YU received a fund of €110,000 from the Agence française de développement (ADF) to carry out a research project on "Economic and Social Inequality within the Host Communities of Syrian Refugees in Jordan."

The project manager, and the head of the Economics department, Dr. Abd Al-Baset Athamneh said that the proposed project will last for eighteen months and covers Amman and Irbid governorates. He added that the project includes four stages and at the end of each stage, a specialized seminar will be conducted to announce the results. Then, at the end of the project, a specialized international conference will be held.

 Athamneh pointed that the research project aims at increasing awareness of the consequences of economic and social inequalities within the refugee-hosting communities and the factors behind that, in addition to investigating the role of asylum in decreasing/increasing the consequences of inequality.

The research team, which is headed by Dr. Athamneh, includes Dr. Mahmoud Hailat from the Department of Economics, the director of the Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration Studies Center, Dr. Ayat Nashwan, and Dr. Rana Jawarneh from the Department of Geography, and will be implemented in accordance to the agreement signed between YU and the AFD.

The AFD is a public financial institution that was founded in 1941 and implements the policy defined by the French Government. It works to fight poverty and promote sustainable development.