Research projects
We are involved with a whole host of activity, including research grants and special publications. Our research projects can last from weeks to years.
Find out more about our past projects below.
Inter4Ref – Interpreters for refugees
Up-skilling Interpreters to support the social inclusion of refugees
Humanitarian Interpreters hold a central role in addressing the needs of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe.
The context of their work is in constant change and calls for an up-to-date training with a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach that includes legislation, ethics, communication, cultural awareness and emotional reflexivity.
The purpose of the project is to:
- Create an up-to-date training course and materials for interpreters employed by humanitarian organisations.
- Support interpreters to meet their professional training needs by having access to Open Educational Resources.
- Define a professional profile for humanitarian interpreters favouring their recognition in the EU and national contexts.
The Inter4Ref is an interdisciplinary research and training project exploring the experiences of people working in the role of interpreters in the refugee sector, engaged in challenging intercultural communication contexts. Using evidenced based learning outcomes, the Glasgow team produce a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to provide an interactive learning opportunity for humanitarian interpreters and to support their work with refugees and asylum seekers.
These resources are designed on the basis of a skills needs analysis and an assessment procedure that involved the community of interpreters, trainers, and field experts.
The training resources are free and the whole course will be available online at the disseminatioin platform of the Erasmus+ Programme after the project's completion (April 2021).
Target groups
- The Humanitarian Interpreters professional community (including refugees/migrants who work as interpreters for NGOs)
- Interpreters who look for cVET in order to apply for work in humanitarian organisations
- VET providers & trainers who offer training for interpreters, humanitarian workers, intercultural mediators to respond to the refugees’ needs
- Students of interpretation, social sciences, mediation aspiring to work for organisations that support refugees
The project is supported by the EU Erasmus+ and led by an international partnership from 4 European countries: Greece - National Centre for Social Research, Italy - University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Spain - University of Almeria and the UK - University of Glasgow - GRAMNet.
The UK Project team: Dr Marta Moskal, Dr Giovanna Fasseta, Dr Maria Grazia Imperiale, Jamie Spurway.
To find out more about this project, please get in touch with the project manager Marta Moskal: marta.moskal@glasgow.ac.uk
Project website: https://inter4ref.eu/en/
CoDE: Exploring the dynamics of ethnic identity and inequality in the UK since the 1950s
CoDE is an ESRC funded research centre which is exploring the history and dynamics of ethnic inequality and identity in the UK since the Second World War. It brings together a large, interdisciplinary research team - economists, geographers, demographers, sociologists and historians - with the aim of providing a more detailed, nuanced and comprehensive account of the changing diversity of Britain in this period. A key component of the work of the Centre are a series of linked, comparative case-studies, exploring these issues as they have developed within particular local areas: Tiger Bay in Cardiff; Cheetham Hill in Manchester; East Ham in London and Govanhill/Pollokshields in Glasgow. You can find out more about the Centre, and access a range of free resources, here.
Multi-level policy-making and migrant integration
This is a comparative research project that seeks to uncover the interplay between policy and integration in different parts of the United Kingdom.
All four constituent parts of the UK are included and local and sub-national policy initiatives, as well as UK ones, will be examined both individually and comparatively in an attempt to uncover what policy exists and what its aims are.
Interviews with policy-makers at all levels of Government will be conducted as part of this.
ReCULM project
ReCULM project addresses the refugee crisis’ training needs for cultural mediators. The project is supported by funding from the EU Erasmus+ Programme and the University of Glasgow is one of the project international partners.
The project drives the official recognition of cultural mediation as a profession. Based on the investigation of the current vocational needs of Cultural Mediators, we are developing an up-to-date, free modular course on refugee crisis management.
New online course: Working Supportingly with Refugees: Principles, Skills and Perspectives starts on the 21st of May 2018.
The course will run for three weeks and is free to access. Attendance is flexible and self-paced, participants can enrol any time before or after starting date to complete the course.
You can access it here – https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/cultural-mediation/1
The course has been developed by GRAMNet academics and practitioners at the University of Glasgow with the support of EU Erasmus + funding for the ReCULM project led by an international team of partners from Greece – National Centre for Social Research, Italy –University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Spain – University of Almeria and the UK – University of Glasgow. We look forward to welcoming you onto the course.
Project workshop on the 18th of June 2018:
Following the first run of the online course: Working Supportingly with Refugees developed at University of Glasgow and publication of the other educational resources prepared within the EARSMU+ ReCULM project (www.reculm.eu), we would like to exchange the ideas and experiences of how to use the open resources. The workshop is open to all and will be of particular interest to those working with refugees in any capacity. It is aimed particularly, but not exclusively, at interpreters, NGO practitioners, volunteers, refugees, researchers, and students.
You can register here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/working-supportingly-with-refugees-principles-skills-and-perspectives-tickets-45934772140
Please check our website: www.reculm.eu and get in touch if you are an interpreter, NGOs manager, trainer, practitioners, volunteer, refugee, researcher, student, journalist or just interested in the project. We hope you can join us.
Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, The Body, Law and The State
The Researching Multilingually at Borders project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the Translating Cultures Theme as one of its three large grant awards. The project is a collaboration between seven academic institutions (international and UK) and third sector organisations, and will run for 3 years (2014-2017).
