Workshop on “Life, Precarity, and Futurity in time of the Pandemic: Health, Democracy and the Experiences of Immigrant and Refugee Communities in Europe during and after COVID”

On Monday 18 December 2023, the Institute of European Integration and Policy of the NKUA in collaboration with the Institute of European Studies of the UC Berkeley organized a workshop on “Life, Precarity, and Futurity in time of the Pandemic: Health, Democracy and the Experiences of Immigrant and Refugee Communities in Europe during and after COVID”.

The purpose of the workshop was twofold:

• First, to share interdisciplinary insights and deepen our understanding of the immediate and longer-term impact of the covid 19 pandemic on the economic, health, and social well being of immigrant and refugee communities in Europe, with a focus on Greece as a major refugee receiving country.
• The second objective was to discuss the establishment of an active Transatlantic Dialogue Forum on Critical Refugee Studies. The forum will bring together, on a regular basis, a group of interested interdisciplinary scholars and engaged organizations to advance interdisciplinary research on refugee and migration flows and engender a more holistic understanding of the challenges facing refugee and migration communities in first asylum and resettlement countries, as well as ways to better integrate refugee communities into the host societies.

Participants:

• Emmanuella Doussis, Professor of International Institutions NKUA, Director of the Institute of European Integration and Policy
• Khatharya Um, Associate Dean, Social Sciences Division, Associate Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
• Maria Clara Martin, Representative of UNHCR Greece
• Maria Gavouneli, Professor of International Law NKUA, President of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, General Director of ELIAMEP
• Dr Angeliki Dimitriadi, Senior Research Fellow, Head of the Migration Program ELIAMEP
• Diana Yeh, Associate Dean EDI, Senior Lecturer in Creativity and Social Justice, School of Communication and Creativity, City, University of London
• Dr Apostolos Veizis, Executive Director, INTERSOS HELLAS
• Pania Karnaki, Director of European and International Programs, PROLEPSIS Institute
• Ya-Ha Chuang, Researcher, Sciences Po, Paris
• Eva Tzavala, Legal Officer at the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, Chair, Asylum and Migration Working Group, ENNHRI
• Susan Beth Rottman, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Ozyegin University
• Soner Barthoma, Project Coordinator, Center for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society, Faculty of Theology, Uppsala University
• Ilias Plakokefalos, Assistant Professor of International Law, NKUA
• Dr George Dikaios, postdoc researcher NKUA, Senior Research Fellow UNESCO Chair on Climate Diplomacy & Research Fellow ELIAMEP
• Dr Othon Kaminiaris, Research Fellow UNESCO Chair on Climate Diplomacy & ELIAME
• Ion Vallianos, PhD candidate NKUA
• Anya Howko-Johnson, Fulbright student, Georgetown University