LGBTQI+ communities in European universities are still too exposed to discrimination and violence. As part of the HEI4Diversity project, 4 European universities and 2 NGOs have collaborated to raise awareness and train academic and administrative staff and students to change this situation and make the university environment more comfortable and safer for vulnerable groups.
HEI4Diversity project, led by the Spanish University Rovira i Virgili, MEDIS research group, celebrated its completion with the Final Seminar “Overcoming LGBTQI-phobia in Higher Education Institutions in Europe” held online on the 16th of December 2021.
During the Seminar, all the results and outputs of this two-year collaborative work were presented in the form of roundtables in order to share national experiences and educational strategies and create networks of stakeholders aimed at strengthening the system of protection of LGBTQI+ groups.
After the greeting of the Dean of the host University, Dr. Maria José Figueras Salvat, the project coordinator Dr. Oriol Rios-Gonzalez described the context in which the project developed and reconnected the activities and objectives of the project to the scientific evidence of the necessity for intervention in this area.
The first panel discussion featured Dr. Diego Marchante-Hueso, Professor at the University of Barcelona, artist and activist for LGBTQI+ rights, who spoke about his research path and commitment to the acquisition of LGBTQI+ rights. Dr. Marchante-Hueso represents an example for other European universities in this field.
The second session was dedicated to the presentation of the two main products of the project, by Dagmara Szczepańska, Professor at the Pedagogiki Specjalnej Im.Marii Grzegorzewskiej Academy and Caterina Impastato, Project Manager of CESIE.
The “Comparative and country-based study of existing measures for prevention of violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in higher education institution in Europe” is a report that analyzes the European framework for the protection of the LGBTQI+ community, with in-depth analysis of the national framework of the partner universities, collects different procedures aimed at ensuring the inclusion of LGBTQI+ groups in universities and preventing various forms of homophobic and transphobic violence.
The Innovative online training course is designed primarily to strengthen the capacity of all members of the university community to recognize any form of violence and discrimination against LGBTQI+ groups and to take action against them. It is a training course structured in five sessions containing both theoretical input and proposals for exercises and case studies designed to stimulate reflection and group discussion.
Both outputs are available in English, Spanish, Polish, Greek and Italian and can be downloaded for free.
Andreas Avgousti, Professor at the University of Cyprus, together with Simon Perera del Rosario, Professor and researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Judit Solanas-Sanchez, researcher and collaborator in the project, provided an overview of the social impact of the project. In presenting the results of the national activities carried out in the 4 universities in which the approach was tested, attention was drawn to the differences and similarities between the preferences of the participants with respect to the content of the training and topics covered, and the possible use of the content in their professional activity.
The event ended with the speech of the European Parliamentarian Adriana Maldonado who remarked on the importance that the fight against LGBTQI+ phobia and hate crimes has also in the European political agenda.
For more information about the project and products please visit the project website.
About the project
HEI4Diversity – Building Capacities to Prevent and Respond to any Form of Violence against the LGBTQI+ community in Higher Education Institutions in Europe is founded by Erasmus Programme cofinanziato dal Programma Erasmus + KA2 – Strategic Partnership in the field of Higher Education.
Partners
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain, coordinator)
- University of Cyprus (Cyprus)
- Università degli Studi di Palermo (Italy)
- Accept – Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans (LGBT) (Cyprus)
- Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej im. Marii Grzegorzewskiej (Poland)
- CESIE (Italy)
For further information
Read more aboout HEI4Diversity
Visit the website
Contact Caterina Impastato: caterina.impastato@cesie.org.
