CIVIS OPEN LABS
Transnational Project on Migration and Civic Engagement in CIVIS Universities
Focus on the access of refugees and migrants to essential social services (health care and education) in Romania
Avem plăcearea de a vă invita la evenimentul organizat în data de 6 septembrie 2022, în sediul Facultății de Geografie, Bulevardul Nicolae Bălcescu 1, Amfiteatrul George Vâlsan, etaj 3.
PROGRAM
09.30-10.00 : Înregistrarea participanților
10.00-10.30 : Deschiderea evenimentului
► Prof. Dr. Magdalena Platis, Pro-rector, Universitatea din București
► Lect. dr. Mioara Clius, Prodecan, Facultatea de Geografie
► Prof. Dr. Liliana Dumitrache, Director, Departamentul de Geografie Umană și Economică, Facultatea de Geografie, Universitatea din București
► Dr. Alina Mareci, Facultatea de Geografie, Universitatea din București
10.30-11.30 : Experiența și activitatea organizațiilor din România în sprijinirea integrării migranților și refugiaților
► Dana Gavril – Manager de proiect, Asociația Ecumenică a Bisericilor din România-AIDRom București
► Simona Marin – Manager de proiect, OIM – Organizația Internațională pentru Migrație
► Georgiana Ilinca – Consilier legal, OIM – Organizația Internațională pentru Migrație
► Simona Popa – Asistent proiect, Consiliul Național Român pentru Refugiați
11.30-12.00 : Coffee break
12.00-13.30 : Experiența și activitatea organizațiilor din România în sprijinirea integrării migranților și refugiaților; prezentarea rezultatelor proiectului
► Ahmed Nakechbandi – Președinte, Fundația Centrul Cultural Islamic Semiluna
► Alexandra Cioclu – Facultatea de Geografie, Universitatea din București
► Alexandra Velicu – Facultatea de Geografie, Universitatea din București
► Widad Al-Taha – Facultatea de Geografie, Universitatea din București
13.30-14.00 : Prânz Discuții, concluzii
Cu stimă,
Echipa organizatoare.
Contact: Dr Alina Mareci
Facultatea de Geografie alina.mareci@unibuc.ro, tel. 0742303753.
Transnational Project on Migration and Civic Engagement in CIVIS Universities
Summary
The aim of this project is to provide a common scenario to share initiatives within CIVIS Universities that connect stakeholders with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers needs. Particular activities will take place with the purpose of providing visibility to these efforts and raise awareness on local communities. The project may find a proper match with ongoing projects and strengthen their development at an international scale giving European significance to the works of our institutions and enabling the inter-territorial transmission of knowledge. It will also help to establish the position of the Alliance around this topic and to find common denominators that let us reach more ambitious goals in the future, including plans to address, in collaboration with stakeholders, humanitarian crisis like the one derived from the war in Ukraine. The Open Lab and the Civis Engagement task forces will test this form of collaboration as a way to intensify transversal partnership among local entities and academics on global issues.
Three different axes are proposed for project implementation throughout activities planned in each territory:
- DIAGNOSTIC (UAM, UB, SU, NKUA). Explore transversal topics of population displacement, access to social essential public services (education, health care…)
- AWARENESS (AMU, SUR). share stories and performing practices (through Art, History and Activism) to raise public awareness about migration and integration
- ACTION (ULB): document and disseminate an collective instrument to engage students into helping migrants
- Partners : The project benefits from the collaboration between the University of Bucharest (UB), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Aix-Marseille University (AMU), Sapienza Università di Roma – SUR, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), and Stockholm University (SU).
- UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST RESEARCH TEAM:
Coordinators:
- Prof. Liliana Dumitrache
- Dr Alina Mareci
- Dr.Anca Tudoricu
Students involved:
- PhD student Cioclu Alexandra
- Msc Velicu Alexandra
- Bsc Vaum Simona,
The Research Centre on Geodemographic and Territorial Analysis (RCGTA) considers this project to be not only current but necessary because, historically, Romania has not experienced considerable numbers of migrants, especially refugees who permanently settled down in the country.
