Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER)

Project News

July 2020

The Roma in European Higher Education book coverCHEER is delighted to announce the publication of our book from the HEIM Project: The Roma in European Higher Education - Recasting Identities, Re-imagining Futures.

About 'The Roma in European Higher Education'

"Today, between 10 and 12 million Roma live in Europe, comprising the continent's largest ethnic minority. However, only 1% participate in higher education. Although the Roma are widely dispersed across Europe and beyond, they face similar social, political and economic challenges throughout the continent. A major site of struggle has been access, attendance and achievement in the education sector for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT). This groundbreaking text explores the Roma in higher education, a topic of great importance since higher education is considered to be a significant pathway out of poverty and to social mobility."

"Why are participation rates so low? What are the barriers and what are the enablers? This edited collection brings together authors from diverse national and organisational locations, activists and policymakers from Canada, Chile, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia,Poland, Serbia, the UK and the USA. They share and critically analyse contemporary know;ledge on research, policies, practices and interventions to promote Roma participation in higher education in a range of European locations. They cover key topics, including the representation of Roma communities as living on the margins, but also racism, anti-Gypsyism, Romaphobia, hate crimes and discrimnatory practices. The book offers insights into how to fight discrimination and re-distribute higher educational opportunities without objectifying the Roma or representing these rick and diverse communities merely as powerless victims."

Contents
Notes on Contributors vii
Introduction: Recasting Identities, Re-Imagining Futures 1

PART 1: Theories, Resources, Policy and Professional Interventions for Challenging Roma Exclusion from Higher Education
1. Thinking Differently about the Roma in Higher Education: Beyond Sex, Slums and Special Schools, and Towards Epistemic Inclusion Louise Morley 
2. The Roma in European Higher Education: Explaining the Educational Gap of Roma in Higher Education Andrzej Mirga and Nadir Redzepi 
3. The European Discourse of Inclusion Policies for Roma in Higher Education: Racialized Neoliberal Governmentality in Semi-Peripheral Europe Daniel Leyton 
4. Phaori si duje xulajenqe te keres buti (Nobody Can Serve Two Masters) Higher Education Expansion, Roma Access and Neoliberal Globalization Spyros Themelis 
5. Capability Strengthening: Roma as Knowledge Producers Paul Roberts 
6. Creating Knowledge about the Roma in Higher Education Iulius Rostas and Simona Torotcoi 

PART 2: Focus on Europe: Examples of What is going on in Greece, the Nordic Countries, Serbia and Spain 
7. The Roma in Spanish Higher Education: Lights and Shades after Three Decades of National Plans for Roma Inclusion Teresa Padilla-Carmona, José González-Monteagudo, and Sandra Heredia-Fernández 
8. Higher Education in Nordic Roma and Traveller Policy Documents – Analysing Silences Jenni Helakorpi and Ulpukka Isopahkala-Bouret  
9. Widening Access of the Roma in the Global Knowledge Economy: The Case of Serbia Tanja Jovanovic 
10. Greek Roma in Higher Education: How Did They Get There? Panagiota Gkofa 

June 2018

Louise Morley made the keynote presentation at the ACCESS4ALL International Conference: Institutional Change for Inclusion in Higher Education, Bucharest, Romania. She presented: Thinking Differently about the Roma in Higher Education:Beyond Sex, Slums and Special Schools, and Towards Epistemic Inclusion!
The conference marked the conclusion of an ERASMUS+ project and was attended by colleagues from across Europe including NGOs such as the influential Roma organisation Agentia Impreuna, Bucharest, teachers from schools and universities, researchers, university leaders and student organisations. follow

March 2018
HEIM Media coverage in Spain
A journalist from one of the most important online newspapers in Spain and Andalusia (eldiario) heard about the HEIM Project and interviewed Dr Mayte Padilla-Carmona and Dr José González Monteagudo. The result is a very sensitive and consciousness-raising article about the Roma and their opportunities for Higher Education in Spain: Universitarios que rompen con el estereotipo tradicional gitano: entre la lucha interna y el peligro de 'apayamiento' (University students who break the traditional gypsy stereotype: between the internal struggle and the danger of 'shutting down').

