We are pleased to announce that Doctoral Researcher at the School of Education, Jáfia Naftali Câmara, has been awarded project funding of £6000 by the Temple Quarter Engagement Fund. TQE believed that the research proposal was a ‘good example of an art-science collaboration in a topical and sensitive area’.

Jafia will engage further with local refugee and asylum-seeking families participating in her PhD research to write and co-create stories that will be illustrated and published. The stories will be based on their experiences living and studying in the South of England. The project aims to combine art and ethnographic research to amplify the voices of refugees and asylum seekers about issues that impact their daily lives including education, language, migration, asylum, integration, inequalities and opportunities.

There are various issues that young refugees and their families have experienced before and during the Covid-19 pandemic such as lack of effective and continuous communication between schools and families resulting in their children not receiving timely support. Furthermore, other challenges include refugees vis-à-vis technology, digital divide and lack of digital literacies to engage with remote learning.

The proposed project will further the University’s civic mission by working more closely with these young people and their families in the creation of artistic representations of their experiences and perspectives while supporting positive engagement with the University of Bristol.

The Temple Quarter Engagement Fund enables students and staff to deliver activities and projects that benefit external partners, communities and the University staff and students.