way to live their lives and give meaning to all that they do.

George, thank you for everything that you give to the university. I'm really looking forward to your lecture tonight.

And so, can we please welcome George's, lecture?

Professor John Devaney's closing remarks

Thank you very much, George. Most people won't be aware that over the past 48 hours, you've been struggling with a chest infection and maybe not even able to speak tonight. So you've done remarkably well - to be able to take us through all of that, which is both thought-provoking and very timely given the current discourse around migration, immigration, and refugees, like some of the things that chimed with me with this idea of, belonging. What does that really mean? It's not just about belonging to places, but that sense of recognition and belonging, and being accepted for being in the space that you're in.

It was also the idea that we should study systems, and not see individuals as subjects of study. But I think one of the things that jumps out from the research that you and Dina have done has been this sense of you lifting our gaze to think about systems, but making that very real, through the individual accounts of the people that you've engaged with through your work and the real power and beauty of really thoughtfully undertaken and carefully constructed qualitative research, which really gets to the heart of the matter and is shown in the many themes that you've highlighted tonight, which is a very powerful tool in terms of being that call for action, as well as also, giving a platform for people not just to be the subjects of our pity and our benevolence, but also as a way of saying, well, actually, okay, these are people who have tremendous resilience, skills, and something to offer, and moves that balance of power in terms of how we think about people. And finally, this idea that, the will to begin again is a radical act and an act which is about, challenging the orthodoxy at a time when the orthodoxy in itself is being challenged, but in a way which is trying to reframe how we think about ourselves as a global community rather than purely a local community.

So, thank you. It was really inspiring and thought-provoking lecture, and it's given me plenty to think about. Not surprised that it was thought-provoking and filled with many important points, but really glad to be here this evening to hear you speak.