UCC Symposium: Bridging Research, Advocacy and Activism

16 Feb 2026

On Wednesday, 11 February, the UCC Refugee Week Research Symposium – Asylum, Migration and Community: Bridging Research, Advocacy and Activism Through Creative and Socially Engaged Research took place in the Aula Maxima. 

This symposium was a signature event of UCC Refugee Week, bringing together participants from across UCC, other academic institutions, community organisations and advocacy groups. Across the day, attendees engaged with four thematic panels, alongside a lunchtime performance by the African Queens.

UCC President Professor John O’Halloran opened the symposium, followed by Professor Maggie O’Neill, Director of ISS21 and Collective Social Futures, who offered an overview of the day before introducing the first panel. Dr Siobhan O'Sullivan introduced participants to a series of interactive interventions during the day. 

Panel 1 – Care for Asylum Seekers: Understanding How Care is Enacted, Experienced and Sustained in Current Societal Contexts
Chair: Professor Maggie O’Neill

The panel began with a keynote address from Dr Zana Vathi, Adjunct Professor with ISS21’s Migration & Integration Research Cluster, titled Care for Asylum Seekers and Refugees and Anti-Immigration Riots in the North West of England.

Responses were offered by Dr Yasmine Ahmed and Dr Amin Sharifi Isaloo of the ISS21 Populism and the Rise of the Far-Right Research Cluster, who shared related research from Ireland.

Dr Zana Vathi, Adjunct Professor with ISS21’s Migration & Integration Research Cluster

Panel 2 – Palestine: Transnational Solidarity, Research, Advocacy and Action

Chair: Dr Angela Flynn, School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC

Speakers included:

• Dr Munawwar Najim, ACoRN Project — Resilience in Crisis: The Role of Palestinian Women in Social Responsibility and Educational Leadership During the 2023–2025 War — An Autoethnographic Perspective
• Dr Kathy Glavanis-Grantham, Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign & Together4Palestine — From Ramallah to Cork: Palestinian Solidarity Across Space and Time
• Tea Surina, Palestine solidarity activist (Croatia), and Martino Zibetti, no-border activist and UCC PhD student — (Dis)Connecting Modes of Violence and Resistance in Croatia and the Balkans: Border Abolition, Anti-Fascism and Palestine Solidarity

 This was a powerful and moving panel with first-hand experience from all speakers  and special thanks to Munawwar who shared her  extraordinary experience of educational leadership on the ground in Gaza. 

Lunchtime Performance

The African Queens filled the Aula Maxima with their powerful voices, receiving a warm and enthusiastic response from the audience.

Panel 3 – Creative and Socially Engaged Methods With Women Seeking Asylum

Chair: Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan, School of Applied Social Studies, UCC

Contributions included:

• Dr Bahriye Kemal, School of English and Digital Humanities, UCC— Women Writing Syria
• Dr Angela Veale, School of Applied Psychology, UCC and Dr Naomi Masheti, Cork Migrant Centre — Forum Theatre as “Artivism” With Immigrant Mothers: Bridging Parents, Practitioners and Policy Makers
• Apalang Ater, MSc student in Sustainable Development and Education Pathways Ireland Scholar — Stakeholder Engagement and Storytelling at Kandaakiat Organization for Women Empowerment and Development, Uganda

This session concluded with an interactive exercise facilitated by Dr O’Sullivan.

Panel 4 – Educational Settings as Places of Inclusion for Refugee Children and Young People

Chair: Michaela Alfred-Kamara, Cork Educate Together Secondary School

Speakers included:

• Dr Shirley Martin, School of Applied Social Studies — The Role of Schools in Supporting Refugee Children’s Friendships
• Aine Lyne, Embracing Diversity, Nurturing Integration Project (EDNIP), Limerick
• Dr Gemma Irvine, Vice President for Equality and Diversity, Maynooth University (joining remotely)

Professor Maggie O’Neill closed the symposium by thanking all panellists, performers and participants. The day concluded with a visual montage of words capturing participants’ reflections, compiled by Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan and displayed in the Aula Maxima.

A warm thank you to Sanctuary UCC, the event organisers, the African Queens, all panel contributors and everyone who joined this enriching and inspiring symposium.