 

The HEIM Training Module
Internationalisation in Higher Education: Practical Guidance is now available in Spanish. Many thanks to our colleagues at the University of Seville: Dr Mayte Padilla-Carmona and  Dr José González Monteagudo for their work to get this important output translated. It will be piloted initially in the University of Seville. We are also hoping to roll it out to universities in Latin America.

February 2018

The Guidelines for Reflexive Internationalisation report, based on research into the University of Seville's Internationalisation Policy and practices by Anasztazia Nagy and Beata Bislim Olahova from the Roma Education Fund, is now available.

January 2018
  1. Coverage of the HEIM Project was reported in Spain's El Correo de Andalucia: Un estudio de la Hispalense cuestiona la oposición de la cultura gitana hacia los estudios superiores (9 January 2018).
  2. The latest publication from the HEIM Project is now available online.
December 2017

December 2017 saw the end of the HEIM Project. The activities and secondments have all been completed and are summarised in a report. However, impact and dissemination activities will continue. So, please keep checking the website for news of publications and events.

November 2017

Team Meeting: 22 November 2017

Members of the HEIM international team met in Seville to consolidate plans for publications, impact and follow up research after the project ends in December 2017. The team is planning to publish a book on Roma in Higher Education, to evaluate the capacity building of the early stage researchers who participated in HEIM secondments, and to translate the HEIM Training Module, Internationalisation in Higher Education: Practical Guidance into Spanish for piloting at the University of Seville.
The team received a verbal report from Anasztázia Nagy on Work Package 1 in which Anasztázia and Beata Olahova had researched the University of Seville's Internationalisation policies and practices. They had interviewed staff and students about their experiences and preparations for internationalisation. A written report will be available early next year.

Experts' Meeting, University of Seville: 23 November 2017 (Intercambio de Personas Expertas Sobre la Equidad en la Educación Superior)

Dr Mayte Padilla-Carmona and Dr José González-Monteagudo organised a very successful meeting in which experts from the University of Seville, NGOs, ministries and civil society were briefed about the aims and findings from the HEIM project - with particular reference to the Spanish context. The meeting was attended by international HEIM team members Louise Morley, Paul Roberts, Daniel Leyton and Radoslav Kuzmanov.

The HEIM film, Gypsy Roma Traveller (GTR) Communities: Accessing Higher Education has been translated into Spanish by the HEIM team in Seville and was shown, followed by discussions and the identification of main points for future action. These included the need to forge stronger links between universities and Roma organisations, and to investigate what structured support could be provided to encourage and enable Roma students to enter and succeed in higher education in Spain, eg. affirmative action programmes.

Action points agreed on included:
  • Organising meetings with Roma students in the University to deepen trajectories and identify the difficulties or barriers they experience. This information could inform guidance plans in every school or faculty.
  • Promoting case studies of Roma students and graduates to raise aspirations for young people who might be considering attending higher education. This would entail involvement with Roma families and children from the nursey stage, and should have a particular focus on marginalised and disadvantaged communities.
  • Designing specific measures within guidance plans to target Roma students at university in collaboration with pro-Roma associations.
  • Integrating new actions carried out by NGOs targeting Roma students in already-existing programmes for the promotion of co-existence in secondary schools.
  • Developing joint projects between academics and pro-Roma associations, eg. under the current funding scheme for cooperative actions.
  • University of Seville to get involved in a programme for Roma women carried out in a secondary school in a disadvantaged area of Seville.
  • Requesting the establishment of a special quota from regional government for Roma students wanting to access higher education using HEIM findings for reference.

The HEIM team at the University of Seville will keep in touch with attendees and support the instigation of changes to promote access to and the achievement of Roma students in higher education.

October 2017

In July 2017, five researchers and professionals working to theorise and promote Roma inclusion spent a month at the University of Sussex at the HEIM summer school (as part of WP6). During the month, they reflected on the topics of inclusion and internationalisation and produced the following 'think piece' papers. We hope these papers will spark further research and reflection on the topic and will also be useful resources for those researching Roma inclusion:

September 2017

Work Package 1: Internationalisation with Equity and Diversity?

Two members of the Roma Education Fund: Beate Olahova a (from 1 September) and Anasztázia Nagy (from 1 October) will be on secondment at the University of Seville for two months each. 

