Refugee Week 2024
June 17-23 is Refugee Week and to celebrate this we will be holding a number of events online and on-campus to raise awareness of issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers along with the support that’s available at the University and within the city.
The theme for Refugee Week 2024 is Our Home, and we would like to invite all members of our University community to join us in celebrating this week and learning more about the issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers both at home in the UK and across the world.
A University of Sanctuary
The University of York is a welcoming and safe place for refugees, asylum seekers and other people who have been forced to migrate. The University is now home to students from over 150 countries. We are always working to build on this inclusive environment and we became a University of Sanctuary in September 2020.
We help sanctuary seekers access a university education by offering a range of financial support. This includes three Equal Access scholarships offered annually to asylum seekers who wish to undertake both undergraduate and postgraduate study. We also offer an enhanced bursary to students who are refugees.
- Find out more on our University of Sanctuary page
Events and activities
University of York events
- Monday 17 June, 5pm to 7pm
- York Medical Society theatre room, York Medical Society
- Speakers: Simona Manni, Zulfiya Hamzaki, Emilie Flower and Kyveli Lignou-Tsamantani (respondent)
- Chairs: Simon Parker and Sara de Jong - University of York Migration Network
Open to the public. All welcome.
This event will show three short films by University of York staff relating to refugees and community (Crossing Borders by Zulfiya Hamzaki; Unity and Community by Simona Manni and Finding Your Feet: A Field Guide to Belle Isle by Emilie Flower.
- Tuesday 18 June, 7pm
- Online, booking required
Join us this Refugee Week to create an authentic, home cooked Syrian meal at our virtual cook-along. Run in conjunction with Yahala Mataam, a social enterprise supporting refugees and Asylum Seekers in York, you will have the opportunity to create delicious dishes reminiscent of the chef’s own time growing up in Syria. On the menu is Baameah - a flavourful Syrian Okra stew, an Arabic salad and rice - cooked in the tastiest way possible!
As part of the class we’ll provide you with an ingredients list, equipment list, method and a spice mix which we will send to you the week of the event.
- Wednesday 19 June, 6.30pm to 8pm
- Holgate Dining Room, York St John University
Open to the public. All welcome.
Hosted by University of York Anti-Racism Working Group, join us for this community-focused evening reception, Resisting Hate Crime, Racism & Intolerance, which follows on from the daytime ‘Race’ and Socially Engaged Research: Open and Inclusive Conference.
Our keynote speaker, Sarli Nana from Migrants Organise, will discuss his experiences of the UK asylum system and his decades spent fighting for migrants’ rights, followed by suggestions of what institutions, academics and community members can do to resist hate crime, racism and intolerance.
City-wide events
There is a vibrant programme of events taking place within the city of York and local area for Refugee Week, for more information see the York Refugee Week programme of events.
Ways to support Refugee Week
The York Sanctuary Fund provides vital support to those asylum seeking students, human rights defenders and academics at risk.
Donations to the fund are channelled towards transformative Equal Access scholarships and protective fellowships, with the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to access the education they need to realise their potential.
You can choose to support the York Sanctuary Fund which means that your support will go where the need is greatest.
Together, we will enable more York students, at-risk academics and Human Rights Activist’s the chance to thrive and to re-start a new phase in their lives, whatever their reasons for joining us.
Resources and related links
- Divided in Leaving Together: The resettlement of Afghan locally employed staff
- University of York support for refugees
- Refugee Week webpage
Subject guides
The reading list below is available to anyone, but please note that links to e-resources are only available to students and staff at the University of York.
Useful links
- Refugee Action York
- Refugee Education UK
- Refugee Council
- RefuAid
- Refugee Study
- York City of Sanctuary
- Student Action for Refugees (STAR)
Watch again
You can rewatch some relevant online events published via the Equality Office and the Centre for Applied Human Rights YouTube channels: