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This chapter traces the development of the multidisciplinary field of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, introducing key debates, trends, and challenges which characterize this dynamic area of research, policy, and practice. It starts by outlining the long history of research about refugees and forced migrants across the Humanities and Social and Political Sciences. It then examines the relationship between conducting research about refugees and research for refugees, and the extent to which research should aim to inform policy and practice. Whilst recognizing the particularities of refugees’ protection needs, it subsequently considers how (or indeed whether) the contours of this field can be defined in light of the continuum of ‘forced’to ‘voluntary’forms of movement, mobility, and immobility. In turn, it highlights the subject’s focus on understanding and addressing human experiences of displacement and …