The University will welcome community groups to campus on Monday 20 June, from 12.00 – 4.00pm, and recognise the needs of refugees and Asylum seekers as part of the event.

The afternoon will provide an opportunity for staff and students to understand the challenges and vulnerabilities of refugees and Asylum seekers, and facilitate meaningful reflection and actions that can be taken.

Guest speaker Professor Jacqueline Stephenson MBE, Professor of the Sociology of Education at the University of Leeds, will discuss how elevating the voices of the refugee community in academic spaces can be achieved through sensitive partnership working.

The event will also include:

• An introduction from Chijioke Ojukwu and Dr Tamsin Bowers-Brown, Director of the Office for Institutional Equity at Leeds Trinity University
• An Eritrean Coffee Ritual with Trhas Gerezigher
• Hope, Dreams and Aspiration: Refugees and Education with Mr Abdul Rahman, Founder of Community Leeds After School Study Support
• Nature, Integration and Community with Syrian refugee, Dr Ryad Alsous

It is hoped that the event will support the development of ongoing relationships with partners in the community, focusing on shared interests and collaborative opportunities which contribute to social justice in the city of Leeds.

Dr Tamsin Bowers-Brown, Director of the Office for Institutional Equity at Leeds Trinity University, said: “We are proud to be collaborating with Chijioke Ojukwu to mark World Refugee Day and bring together community groups, refugees and Asylum seekers onto our campus.

“It is an opportunity for us to build on our positive relationships with our partners within the Leeds community and contribute to our wider work on making Leeds Trinity University an institution which has social justice at the heart of its values.”

Chijioke Ojukwu is a strategic leader in public policy, community development and advocacy. He added: “I am grateful to be part of the World Refugee Day celebration at Leeds Trinity University and look forward to welcoming members of the community.”

Leeds Trinity’s World Refugee Day event is part of its ongoing work to address equity and social justice.

Leeds Trinity University received the Whatuni Student Choice Award in 2021 for Diversity and Inclusion and was shortlisted for Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the Times Higher Education (THE) awards 2021.

For more information about the World Refugee Day event visit Eventbrite.