UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Education, Language and Arts

15 Jan 26

The Memory Lab at the University of Glasgow is hosting this event, exploring the complexities of memory, conflict, and peace in our lives. The event looks at how memories shape how communities understand their pasts, define their identities in the present, and imagine their futures. It will delve into case studies that investigate how memory contributes to conflict to address questions such as: How do official narratives sustain nationalism and preparedness for war? In what ways do digital media amplify, reshape, or contest memories of past violence? What can we learn from societies where memory of division remains a site of contestation? At the end of the event, the conversation will turn towards peacebuilding. Hyab Yohannes from the UNESCO RIELA team will be a speaker.

UNESCO RIELA Affiliate Artist Martha Orbach's exhibition is still on display for another week, in the Glasgow Women's Library. A summary: How do we put the pieces together, make a home in the aftermath? With the coot for a muse, and using domestic debris and biomaterials, Martha Orbach began sculpting a series of precarious structures. These little nesting attempts draw on Martha’s Jewish heritage, unusual environmentalist upbringing, and current situation as a domestically incompetent mum trying to make a home. More info and opening times here.

presentation by visiting academic Elif Naz Altaş Kuşhan

From 19 January until 1 February we will be joined by visiting academic Elif Naz Altaş Kuşhan, a Research Assistant at the TED University in Türkiye. On 20 January, she will be delivering a presentation called A Perspective on the Early Literacy Development of Refugee Preschoolers Acquiring Turkish, which will take place in the St Andrew's Building of the University of Glasgow, room 221, from 1:00 to 2:00pm. Free and open to all, no registration needed!

We are so excited that the poetry from Depositions by UNESCO RIELA Affiliate Artist Anton Floyd has been put to music and will be performed at Celtic Connections in Glasgow! Join Rachel Walker, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir: Depositions, Calum Stewart, Luc McNally & Sophie Stephenson for a stunning new suite of songs inspired by the book. Blending poetry, song, and social commentary, Depositions threads together stories of diaspora and clearance, bridging traditional and contemporary styles with clear links to the history and experience of the Scottish and Irish Gael. Get your tickets here.

As part of he Royal Society of Edinburgh's celebration of Mother Language Day, we will be contributing to two events:

If we lose our languages, do we lose ourselves? - 6:00-7:30pm, an exploration of how languages shift with identity across Scotland. Both Hyab Yohannes and Alison Phipps are part of the panel.

Celebrating Scotland’s languages with New Scots - 6:00-6:30pm, in partnership with Friends of Scottish Settlers, you are invited to a series of short language taster sessions led by New Scots. You’ll learn words and phrases from the different languages they speak, get to know new people, and hear about the many cultures across Scotland today.

Journey Matters: unequal borders, travel narratives and refugee integration

is the title of Esa Aldegheri's presentation for the School of Education Research Seminar Series 2025-2026. Esa's presentation will be from 3:30 to 4:30pm in the St Andrew's Building in Glasgow and if you would like to attend, please register your place here

Resonance in Education? Rethinking Encounter, Attunement, and Transformation

One-Day Research Seminar - 9th March 2026 9am - 5pm, Studio 2, Advanced Research Centre (ARC), University of Glasgow 

Register Here

This one-day seminar brings together scholars (academics, students, practitioners) to examine the conceptual, pedagogical, ethical, and political implications of resonance in education.  We invite contributions to critically explore resonance as a theoretical resource for understanding formation, subjectivity, relationality, and transformation within educational contexts.  

Keynote Speaker - Dr Johannes Rytzler, Senior Lecturer in Education at Mälardalen University, Sweden.