Contributions from Refugees
Key facts about the contributions from refugees in the UK
Many refugees enrich the countries and societies they have had to flee to. Fifteen Nobel Prizes have been won by refugees who found asylum in Britain. Hundreds of prominent refugees have contributed to the culture of their new societies such as Albert Einstein, Philip Emeagwali, Nadine Gordimer and Victor Hugo.
Economy
30 thousand jobs were created in Leicester by Ugandan Asian refugees who settled in the city in the 1970s.
Some of the most famous names in business - Marks and Spencer, Burton's, Tilda Rice, Thorn EMI, Saatchi & Saatchi, Pataks Foods - were founded by refugees or their children.
Peter Paduh, a refugee from the Balkans who set up the computer recycling firm, Maxitech, won the 2005 Young Business Person in London Award.
Art & Literature
Architect Eva Jiricna (CBE), a refugee who fled to the UK from Czechoslovakia in 1968 and went on to be named one of Britain's most influential women, designed parts of Harrods, Selfridges and The Victoria and Albert Musuem.
Some of the most famous names in British art fled to the UK as refugees: Joseph Conrad (writer), Anish Kapoor (artist), Carlos Acosta (dancer), Sir Alexander Korda (filmmaker), Elias Canneti (writer and Nobel Prize winner), Mona Hatoum (artist), Alec Issigonis (designer of the Mini).
Marina Lewycka, a refugee from Ukraine was an Orange Prize contender and the author of one of the best selling books in 2006: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.
Media and Entertainment
Lew Grade, a refugee who fled from the Ukraine, became the head of Associated Television and introduced classic shows such as The Saint, The Muppet Show and Thunderbirds to British viewers.
Some of the most famous names in the media are refugees or the children of refugees - Rachel Weisz (actress); Omid Djalili (comedian and actor), Ben Elton (comedian and writer); Paul Hamlyn (publisher); Alan Yentob (BBC Creative Director); Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a well-known journalist and editor who came to the UK as a refugee from Uganda, was awarded an MBE for her services to journalism.
Education
There are around 800 refugee teachers in London and 1500 refugee teachers potentially enrinching schools UK wide.
Elvis Nduhukire, an asylum seeker from Uganda, won Volunteer of the Year Award for giving talks in schools to raise awareness of refugee experiences.
Science
Refugees and asylum seekers are instrumental in looking after our health, as The British Medical Association currently has 1,073 refugee and asylum seeking doctors on its database, the British Dental Association has 132 refugee and asylum seeking dentists on its database, and the Royal College of Nursing has 257 refugee and asylum seeking nurses registered on the RCN database.
11 UK Nobel prize winners for science have been won by refugees or the children of refugees. Nayeem Azim, a refugee doctor from Afghanistan founded the North Central London College, a centre for training overseas doctors.
Source: Credit to the Nation: A Refugee week publication available to download from thier website: www.refugeeweek.org.uk
Asylum in the UK
The history of refugees in Norfolk has shaped distinctive elements of our local identity.
Local Support Groups