The focus of this secondment will include exploring the University of Seville's Strategy for Internationalisationand Documentation from the Ministry of Education, interviewing 4-5 people in the International Office, and interviewing 6-8 international students. 

Beate and Anasztázia aim to produce research-informed guidelines for higher education institutions on reflexive internationalisation aimed at embedding equity in their employment practices and treatment of international staff by the end of 2017.

August 2017

Following participation by Universities UK in the July Experts' Meeting held at Sussex, the UK HEIM team was invited to send a project briefing to the Office for Fair Access (OFFA). OFFA is very keen to learn more about how to enhance Gypsies, Roma and Traveller communities' access to higher education in the UK.

July 2017

Summer School
Dr Emily Danvers coordinated the summer school ‘Research Methodologies Training for Equality and Diversity’ from 28 June-29 July which comprised a programme of activities - from research communication workshops to participating in an expert meeting about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller inclusion – to support Roma scholars, or those researching Roma. The summer school was part of HEIM Work Package 6 and the two key aims were for participants to:

Five participants attended:

  1. Imre Balong,University of Pécs, Hungary
  2. Mate Dezso, Eotvos Lorand University
  3. Tom Bass, Roma Education Fund
  4. Radu Lacatus, Babes- Bolyai University, Romania
  5. Ion Goracel, Western University of Timisoara, Romania

The summer school was a really productive space to exchange knowledge with researchers and colleagues working in different international contexts and to reflect on how the concepts of ‘equity, diversity and internationalisation’ might apply to Roma. We look forward to future collaborations with our new friends!

Alejandro and John in Budapest
Throughout July, Alejandro Soria-Vilchez (Early Stage Researcher, University of Seville, Spain) carried out a secondment to the Roma Education Fund in Budapest. He was joined initially by Professor John Pryor who was completing his secondment from the previous year. Together, Alejandro and John worked to expand the Roma Researcher Network and Facebook group. The secondment also involved building a database on Higher Education Internationalisation and Mobility, and on Roma Education, giving researchers easy access to information and resources.

Training session on internationalisation
A pilot training and evaluation session entitled 'Supporting international staff at the University of Sussex' took place on 26 July. The overall aims of the event were to pilot the training module and resources developed as part of the project (WP2). It also provided an opportunity to facilitate knowledge exchange and expertise sharing on Internationalisation; to reflect deeply on the challenges facing international staff; to identify good practices and consider training needs and next steps for the university in terms of enhancing practices and support for international staff. Colleagues provided evaluation of the training module and accompanying resources for adaptation before being rolled out to managers and other institutions.

HEIM Expert Meeting - Including Gypsies Roma and Traveller in Higher Education
On 12 July, CHEER held an Experts' Meeting to discuss the inclusion of Gypsy, Roma and Travellers (GRT) in UK higher education. 23 people attended, including members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the UK and Europe, academics, policymakers and colleagues who implement Widening Participation policies in UK universities. 

The meeting began with the showing of a film, commissioned by the HEIM project, about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GTR) in Higher Education. This was  responded to by Kealey Sly from Leicestershire G.A.T.E. and Tanja Jovanovic, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Sussex, who shared their experiences of studying as a Gypsy and Roma, the exclusions they faced and what they think universities need to do to better support GRT inclusion. 

Action points were then discussed to take back to the respective organisations and institutions. These included:

  • Listing GRT students more prominently as a target group for widening participation initiatives
  • Setting up a local forum of key stakeholders in Sussex to discuss how schools, local authorities and universities can better work together on this issue
  • Including knowledge and awareness training for colleagues working in widening participation and promoting GRT inclusion on relevant professional mailing lists
  • Embedding GRT issues and knowledge within school and university curricula
  • Creating case studies of GRT graduates as a form of awareness raising for young people who might be considering attending higher education
  • Working with diversity champions in our own institutions to ensure GRT is on their agenda
  • Looking at how international study abroad opportunities could be better promoted to marginalised groups in higher education, including GRT
  • Linking existing advocacy groups (e.g. ACERT) with APPGs to instigate policy change

The HEIM team at the University of Sussex plan to keep in touch with attendees and offer support to instigate these changes to promote the access and achievement of GRT students in higher education.

