Refugee Week 2026: Odyssey Ensemble

To mark Refugee Week 2026, The Conduit welcomes a trio of musicians from Odyssey Ensemble, the UK’s first professional orchestra exclusively dedicated to amplifying the real-life stories of asylum seekers and refugees through music. Founded in 2023, Odyssey has played sold-out concerts at Kings Place and Cadogan Hall, reached more than 2,000 audience members live over the last year, broadcast its work on BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio London, and commissioned and mentored nineteen refugee artists from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and beyond.

At the centre of the evening is Afghan poet and human rights advocate Hadia Azizi, who will read from her own work, drawn from her lived experience of the asylum system, alongside poetry by other Afghan refugees. She is joined by poet and educator Kate Clanchy MBE, Odyssey Ensemble’s poet mentor in residence, who brings extensive experience of mentoring refugees to write their own poetry. Also on the panel is award-winning journalist Nicola Kelly, author of Anywhere But Here: How Britain’s Broken Asylum System Fails Us All. They will be in conversation with conductor and former refugee lawyer Josh Asokan, founder of Odyssey Ensemble.

In an increasingly polarised debate where the language of borders grows louder and the people behind the headlines grow quieter, what role can music and poetry play in restoring dignity to the conversation? Expect live performance from members of Odyssey Ensemble, poetry read by Hadia, and a discussion that takes those questions seriously.

Event Schedule

6:15pm: Pre-event socialising and networking
A cash bar will be available for refreshments.

7:15pm: Event begins

8:30pm: Event ends

Speakers

Hadia Azizi is a poet, scholar and human rights advocate from Afghanistan. A former Chevening Scholar, she holds an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford, alongside law degrees in Human Rights and International Law from the UK and China. Hadia works with displaced people across the UK, with a particular focus on resettlement, drawing on her own experience of the asylum system. Her poetry, rooted in themes of exile, womanhood and resistance, has been performed with Odyssey Ensemble at Kings Place, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune with Katie Derham, and presented at Oxford and at national events. Blending academic insight with lived experience, her creative work seeks to honour memory, amplify silenced voices and speak truth to power.

Kate Clanchy MBE has taught poetry to a remarkable range of people in Oxford for more than twenty years: in both universities, in most of the city’s schools, and notably at Oxford Spires Academy, where she was poet in residence for a decade and edited the anthology England: Poems from a School. A former Oxford City Poet, Kate runs Sanctuary Arts at Mansfield College and serves as poet mentor in residence at Odyssey Ensemble, drawing on extensive experience of mentoring refugees to write their own poetry, including youth sessions with unaccompanied young people in Oxfordshire. Her own books include award-winning poetry, short stories, memoir and a novel, and her latest, How To Grow Your Own Poem (Swift Press), distils a lifetime’s teaching into a practical guide. Kate believes everyone can write a poem.

Josh Asokan is an orchestral conductor, concert pianist, former refugee law practitioner and founder of Odyssey Ensemble, the UK’s first professional orchestra exclusively dedicated to amplifying refugee stories. Endorsed by Arts Council England under the Global Talent scheme as an emerging leader in UK music, he has performed internationally in Italy, Estonia, the Czech Republic, the United States, Sri Lanka, Kenya and the UK, in venues including Cadogan Hall, Sinfonia Smith Square, Kings Place and St David’s Hall. Accredited by the Law Society as a refugee law practitioner, Josh spent three years representing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in complex Immigration Tribunal appeals involving trafficking and modern slavery, and speaks regularly on refugee policy and law.