- Consequently, legislative support for these groups, especially the more disadvantaged ones, has been insufficient, and a lot of the burden has been taken over by NGOs. Another effect is that the Romanian population has limited knowledge about migrants’ or refugees’ experiences, needs, or difficulties. Therefore, this project is an opportunity to research the current specificities of the migrant and refugee experience. We further want to bring together different parts of the community and start a long-overdue dialogue, as we are convinced that improving what each segment knows about each other will undoubtedly strengthen awareness, inclusiveness, non-discrimination, and social equity within our university and initiate a know-how framework for others in the country.
- The activities currently undertaken within this project are: contacting NGOs and associations which have for a long time worked in implementing UNHCR programs in our country and organising roundtables discussing the gaps and hindrances in legislative procedures for migrants and refugees trying to access essential public services such as health care and education. Additionally, we are discussing with members of the target group about their experience in accessing and studying in a higher education setting and accessing health care in Romania. The project results will be published and presented in a one-day event with the participation of decision-makers in the field. The main conclusions will be summarised and made available to civil society entities and policymakers.
CIVIS Hub 4: Cities, Territories, and Mobility
Project : EuFood (European Foodscape)
Coordinator: Olaf Kuhne -Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubingen
Partners: University of Bucharest; Sapienza Universita di Roma; Universidad Autonoma de Madrid,
Coordinators from Bucharest University:
- Phd Professor Liliana DUMITRACHE
- Phd Assistant Ana-Maria TALOS
EUFood – Students – Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest :
Coordinator: ANGELO ANDI PETRE – BSc
- Dariana CÎRJAN – BSc
- Ioana Alexandra MIREA – MSc
- Alexandru COMAN – MSc
- Cristian CAZACU – MSc
- Gabriel DIMISIANO – BSc
- Andreea CARABĂ – MSc
- Răzvan MUNTEAN – Msc
- Amalia ILIE – BSc
- Georgiana ZAFIU – BSc
- Elena ZĂHĂRĂCHESCU – BSc
- Cristina MARGARIT – BSc
- Raluca TÂMPU – Msc
The EuFood project is very interdisciplinary and reflects the complexity of the topic of foodscapes. Our team includes approaches from the natural sciences (environmental science with a systematic approach), technical sciences (in our project: geoinformatics), law (here: public law), social sciences (in our project: human geography, sociology), planning (here: urban and regional development) and cultural studies (here: European, American and Intercultural Studies). Case studies will be examined, including in the respective university locations, incorporating elements of the Citizen Science approach.
Through the joint course organization, joint asynchronous online lectures will be offered, and a trans- disciplinary space will be created. “Transdisciplinarity is the ‚intellectual space‘ where the nature of the manifold links among isolated issues can be explored and unveiled, the space where issues are rethought, alternatives reconsidered, and interrelations revealed.” (UNESCO – Division of Philosophy and Ethics, 1998). As a result, new solutions for sustainable agro-systems may be identified. Economies of scale potentials are raised to develop a joint anthology with students. This means: Substantial course contents (pre-load part) will be worked out together (based on the textbook of the colleagues from Tübingen on Foodscapes available until then). The time that is freed up in this way (a lecture does not have to be prepared individually at every university) is used to instruct students to write publishable contributions to an anthology.
As a result of the topicality of unequal access to food and challenges in the context of climate change, there is potential for joint work with partners from Africa and the Mediterranean region.
Foodscapes include the entire process chain from food production to consumption and the associated symbolic charge. All of this is associated with physical manifestations that have hitherto been of little importance in spatial science research. Although foodscapes exhibit a certain persistence, they are also characterized by a strong processuality due to their economic dimension, which poses a challenge for regional and urban governance. Due to climate change, food production must adapt to the changed natural conditions, and the consumption and distribution of food also has an impact on emissions. Failure of supply chains may cause so called “food shocks”, a neglected threat in states of the global North.
Under the changed demands for sustainable social development, new forms of food production and distribution have developed, such as urban gardening and farming and food sharing. It is in the food deserts that the consequences of social disintegration and the systematic disadvantage of people with a low endowment of symbolic capital become apparent. Against this background, food banks have been established almost worldwide to distribute food to the needy. Foodscapes are relevant for EC policies, as witnessed by the ‘Farm to Fork’ Strategy [COM(2020) 381 final], part of the European Green Deal, and for the energy performance of buildings (Directive 2018/844 amending Directive 2010/31/EU and Directive 2012/27/EU), which is essential to mitigate the effects of climate change.