HEIM Experts' Meeting: 12 July 2017

HEIM Experts' Meeting participants Kealey Sly (Leicestershire G.A.T.E.) reflects on studying in Higher Education as GRT Panellists Tanja Jovanovic (Sussex) & Kealey Sly (Leicestershire G.A.T.E.) reflect on studying in Higher Education HEIM Experts' Meeting participants HEIM Experts' Meeting participants HEIM Experts' Meeting participants
June 2017

Publication
HEIM colleagues have published a paper entitled 'Roma in higher education: A case study of successful trajectories at the University of Seville', in Revista de Educacion (No.377, July-September, 2017) by Padilla Carmona, González Monteagudo and Soria-Vilchez.
This paper was based on the work undertaken in WP4 on 'Supporting Roma Students in Higher Education' and focuses on the Spanish context. All three authors have been secondees on the HEIM project: Mayte Padilla Carmona and José González Monteagudo are experienced researchers. Alejandro Soria-Vilchez is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Seville. The paper provides detailed analysis of successful paths in higher education of three Roma students and three Roma graduates from the University of Seville. 

May 2017

On 3 May 2017, Dr Emily Danvers attended an expert meeting at King's College London as part of research they have commissioned into Gypsy, Roma and Traveller young people in higher education. The project cited the influence of HEIM research in their initial scoping literature review and it is exciting to see further work that investigates how best to support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities to access higher education opportunities in the UK.

April 2017

Louise Morley is the editor of a new edited collection published by Routledge, entitled Gender and Access to and Participation in Higher Education: The Europa World of Learning Essays 2017 (ISBN: 9781857438321) which includes a chapter on Roma women written by CHEER members Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith and Dr Emily Danvers.

The collection interrogates gender in the global academy and includes contributions from Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Sweden and the UK. It addresses a range of contemporary challenges including gender-based violence, the exclusion of Roma women, the absence of women from senior leadership, gender equality policy paradoxes, and the negative socio-cultural constructions of women who choose to follow the life of the mind. In addition to the chapter on Roma women mentioned above, the two-volume set includes chapter contributions from a number of other CHEER members and Associates, including Maithree Wickramasinghe, Barbara Crossouard, Sarah Jane Aiston and Caroline Berggren.

March 2017

Nafsika Alexiadou - officialProfessor Nafsika Alexiadou, Umea University, Sweden, has had a book chapter published drawing on her research as a partner in the HEIM project. Entitled 'Equality and Education Policy in the European Union: An example from the case of Roma', the chapter looks at the role of European Union (EU) equality and educational policy and legal frameworks in shaping the opportunities for Roma inclusion in education. Her research suggests that a combination of legal and policy processes is necessary to address issues of inequalities in education across Europe but that this is compromised when national governments lack the political will to implement EU policies. 

February 2017

1. On 23 February, CHEER members, Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith, Dr Emily Danvers and Tanja Jovanovic presented a Research Café for the Centre for International Education (CIE). Entitled Roma Students' Experiences in European Higher Education: Exploring Gender, Identity and Marginalisation [PPTX 5.76MB], their paper gave details of the HEIM project to MA students and departmental colleagues.

CIE Research Cafe: 23 February 2017

Cafe presenters Tanja Jovanovic, Dr Emily Danvers and Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith Emily presents Tamsin presents Tanja presents All present Answering questions: Tanja with Emily

2. CHEER has provided a written submission to the UK House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee inquiry into ‘Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities’. The summary of findings looks at strategies for the inclusion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in higher education. 

January 2017

A journal article entitled ‘Roma women’s higher education participation: whose responsibility?’, which draws on work conducted during Work Package 6, has now been published in the journal Gender and Education. This article was a collaboration between established (Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith) and early-stage researchers (Dr Emily Danvers and Tanja Jovanovic) involved in the HEIM project.

