Diversity, Inclusion and Multidisciplinarity in European Studies

Aims

This project seeks to explore ways to increase diversity within the field of European Studies, in particular with regards to the ethnicity, disciplinary focus and geographical location of its participants.

Through a series of events, research collaborations and publications, the project aims to:

• Improve the representation of BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of colour) academics within UACES and European studies more generally
• Move away from the emphasis on Western European and North American academics towards greater inclusion for scholars from under-represented, even marginalised, geographies
• Broaden the disciplinary focus of contemporary European Studies to include adjacent/related disciplines such as anthropology, human geography, cultural studies and sociology

Sign up here to be updated about the project, its events and its outputs. We will be announcing the dates for our first workshop soon.

Calling all Undergraduates, Masters students and Doctoral Researchers!

 
On February 2023, UACES is holding a conference at the University of Pretoria on the theme of: ‘Confronting “Europe” in a Globalised World’. This is the closing conference for its Diversity, Inclusion and Multidisciplinarity in European Studies (DIMES) project which is supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The DIMES project aims to move away from Eurocentric approaches to European Studies and to bring a more inclusive and interdisciplinary approach to the field.

As part of the conference, UACES will be hosting an exhibition of student creativity and we’d like you to get involved.

Some questions you might like to think about:  

Do you have views on Europe’s role in the world and the way in which the ‘idea’ of Europe is propagated? Where does it come from? How does it persist? How can it be challenged? Do you have an interest in Europe or European issues? Do you think they are important in a global context? Or, on the other hand, does the continued narrative of (Western) Europe as a dominant cultural and political force in the world feel outdated to you?

If you have thoughts on these questions and would like to turn them into a creative output, we want to hear from you. We’re not looking for essays or academic articles. Instead, we want visual, aural, literary or artistic takes on these questions. It can be anything, from a poster, to a painting, to a poem. You may have other exciting ideas of how to share your thoughts. We will accept both physical and virtual entries.

All the entries to the exhibition will be displayed during the DIMES conference and virtually on the UACES website and will also be entered into a competition. The winning entry will receive a prize of €200. There will be 2 runners up prizes of €50 each.

Entrants must be enrolled as a student either at undergraduate, masters, or PhD level at a Higher Education Institution. Entrants can be enrolled on any degree course – this is not limited to those who usually engage with European Studies.

Entries need to reach us by 31 January 2023.
Virtual Entries can be sent to admin@uaces.org.
For physical entries, please email us at admin@uaces.org for
instructions.

Go to the event page.

Project Coordinators

Maria Garcia, University of Bath; Maxine David, Leiden University; Toni Haastrup, University of Stirling; Dickson Ajisafe, University of Pretoria; Frank Mattheis, Université libre de Bruxelles & University of Pretoria.

Call for Project Participants

We are looking for additional project participants to get more involved in DIMES (e.g. contributing to the project blog, speaking at workshops and events, contributing to publications, assisting the advisory board, representing the project at events). To express your interest, please sign up here.

This project is supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.