Migration and Diaspora Studies Initiative The Migration and Diaspora Studies (MDS) Initiative focuses on the social, economic, cultural, and political implications of the movement and transnational settlement of people. The Initiative was launched in 2011 with the support of OVPRI, awarded a strategic hire in 2012, and received a Carleton University Building Connections award in 2015 for its activities across campus that, which have had a sustained impact on research and teaching. The Initiative received a 7-year, $400,000 grant from the TD Bank Group in 2012, with which it has supported an annual Graduate Fellowship in MDS and dozens of successful national and international events national and international events. The MDS Initiative developed Canada’s first undergraduate program in migration and diaspora studies with the launch of the MDS Specialization in the Bachelor of Global and International Studies (BGInS) program in 2015. MDS also offers analysis on issues of interest to government, non-government, cultural organizations and the public, from the Syrian refugee challenge to climate change. Students have formed their own society and research collective as part of MDS. MDS continues to seek to mobilize Carleton’s research communities, catalyzing faculty and student collaboration towards quality grants and activities. It also offers teaching capacity and supervision for students across the university, and plans to expand in that area. MDS takes seriously Carleton’s place in Ottawa, and initiates as well as responds to innovation within research, policy and practitioner communities beyond the campus. MDS continues to grow its connections nationwide as well as globally, fostering links to researchers, experts, activists, migration and diasporic community organizations and migration centers.