About this Event
In this seventh edition of the UNESCO RILA Sofa Cafés, Professor Alison Phipps , holder of the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts (RILA) at the University of Glasgow, will enter into conversation with Fatumo Osman (Dalarna University and Ladnaan podcast), Corinne Ottroh (UNESCO RILA Ambassador), Hannah Gibbons (Refuweegee) and Olivia Ndoti (Community Infosource).
The UNESCO RILA Sofa Cafés are a series of discussions around topics that touch on integration through languages and the arts. These informal discussions will be held on Zoom: the link will be in the confirmation email. Audience members are being encouraged to join in and ask their own questions to the panellists.
The Sofa Cafés are held on a monthly basis. The next scheduled episode is on:
Tuesday 22 June 2021 - Gender and Integration
Biographies of the speakers:
Fatumo Osman
Fatumo Osman is a register nurse, senior lecturer and associate professor at Dalarna University.Fatumo obtained her PhD in Medical Science at Karolinska Institutet 2017 with a dissertation of evaluating culturally tailored parenting support program for Somali-born parents living in Sweden. Current research projects involve long-term follow-up of a parenting support program on Somali-born parents and their children’s mental health, and school interventions to promote the mental health of refugee and migrant children.
She is author of numerous research articles and a regular international and national keynote speaker. Fatumo came to Sweden in 1992 as a refugee from Somalia and is an active member of different immigrant and research associations. During 2010-2016 she coordinated and developed the web-based Master's program in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at Hargeisa and Amoud University in Somalia/Somaliland. And In 2020, she conducted a study investigating the prevalence and burden of mental health problems and access to mental health services in the fragile state of Somalia.
Her research expertise is on how parenting programs can be available and accessible for migrant families. A large part of her research work is to disseminate her research results to the public. In 2020, Fatumo launched a podcast (Ladnaan Podcast) with a friend. Ladnaan Podcast is for Somali-speaking parents and covers both her research and others' research on parenting, parent-child relationship, mental health and navigating in the landscape of migration.
Corinne Ottroh
Aimee Corinne Ottroh comes from the Ivory Coast, has French as her first language and is a mother of twins aged 14.
Aimee works with Parent Network Scotland as a group facilitator working mainly with parents from BAME background. She is also an Ambassador for the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts.
Hannah Gibbons
Hannah is Glasgow born and bred and seems to know or be known by most of the city’s residents due to the variety of roles she has held within the community. Hannah became half of Team Refuweegee in 2016 having volunteered from the very beginning and swiftly became the go to person for everything from welcome packs to pushchairs. Hannah has helped grow Refuweegee into a critical support provider for thousands of people in the city, from both old and new Scots communities. She rarely says no to an ask and can find a meaningful task for any volunteer!
Olivia Ndoti
Zambian, 3rd Year Student at University of Glasgow studying BA Community Development, Community representative and Campaigner and Activist against barriers affecting migrants over ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’, Asylum Seekers and Refugees (Home Office fees, Destitution, Employment, Housing, Education etc)
In 2016, I was featured on the BBC News where I was raising awareness of destitution of many asylum seekers, poverty and homelessness among Ethnic minority groups including lack of proper accommodation for mothers with babies while in the asylum process.
I gave evidence at the Scottish Parliament (2017), ‘Hidden Lives’ Equalities Human Rights Committee regarding to the financial, Emotional and physiological impact of the Hostile Environment ‘no recourse to public funds’ on Asylum seekers with insecure immigration status.
I gave a speech at the Scottish Parliament on the rights of a child for asylum seekers, and the duties for the local authority to provide support for mother and child, regardless of their immigration status. More information is available on the Scottish Government Website and on YouTube.
Alison Phipps
Alison Phipps holds the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow where she is also Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies, and one of the founding members of Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNET). She is Co-Chair of the AHRC GCRF Advisory board and recipient of a number of GCRF grants as both PI and Co I working in Zimbabwe, Gaza, Ghana, Uganda and with refugees in the UK. Most recently she was appointed Co-Director and Co-I for the £20 million UKRI GCRF South South Migration Inequality and Development Hub.
Alison chairs the New Scots Core Group for Refugee Integration in partnership with Scottish Government, COSLA and Scottish Refugee Council; She Co-Chairs AHRC GCRF Advisory Board and she is an Ambassador for the Scottish Refugee Council.
She is author of numerous academic books and articles and a regular international keynote speaker and broadcaster, including most recently, Decolonising Multilingualism: Struggles to Decreate, with Multilingual Matters. Her first collection of poetry, Through Wood was published in 2009, with a further collection - The Warriors who do not Fight was published in 2018, with co-author Tawona Sitholé.
In 2018 she was awarded the De Carle Visiting Professorship at Otago University, 2017 she was appointed Adjunct Professor of Hospitality and Tourism at Auckland University of Technology. In 2016 she was appointed ‘Thinker in Residence’ at the EU Hawke Centre at University of South Australia. She was the Inaugural Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand in 2013, and is Adjunct Professor of Tourism. In 2011 she was voted ‘Best College Teacher’ by the student body and received the Universities ‘Teaching Excellence Award’ for a Career Distinguished by Excellence. In 2012 she received an OBE for Services to Education and Intercultural and Interreligious Relations in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. In 2019 she was awarded the Minerva medal by the Royal Society of Philosophy. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Event Venue
Online
GBP 0.00