This project builds previous research on parcel-sending via private van companies by Moldovan transnational families as an embodiment of connections across borders, an important practice that Moldovan migrants in most European countries engaged in for the past thirty years. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted international travel, many Moldovan migrants used parcel-sending as their main connection to home. Later, when Ukraine was invaded in 2022, Moldovans in the UK/EU/Switzerland used parcel van companies to send items to help an unprecedented number of Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. The main reason for conducting this study was to better understand the role of parcel-sending in the context of the uncertainty brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian refugee crisis in Moldova. The project aimed to address how Moldovan transnational families deal with uncertainty through adjusting their parcel-sending practices in response to crisis, and to uncover the role parcel-sending played in supporting Ukrainian refugees in Moldova by mediating the provision of aid. The main themes emerging from this research are the continuity and fluidity of transnational practices mediated by Moldovan parcel-van services despite major disruptions to transnational family life, and the central role of migrant networks in facilitating transnational responses to crises. Informants who sent parcels discussed their usual sending patterns and any changes to what, when, and why they sent over the past three years, including items sent in support of Ukrainian refugees and their use of migrant networks to collect and send aid. They also reflected on the absence of visits home during the Covid-19 pandemic, and other uncertainties affecting their sending practices. Informants who distributed aid sent via parcels to Ukrainian refugees discussed the timeliness of transnational responses, the range of sent items and the impact of this support on alleviating the refugee crisis in Moldova. The collection consists of anonymised interview transcripts for 12 informants interviewed for this project, in Moldova (in person), UK (in person and online), France, Italy, and Switzerland (online) in 2023.This proposal aims to expand my thesis on parcel-sending by Moldovan transnational families between Moldova and the UK as embodiment of connections across borders to explore the strategies of navigating uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian refugee crisis. The focus of the proposed research is twofold: the adaptability of private parcel van companies as agents of migrant infrastructure (Xiang and Lindquist 2014) and the continuity of transnational practices embodied in parcel-sending as a form of social remittances (Levitt 1998, Levitt and Lamba-Nieves 2013) shared with Ukrainian refugees who are seen as extended family in times of crisis. As my thesis showed, private parcel van companies have been key actors in Moldovan transnational life for thirty years and migrants have been using parcel-sending to keep in touch despite changes in their family histories. Their sending practices also employed time-mapping (Gell 1992) to incorporate major life events as temporal references (Munn 1992), helping transnational families make sense of the migration experience, elicit response to disruptive events, and readjust family strategies. Recent press reports suggest that parcel-sending has been steadily increasing throughout the pandemic and lockdowns, pointing to the continuity of family practices across borders. Moreover, in response to the Ukraine crisis, Moldovan migrant networks have mobilised to provide support by redistributing resources, using parcel van companies' offers to transport refugee emergency aid for free. These circumstances offer an important opportunity to investigate the role of material connections that represent 'mutable circulations' (Khrenova and Burrell 2021) of closeness and a continuation of migration narratives when home visits become disrupted. In the past two years, transnational families have already employed Brexit and the pandemic as major temporal references in their migration histories. The post-Brexit period has seen migrants redefine their social strategies of dealing with changes (Morad, Della Puppa and Sacchetto 2020) and develop new strategies to negotiate hostile environments (Gawlewicz and Sotkasiira 2020), with more embedded migrants navigating risks better (Trabka and Pustulka 2020). Furthermore, Covid-19 challenged migrants' sense of belonging and security, partially rooted in reliance on migrant networks (Gurung, Amburgey and Craig 2021), with suggestions that mobility itself may have become a source of uncertainty (Turaeva and Urinboyev 2021). Still, parcel van companies continue to harness migrant networks, providing the flow of informal exchanges as a mutable, fluid practice implying 'real presence' (Khrenova and Burrell 2021:261). Moreover, evidence points to the emergence of 'pandemic transnationalism' (Galstyan and Galstyan 2021), a category of social remittances aimed to cope with the socio-economic effects of the pandemic and translating into the refugee crisis response in Moldova. The full extent of the pandemic's impact and the implications of the Ukrainian conflict on transnational practices are yet to be understood, particularly as narratives of material exchanges uncover the 'importance of different temporalities' on personal history level and in wider societal contexts (Khrenova and Burrell 2021:261). My thesis pointed to the persistence of parcel-sending practices, mediated by parcel van companies showing that, despite disruptive events, migrants continue to harness the mutual trust of informal networks. Therefore, the proposed research builds on the continuing evidence of the significance of migrant infrastructure, peri-pandemic negotiation of transnationalism and the latest indication that the Ukrainian refugee crisis offers an important context for investigating the role of social practices of staying connected across borders.

Semi-structured interviews with Moldovan migrants in Europe (UK/EU/Switzerland) who have been using Moldovan private parcel van companies over the past three years and who sent at least one parcel with aid for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova (via private parcel van companies) and Moldovan volunteers who distributed at least one parcel with transnational aid to Ukrainian refugees. The interviews use topic guides with mostly open-ended questions and allow informants to discuss their experiences in a flexible way.