Image permission: Miriam McBreen.

By Zahra Siddiqui, Psychology and Human Development MPhil/PhD

This year, our Department of Psychology and Human Development (PHD – yes, the department, not the title!) organised the Psyched in Education conference to showcase all our ongoing work and research. This celebratory event featured presentations from every level of our development, from Master’s students through to professors. It was a great day to spend time with the department, celebrating the remarkable research we’ve been conducting, and fostering a supportive environment for discussing our work together. I’ll be going through some of my personal highlights from the day – and all the new things I learnt from the department!

The day was divided into four topics: mental health and wellbeing; schools and education; literacy and numeracy; and disability. I’ll be giving an overview of some of my favourite pieces of work from each of the four sessions. (more…)

A group protesting in a rally organised by the West Indian Student Centre, May 1970. Courtesy of Black Cultural Archives, ref no: PHOTOS/173, photographer unknown.

By Uduma Ogenyi, PhD student at SOAS/IOE.

When considering what it means to build solidarities, particularly in the context of discussions around ‘decolonising’ universities today, there is much to learn from lessons of the past. My research is funded by a Bloomsbury Studentship and explores the day-to-day experiences of Black students on university campuses from 1956-1981, with a focus on SOAS, UCL and IOE (then a separate college of the University of London). In this period students in London were active in a range of anti-imperialist and anti-racist struggles, including the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the fight against the National Front. At the same time, however, Black students faced isolation, loneliness, racism, and discrimination on campus.

Why do Black students’ day-to-day experiences of discrimination so rarely inform our writing of student histories? And what can these experiences tell us about the struggles students face today, especially in the context of institutional co-option of radical demands? (more…)

A photo of Aziz. Image permission: Aziz Bin Arsyad.

by Abdul Aziz Bin Arsyad (MPhil/PhD candidate)

When Professor Jeff Bezemer (Head of IOE’s Department of Culture, Communication and Media) delivered his welcome speech at an event marking the revival of the International Centre of Intercultural Studies (ICIS), he posed a straightforward yet significant question: “why do we still need a research centre that looks into intercultural studies?”

To respond to the question with a single answer would be reductive. But during the event on 8 March 2023, distinguished and experienced speakers from various fields of intercultural studies shared their insights. From a translation and dubbing project with Netflix to redefining intercultural competence for neurodiverse individuals, and poetry writing with refugees, a common thread ran through each presentation: a quest for a place to belong.

Intercultural studies and belonging

In his presentation, Professor Adam Komisarof asked the audience to think about the place of belonging in an intercultural world. For him, belonging is ‘personal involvement in a system or environment so that persons feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment’. Yet the question remains: how do intercultural studies help people find a place to belong?

One way to achieve it, as was evident in the inspiring work presented by intercultural studies scholars during the event, was the unyielding pursuit to redefine our places of belonging and the ongoing process of reimagining the role of culture in society, education and communication. This includes reconceptualising the notion of culture, language and learning, rethinking communication beyond human-human interaction and understanding the place of languages in fostering one’s sense of identity and belonging. (more…)

Film screening and debate at University College London, 15^th December 2022

By Sabina Barone, Social Science MPhil/PhD

‘This film is about ghosts. Ghosts of the past that even while they slumbered have continued to influence the present’ wrote Rob Lemkin, the director of the docu-drama ‘African Apocalypse’ screened at UCL on December 15th 2022. The ghosts are those of the victims of the 1899 French mission in what is now Niger, the uncountable men, women, and children brutally assassinated, whose obliteration broke the continuity with the ancestors and whose pain still troubles their descendants. But those ghosts are also the spectres of the perpetrators’ evil conscience, the ruthless inhumanity at the core of the so-called civilising mission of colonialism.

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Image by Jason Ilagan for IOE

By Amy Ellis, Music Education MA

The Music Education MA offers a varied view of music education, splitting two of its modules ‘The Disciplines of Music Education’, into three strands, one of which is Sociology. Over the course of term one we have covered many varying topics, including multiculturalism and gender, and a lecture about ‘Community Music’ led by guest lecturer Tim Palmer.

Tim Palmer is Head of Education at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, with 25 years’ experience as an orchestral musician, a community musician, and in outreach work. His passion for community music is inspiring, and Tim describes music education as a tool for ‘communal change.’

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