Hinton-Smith, T., Danvers, E. & Jovanovic, T. (2017): Roma women’s higher education participation: whose responsibility? Gender and Education, DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2016.1274386 

November 2016

Visit to CHEER and the University of Sussex by Roma Scholars

CHEER welcomed three visitors this month: Danut Dumitru (Director of Advocacy, Roma Education Fund, Romania), Gabriela Petre (PhD researcher, Romania) and Albena Velcheva (PhD researcher, Bulgaria). Their visit was an extension of Work Package 6 which involved Roma scholars working with academic colleagues and students at the university to engage in research methodologies training around issues of internationalisation, equality and diversity.

In this visit, Danut, Gabriela and Albena met with colleagues from the Widening Participation team at Sussex to share best practice and ideas for supporting marginalised groups to access higher education opportunities across Europe. This meeting helped generate ideas for a knowledge exchange seminar to be held at the University of Sussex on 19th July 2017. The planned event  ‘Gypsies, Roma and Travellers: Re-Imagining Priorities for Widening Access to Higher Education in the UK and Spain’ aims to raise awareness and stimulate institutional change around the situation of Roma in higher education to widening participation practitioners.

Roma Visitors: November 2016

Tanja Jovanovic, Gabriela Petre, Danut Dumitra, Albena Velcheva, Dr Emily Danvers & Professor Louise Morley Professor Miriam David with colleagues at a roundtable discussion Seminar participants Filming with Tanja Jovanovic, Albena Velcheva & Gabriela Petre for film about Roma in higher education with filmmakers Fox Fisher and Ugla Stefania Danut Dumitra, Albena Velcheva, Dr Emily Danvers, Gabriela Petre, Tanja Jovanovic & Professor Louise Morley
September 2016

Work Package 2: Debating and Designing a Module to Encourage Reflexive Accounts of Internationalisation took place during September 2016 at the Roma Education Fund in Budapest. 14 interviews with migrant academics around the globe were conducted for the Work Package to ascertain their experiences of internationalisation. Hidden narratives of mobility will be shared via a co-authored journal article and a Training Module for universities on 'reflexive internationalisation'.

The Work Package 2 team comprised Professor Louise Morley (CHEER Director, University of Sussex), Dr Marius Taba and Dr Stela Garaz from the Roma Education Fund, Professor Nafsika Alexiadou (Umea University, Sweden) and Dr José (Pepe) González-Monteagudo (Seville University, Spain). With the assistance of Dr Catherine Pope, you can now access the training module online.

WP2 Budapest

WP2: list of donors WP2 Team: Nafsika Alexiadou / Louise Morley / Pepe González-Monteagudo / Stela Garaz / Marius Taba Pepe González-Monteagudo / Marius Taba / Louise Morley / Nadir Redzepi / Nafsika Alexiadou
June 2016

HEIM Project Work Package 3: Network of Roma Early Stage Researchers

In May and June 2016, Professor John Pryor (Education, University of Sussex), Caterina Mazzilli (PhD researcher, Migration Studies, University of Sussex), and Daniel Leyton (PhD researcher, Education, University of Sussex) were seconded to the headquarters of the Roma Education Fund (REF) in Budapest to develop a network of Roma Early Stage Researchers. They worked in close contact with the REF Scholarship Programme’s team composed of Dan Doghi (Higher Education Programme Manager), Erzsébet Bader (Scholarship Programme Officer), and Merziha Idrizi (Scholarship Programme Officer).

The purpose of the Network - established in the form of a Facebook Group (so Facebook login required to view) - is to provide a platform where Roma Early Stage Researchers can share information, opinions and views on their studies and investigations and, additionally, provide new possible opportunities of collaboration, mutual help and peer support.

The Network currently boasts 108 members from diverse backgrounds such as Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine - all of which are linked to the REF Scholarship Programme and/or the HEIM project. When identifying prospective members, the Sussex and REF teams decided to include previous and current postgraduate (MA and PhD) students who have been beneficiaries of REF and have a good command of the English language. This last requirement was essential to relate to the other participants from a different nationality and studying or working in a different part of the world.

The posts to the group refer to scholarships, internships, job opportunities, summer schools and conferences and publications, or news regarding Roma issues and activism raising awareness and reclaiming voice and recognition of Roma history of resistance. Participants also use the platform to encourage collaboration within the community and collective work on justice.

Example posts include:

"I believe that cooperation is important…there could be formed a group of legal experts in human rights…and deal with violation of rights of Roma across Europe."

