UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Education, Language and Arts

A UNESCO Chair is an academic who has been appointed by UNESCO to do research in a key priority area, to contribute to UNESCO's peace building mission.

The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme promotes international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work. The Programme supports the establishment of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks in key priority areas related to UNESCO’s fields of competence.

In many instances, the Networks and Chairs serve as think tanks and as bridge builders between academia, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making. In areas suffering from a dearth of expertise, Chairs and Networks have evolved into poles of excellence and innovation at the regional or sub-regional levels. They also contribute to strengthening North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation.

Source: UNESCO

UNESCO’s UNITWIN programme promotes international cooperation and networking between universities. It helps reinforce higher education institutions worldwide, bridge the knowledge gap, mobilize university expertise and collaborate around the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.

Launched in 1992, the programme supports the establishment of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks in key priority areas related to UNESCO’s fields of competence – education, natural and social sciences, culture and communication. Today, the network comprises more than 830 UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN cooperation programmes in over 110 UNESCO Member States.

The UNITWIN online platform is a networking tool that gives access to information on the presence of the programme in any given country, region and worldwide and according to themes and priority areas of work. It also features information about the Chairs and Networks’ activities and their contribution to the SDGs and the Agenda 2030.

The platform also serves as a programme management tool to support all processes ranging from applications to renewals, submission of progress report or nomination of new Chair holders or Network coordinators.

Source: UNESCO

For any questions related to media, joint media statements, feature articles, our blog, Twitter/X etc. please contact the UNESCO RIELA secretariat in the first instance on unesco-riela@glasgow.ac.uk.

Please review our FAQs in relation to Prof Alison Phipps below before you contact her directly - thank you!

Are you interested in Alison writing for or reviewing your publication?
Alison supervises a large number of students and is contracted to work on a range of international research projects. She has publications under contract from these projects and writes for the national press and artistic reviews. She therefore have limited time to contribute writing to or review the work of others. More often than not she must decline these kind offers. Please bear this in mind before you get in touch.

Interested in Alison speaking at your event? 
Alison accepts a very small percentage of the frequent speaking requests she receives. Please don’t be offended if she says no, as she needs to protect her time to conduct already contracted research, supervise her students and write. She also usually requests that an artist can accompany her. Though she does not require a fee (especially from small community, refugee and asylum organisations), before you get in touch please think about the fee you’re able to offer the accompanying artist, the structure of the event, if you can cover travel costs, and exactly what you want from the RIELA presence at your event. She is loathe to jet in and out of any event and prefers to be alongside gatherings in an active way, and part of enabling a diversity of voices.

Knowing this, if you still want us to come, please contact the UNESCO RIELA secretariat at unesco-riela@glasgow.ac.uk.

Interested in Alison contributing to your dissertation/research/academic project?
Alison is nurturing her current projects and students and is unable to contribute to others for the next few years. Many of her colleagues are working on similar issues and may be better placed to assist you - we urge you to review the University of Glasgow web pages for relevant people as Alison is not able to make suggestions on a case by case basis.

If you are looking to get in touch with refugee or asylum organisations, we refer you to guidance on the GRAMNet website for this. 

Do you want to "just run some ideas past Alison"? 
Please understand that she gets many of these requests every day and is unlikely to be able to respond at length if at all. She holds virtual drop-in session every few months if you can make it. If you wish to attend, please contact the UNESCO RIELA secretariat at unesco-riela@glasgow.ac.uk.

You can see events she is contributing to from our Twitter/X feeds @UofGUnescoRILA or @alison_phipps. These are also good ways to connect with her or other members of the team.

My topic is not in the list.
If you have anything else you would like to discuss, please contact the secretariat in the first instance, as they will be able to redirect you to the right person within the team: unesco-riela@glasgow.ac.uk.

For more info on our Ambassador Scheme, please see this page.

For more info on our Affiliate Artist Network, please see this page.

Both the Scheme and the Network are open to join, but there are certain criteria that you need to fulfill, in order to be accepted. The basic premises can be found through the links above. For detailed information on how to apply, please contact Bella Hoogeveen on Bella.Hoogeveen@glasgow.ac.uk. 

Great to hear you would like to meet us! We take part in many different engagement activities throughout the year. Please keep an eye on our news section, our blog and our Twitter/X feed to find out where we'll be next.

Interested in discussing a joint event or in inviting us to your event? Please contact Bella Hoogeveen on Bella.Hoogeveen@glasgow.ac.uk to discuss the options.

Throughout the year we have a range of opportunities to get involved.

For internships, please see the University of Glasgow Internship Hub page. Any new opportunities that arrive will also be posted on our news reel and our Twitter/X feed.

We also work with volunteers at some of our events. Those opportunities will also be posted on the channels above. If you would like to know when the next call for volunteers is likely to come out, please contact Bella Hoogeveen on Bella.Hoogeveen@glasgow.ac.uk.

The University of Glasgow offers a limited number of Sanctuary Scholarships. For more information about the eligibility criteria, the amount and application deadlines, please visit the University's Sanctuary Scholarship page.

Professor Alison Phipps is at full capacity at the moment and cannot supervise any more students.

For guidance on how to apply for a PhD position within the School of Education, financial support and entry requirements, please visit the School's Postgraudate Research page.

If you would like to speak to us about developing a research proposal or about jointly applying for funding, please contact the RIELA secretariat at unesco-riela@glasgow.ac.uk. 

If you're interested in developing an event or other creative project together with members of the UNESCO RIELA team or if you would like to invite (a) member(s) of the team to an already existing event, please contact Bella Hoogeveen on Bella.Hoogeveen@glasgow.ac.uk.

For any research project related questions, please email unesco-riela@glasgow.ac.uk and we'll make sure it will get forwarded to the right person.