Summer School 2023: An exciting learning experience

Another Summer School was successfully completed at our main campus in Thessaloniki, bringing together students from a number of European countries creating a truly international dimension. Built on the success of the previews years, Summer School 2023 on “Migration and the crises of solidarity” was organised by CITY College, University of York Europe Campus 23-30 June.

Participating students came together to think about, discuss and reconsider practices of solidarity (or lack thereof) holistically from a number of perspectives and disciplines, such as sociological, political, policy perspectives and, crucially, from the humanitarian perspective. Discussions were carried out in various formats: workshops, lectures, experiential approaches and on-hands experiences both indoors and outdoors. Students got the most out of this exciting experience.

Highlights of the Summer School included the Special Secretariat for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors, Dr Moskoff’s presentation on the current situation of unaccompanied minors in Greece and the current actions currently implemented, as well as Phevos Simeonidis’ presentation on human rights violations in Greece, an event jointly organised with the University of York which was live-streamed at York in the context of the York Refugee week. Another highlight was the round-table discussion on the perspectives of civil society organisations towards solidarity joined by Fani Galatsopoulou and Vasileios Georgakoudis (IOM), Irida Pandiri (Arsis), Apostolos Veizis (Intersos) and Nikolaos Rangos (Solidarity Now).

We would like to wholeheartedly thank colleagues from the University of York, the University of Sheffield, the University of the Peloponnese and ELIAPEP, among others, for helping us understand the complex nature of migration and solidarity from an academic perspective. Their contributions allowed participants to approach the topic with rigour and explore new ways of engaging with solidarity and understanding its importance in the context of migration.

We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to civil society organisations HIGGS, Solidarity Now, Arsis, IOM and INTERSOS for sharing with us their invaluable experiences and knowledge. Special thanks also go to IOM and Arsis for engaging with summer school participants in outdoor activities with unaccompanied minors.

• The Summer School took place in cooperation with
• The University of York Migration Network (MIGNET)
• The Department of Politics of the University of York
• The Department of Politics of the University of Sheffield
• The Department of Sociological Studies of the University of Sheffield
• The University of Sheffield Migration Research Group