"I totally agree and support this initiative. It could be good if we could also exchange opinions and our work…Moreover, this group can serve as a platform for international young Roma experts…for relevant Roma issues."

The next stages are the consolidation of the network and opening it to a wider community of Roma supporters. 

May 2016

On 19 May 2016, CHEER - along with its partners the Roma Education Fund and the Universities of Umeå (Sweden) and Seville (Spain) - hosted an impact event for the HEIM research project entitled: 'Including Roma Communities in European Higher Education: Celebrating Successes and Identifying Challenges'. Speakers included:

  • Professor Nafsika Alexiadou: Umeå University, Sweden
  • Dr Stela Garaz: Roma Education Fund, Budapest, Hungary
  • Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith: CHEER, University of Sussex, UK
  • Ms Tanja Jovanovic: CHEER, University of Sussex, UK
  • Dr Andrzej Mirga: Chair of the Roma Education Fund, Budapest, Hungary
  • Professor Louise Morley: Director of CHEER, University of Sussex, UK
  • Mr Ciprian Necula: State Secretary, Ministry of European Funds, Romania
  • Dr Mayte Padilla-Carmona: Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
  • Professor John Pryor: CHEER, University of Sussex, UK
  • Mr Paul Roberts, Doctoral School, University of Sussex, UK

ONLINE MEDIA

April 2016

ONLINE MEDIA

International Roma Day

February 2016

ONLINE MEDIA

January 2016

Stela Garaz, Nadir Redzepi, Tamsin Hinton-Smith and Merziha Idrizi at Roma Education Fund, Budapest

Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education, University of Sussex, visited Roma Education Fund headquarters in Budapest where she met colleagues - including Judit Szira (Executive Director, Roma Education Fund) and new Director, Nadir Redzepi, during his first week in post - to discuss the HEIM project. Tamsin also met with Stela Garaz (Programme and Studies Officer, Roma Education Fund) and Merziha Idrizi (Scholarship Programme Officer, Roma Education Fund) to discuss Work Package 5 secondments. Stela was previously seconded to the Universities of Seville and Sussex for one month each for the HEIM project, while Merziha was seconded to Umea University, Sweden.

Photo (from left to right): Stela Garaz, Nadir Redzepi, Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith, Merziha Idrizi

ONLINE MEDIA

December 2015

CHEER presented a symposium at the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)'s Annual Research Conference: Converging Concepts in Global Higher Education Research: Local, national and international perspectives, 9-11 December 2015, Celtic Manor, Newport, Wales. Under the overarching theme, The Roma in European Higher Education: Internationalising Opportunity Structures, CHEER members presented the following papers:

  • Paper 1: Internationalisation in Higher Education: Theorising Equity and Exclusions
    Professor Louise Morley and Professor John Pryor, CHEER, University of Sussex, UK
  • Paper 2: The Roma in Spanish Higher Education: A Case Study of Successful Trajectories 
    Teresa Padilla-Carmona, José González-Monteagudo and Alejandro Soria-Vílchez, University of Seville, Spain
  • Paper 3: The Link between Socio-Economic Background, Field of Studies, and Employability of Ethnic Roma Students in Europe 
    Dr Stela Garaz, Roma Education Fund, Budapest, Hungary
  • Paper 4: The Roma in Serbian Higher Education: Enablers and Barriers
    Tanja Jovanovic, CHEER, University of Sussex, UK
  • Paper 5: Roma Women and Higher Education: Gender, Identity, Belonging and Responsibility
    Dr Tamsin Hinton Smith, Emily Danvers and Tanja Jovanovic, CHEER, University of Sussex, UK 

Paul Roberts speaks at the SRHE's Annual Research Conference in Wales, Dec 2015  Stella Garaz speaks at the SRHE's Annual Research Conference in Wales, Dec 2015  Dr Mayte Padilla-Carmona speaks at the SRHE's Annual Research Conference in Wales, Dec 2015  Emily Danvers speaks at the SRHE's Annual Research Conference in Wales, Dec 2015

ONLINE MEDIA

November 2015

CHEER Doctoral Researcher, Tanja Jovanovic, was asked to present at the University of Brighton's 'Challenging Romaphobia' symposium on 3 November. Tanja was the only non-faculty member on the panel. She presented 'The Roma in Serbian Higher Education: Enablers and Barriers'.