The international team of researchers, with their different disciplinary backgrounds, research experiences, language and performance skills, will conduct international comparative research on translation and interpretation at different kinds of border in order to develop theory, ethical research practices and research methodologies in relation to multilingual research.
You can find out more about project here: http://researching-multilingually-at-borders.com/
Social Support and Migration in Scotland
Our ESRC-funded research project prioritises the (often hidden) migrant voice in both its theoretical and empirical approach.
It aims to study perspectives and experiences of 'social security' amongst migrants from Central Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union in Scotland.
It began in November 2013 and will run for four years.
Intimate Migrations: Lesbian, gay and bisexual migrants in Scotland
The project will explore how sexuality may shape intra-European migration through a focus on the lived experiences of LGB migrants who have moved to Scotland from Eastern Europe (EE) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU).
Towards a training model for effective interpreting in health care settings
This 2 year interdisciplinary research project explored the experiences of practitioners, interpreters and service users who are grappling with issues and challenges of intercultural communication in clinical and non-clinical health care settings.
Using an innovative mixed-method design, we produced a set of educational resources including short films and other supporting materials.
RESTORE: Implementing migrant care initiatives, beyond language and cultural barriers
RESTORE is a research project funded by the European Commission under Framework Programme 7. The project focuses on optimising medical and psychosocial primary care for migrants in Europe. By using innovative scientific methods such as Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) and the Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) RESTORE will explore how cultural barriers and language barriers can be overcome by general practitioners and primary care staff in cross-cultural consultations and, at the same time, how available resources can be used efficiently in health systems across Europe.
Visit the project website
Integration and onward migration of dispersed refugees
The aim of this research is to further understanding of refugee integration in the UK by focusing upon onward migration after dispersal.
The key research objectives are:
- To map the geography of onward migration amongst dispersed refugees across the UK.
- To explore the main factors that influence individuals and/or households to migrate (or not) and how this impacts upon the process of refugee integration.
- To consider the policy implications for different levels of governance, service providers and the voluntary sector, in terms of the impact of UK dispersal upon refugee migration and integration.
The project will run for two years from October 2012.
Debating the politics of temporary migrant labour
Debating the politics of temporary migrant labour: a transnational exchange was developed in a four-year partnership between geographers, migrant advocacy organisations and professional theatre artists.
This proposed research seeks to generate substantive, transnational debate on the policies of temporary migrant labour and the politics of domestic caregiving in the United Kingdom, Canada and Philippines.
Gendering Activism in populist radical right parties
Working with policy-makers on immigration issues
Following the referendum for independence, Scotland is negotiating further devolved powers with Westminster, and this debate includes the topic of immigration policy (currently a power reserved to Westminster).
This project aims to assist this process through carrying out an investigation of academic/policy-maker interactions in Spain, a country with devolved parliaments and institutionalised links between academics and policy-makers working in the field of immigration.
Translating cultures: Law, Language and Silence
Law and language research and practice were brought together in three international workshops funded by the AHRC.
This series of workshops enabled a key group of participants to engage with questions of language and interpretation, drawing on existing expertise and exploring areas of overlap, consensus and interdisciplinary.
Visit the project website
There and back
This project culminated in November 2013 with a policy-oriented event which examined the uses of Ketso to explore migration.
GRAMNet co-directors Professor Rebecca Kay and Professor Alison Phipps OBE have used Ketso to engage with refugees and asylum seekers in Scotland.
Based on the success of this work, they have incorporated Ketso into community-based research into poverty reduction in Russia and work with Universities on the West Bank and Gaza to develop lifelong learning in Palestine.
Find out more about the project
Future memory in Red Road
The project provided a series of creative experiences through which people were able to reflect on the changes happening in the area, to celebrate and give significance to the many people that have passed through the Red Road Flats.
This project, completed in 2013, was a collaboration between Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow University, Exeter University and Glasgow Life.
Project partners were Alive and Kicking, The Red Road Family Centre, GHA and Safedem.
MeLa: Migrating heritage
The MeLa international conference, Migrating heritage: networks and collaborations across European museums, libraries and public cultural institutions, was hosted in Glasgow in December 2012.
Non-standard work and unfree labour
This research, carried out in June 2012, was part of an ongoing project investigating new and evolving forms of unfreedom in contemporary labour markets.
Analysis of Central and East European migration to Scotland
Towards an analysis of the social and cultural costs and benefits of Central and East European (CEE) migration to Scotland was a pilot project which culminated with a facilitated workshop in November 2012, as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences.
The project was a collaboration between COSLA Strategic Migration Partnership, GRAMNet, and the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies.
Visual journeys: exploring children's literacy
This international research project involved immigrant and non-immigrant children from different countries responding to the same wordless texts: Flotsam, a picturebook by David Wiesner and The Arrival, a graphic novel by Shaun Tan.
The project was completed in 2011.
Portfolio of Integration
Portfolio of Integration (POI) is a transnational project funded by the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), under the sub-programme Comenius –Multilateral Projects. The project involves 5 institutions from 5 different European countries: Italy, Poland, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
The project offers the adaptation at European context of a migrant pupils observation instrument – the Notebook of Integration, designed by Oxfam Italia and previously tested in Italy by many Educational and Local Authorities, also with aim of updating it to Multilingualism and Creativity thanks to the collaboration with qualified European partners.
To find out more about the project, you can download the Portfolio of Integration Final Report.