The Institute for Development Studies was pleased to host a Research Dissemination Workshop, "Aspiring the Future and Confronting the Present: The Agency of Forced Migrants and Refugees in East Africa." The project aims to study forced migration and refugees from Global South perspectives. It brings the agency of migrants and refugees to the centre of analysis by deconstructing the dominant assumption that portrays these groups as mere victims lacking the capacity to navigate border regimes, bureaucratic processes, and humanitarian predicaments. By focusing on Oromo refugees in Kenya, the project investigates life stories, migration trajectories, lived experiences, and the bureaucratic processes they encounter during their periods of waiting for resettlement in third countries. The project was funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation’s Special Program on Forced Migration and Refugees in 2025. The workshop included the dissemination of the results of the research to a wide range of stakeholders, including policymakers, practitioners, researchers, development partners, and refugees themselves. Dissemination activities included research presentations by project team and established scholars in the field, delivered as keynote presentations. Secondly, this was a platform for networking and collaboration. The conference facilitated the exchange of ideas among participants, fostered interdisciplinary and cross-institutional partnerships, and created opportunities for future joint research projects, grant applications, capacity-building initiatives, and knowledge-sharing networks. The researchers were from the University of Zurich (Switzerland), Egerton University (Kenya), and the Centre for Research and Development in Drylands (CRDD).