Romaphobia Conference, University of Brighton: Nov 2015  Romaphobia Conference, University of Brighton: Nov 2015  Romaphobia Conference, University of Brighton: Nov 2015

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CHEER hosted a symposium on Monday 2 November with keynote speaker, Dr Iulius Rostas, Visiting Lecturer, Corvinus University, Budapest & Associate Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, Central European University who presented 'Inclusive education and ethnic identity: Educational policies for Roma in Central and Eastern Europe'.

Dr Rostas' keynote presentation was followed by discussion and three subsequent presentations by doctoral researchers sponsored by the Roma Education Fund:
- Ljubica Tomic, University of Florence, Italy: ‘Educational Systems and Romani Identity: A comparative study of legal strategies for exclusion and inclusion educational systems in Macedonia’ 
- Máté Dezső, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary: ‘Generational changes of the Roma graduates, in the impact of social resilience’ 
- Gabriela Petre University of Bucharest, Romania: ‘Migration Dynamics and New Trends in European (In)Security’

See Inclusive Education and Ethnic Identity: A Roma conference [PDF 209.40KB] 

        

Iulius Rostas Seminar: 2 Nov 2015

Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015 Iulius Rostas seminar: 2 Nov 2015

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September 2015

Work Package 5 of the HEIM project kicked off this month - to complete in December 2015. Work was conducted by teams of established and early stage researchers from the Roma Education Fund and the Universities where they are seconded [Sussex, Seville and Umeå] for periods of a month at a times. The focus of the work package - 'Researching Marginalised Minorities in Higher Education Institutions: Policies and Practice' - was about identifying policy learning opportunties across the three countries with the specific objectives of:

  1. developing Roma Education Fund expertise on barriers and enablers for marginalised minorities in European higher education through visiting and exchanging knowledge with the Universiies of Seville, Umeå and Sussex, and
  2. to apply the Roma Education Fund's specialist knowledge to specific country contexts.

The visiitng teams conducted empirical research of institutional policy, practices and experience of the inclusion of marginalised minorities in higher education participation through resources including interviews and documentary analysis. Through this they identified future initiatives to support widening participation of Roma students in European higher education.    

Secondments resulted in development of a series of three country-specific (Sweden, Spain, UK) research-informed briefing papers led by the visiitng Roma Education Fund teams on issues for Roma people in accessing higher educational opportunities in European countries.

Stela Garaz (Established researcher) and Ilona Notar (Early stage researcher) were seconded from the Roma Education Fund to the University of Seville from 16 September-15 October 2015; Merziha Idrizi (Established researcher) and Ljubica Tomic (Early stage researcher) visited Umeå University from 1-31 October 2015; and Stela Garaz and Gabriela Petre (Early stage researcher) were seconded to the University of Sussex from 30 October-28 November 2015.

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The HEIM team presented the symposium Troubling Mobilities in Higher Education at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Budapest, 8-11 September, 2015. The papers presented included: 

ECER 2015

Professor Louise Morley (CHEER Director, University of Sussex) at ECER 2015 Professor John Pryor (University of Sussex) at ECER 2015 Tanja Jovanovic (CHEER GTRA & PhD in Education Researcher) at ECER 2015 Stela Garaz (Roma Education Fund) at ECER 2015 Professor Nafsika Alexiadou (University of Umea, Sweden) at ECER 2015 Professor Marie Brennan (Victoria University, Melbourne) at ECER 2015 ECER participants
July 2015

CHEER hosted the panel discussion 'Celebrations and Challenges: The Roma Community in the UK' on the 15th July at 2.30pm in Room 203, Fulton Building, University of Sussex. Discussants included:

  • Dr Annabel Tremlett, University of Portsmouth
  • Dr Aidan McGarry, University of Brighton
  • Lucie Fremlova, University of Brighton

Promo:       CHEER Panel Discussion Promo [PDF 760.46KB]  
Recording: https://connectpro.sussex.ac.uk/p21589633/
* The audio from the lapel microphone used by the panellists in this recording is sporadic in places. Apologies for this.

