At-Risk Academic Refugees Discussion

In 2016, the Young Academy of Scotland (YAS) launched its At-Risk Academic Refugees (ARAR) initiative to recognise talented young professionals from Scotland’s refugee and displaced migrant communities. This initiative provided encouragement to outstanding members of the refugee and displaced migrant communities to apply to YAS and provided them with support with their applications, and YAS is today proud to include seven ARAR members in its cohort.

In 2019, The Royal Society of Edinburgh commissioned Glasgow-based portrait painter I.D Campbell to produce portraits of five YAS ARAR members, to celebrate their involvement with the RSE and to raise their profiles – At-Risk Academics Refugees Exhibition

This talk will bring the five ARAR members and I.D Campbell together again for an in-depth discussion that aims to raise awareness of Scotland’s refugee and displaced migrant communities; how these individuals have established themselves as ‘New Scots’; how they are now contributing to the future prosperity of Scotland; and how COVID-19 has impacted their lives and communities. The discussion will be chaired by Alison Phipps, UNESCO Chair: Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts.

I.D Campbell, Glasgow-based portrait painter and an Affiliate Artist of the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts
Pinar Aksu, Development Officer at Maryhill Integration Network, Committee Member for Right to Remain, and Actor/ Facilitator for Active Inquiry
Dr Shawki Al-Dubaee, Partnership Development Leader, University of Strathclyde and Honorary Research Associate, University of Glasgow
Dr Alaa Hamdon, Lecturer in Structural Geology, Mosul University
Debora Kayembe, Lawyer, Linguist and Human Rights Campaigner
Mohamed Zaher Al Bakour, PhD Candidate in Biomedical Sciences, University of Aberdeen