June 2015

The Equality and Diversity Training Programme for colleagues from the Roma Education Fund (REF) started on Monday 22nd June at the University of Sussex, with a Welcome to CHEER [PPTX 6.96MB] and an Introduction to the HEIM Project [PPTX 279.38KB].

CHEER and the Doctoral School were delighted to welcome 10 colleagues from the Roma Education Fund for a four week programme as part of Work Package 6. REF colleagues followed an intensive programme of training in qualitative and quantitive research training and theoretical work on social inclusion to support their policy work in to promote educational opportunities for the Roma community in Europe. The training event provided an excellent opportunity for knowledge exchange between policy and academic research.

On Tuesday 23 June, REF colleagues participated in the Doctoral School's Social Inclusion course taught by Professor Louise Morley, Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith and Dr Rachel Burr.

REF visitors included: 
Staff: Marsela Taho - Country Facilitator & Scholarship Coordinator for Albania & Kosovo; Dragana Vukcevic Radoman - Program Coordinator for Konik; Dănuț Dumitru - Romania Project Manager Romania; Szilvia Pallaghy - Program Officer; and Mihaela Velicu - Romania Project Assistant 
Students: Gabriela Petre - 1st year PhD in Bucharest; Mate Dezso - 1st year PhD in Budapest; Ljubica Tomicj - 2nd year PhD in Florence; and Albena Velcheva - 2nd year PhD in Sofia.

REF Visit: June 2015

REF group: staff and students REF students 1 REF students 2 REF students 3

ONLINE MEDIA

April 2015

1. The following press release was issued on International Roma Day 2015: 
Sussex research project to improve access to higher education for Roma [PDF 30.14KB]

2. Work Package 4: Supporting Roma Students in Higher Education took place in March/April 2015 at the Roma Education Fund (REF), Budapest. Experienced Researchers from the Universities of Sussex (Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith and Professor Louise Morley), Umea (Professor Nafsika Alexiadou) and Seville (Dr Mayte Padilla-Carmona) worked with Early Stage Researchers - Emily Danvers (Sussex), Anders Norberg (Umea) and Alejandro Soria (Seville) and REF colleagues Judit Szira and Stela Garaz to produce three reports relating to European and national (UK, Sweden and Spain) contexts and containing recommendations and guidelines for good practice.

The following reports are now available/downloadable from Deliverables and Outputs:

Danvers, E. (2015) Higher Education Internationalisation and Mobility: Inclusion, Equalities and Innovation: Supporting Roma Students in Higher Education. Briefing Report on Higher Education, Internationalisation and Roma in the UK.

Padilla-Carmona, M. &  Soria-Vílchez, A. (2015) Higher Education Internationalisation and Mobility: Inclusion, Equalities and Innovation: Supporting Roma Students to Access Higher Education. Good Practice for Widening the Participation of Roma in Spanish Higher Education.

Work Package 4 underway in Budapest, Hungary

Research team hard at work Alejandro Soria (Sevilla), Emily Danvers (Sussex) and Stela Garaz (REF) Experienced Researcher: Professor Louise Morley (Sussex) Early Stage Researcher: Emily Danvers (Sussex) A well-earned dinner for project team members from Sussex, Seville and the Roma Education Fund Anders Norberg, ESR, Umea University Emily Danvers with Dennis Yonga, IT Specialist, Roma Education Fund Emily and Tamsin with Merziha Idrizi, Programme Officer, Roma Education Fund Nafsika Alexiadou, Umea University with Judit Szira, Director, Roma Education Fund Swedish and Spanish teams Alejandro Soria, University of Seville with Nafsika Alexiadou, Umea University The whole WP4 team Project team members from Seville and Umeå, with Merziha Idrizi (REF) and Matyas Szabo (CEU) Project team members from Sussex, Seville and Umeå, visiting the Central European University Nafsika Alexiadou (Umeå) with Matyas Szabo, Georgeta Munteanu and Prem Kumar Rajaram discussing RGPP Tamsin Hinton-Smith (Sussex), Alejandro Soria (Seville), Mayte Padilla-Carmona (Seville) and Anders Norberg (Umeå), in CEU

ONLINE MEDIA

Team Meeting, 22 November 2017