皇家华人

Two UCL Geography staff have been recognised in the tenth year of UCL鈥檚 聽Provost's Public Engagement聽Awards聽for their work supporting marginalised and under-represented groups:

• Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh
• Professor Muki Haklay鈥檚听Extreme Citizen Science听驳谤辞耻辫

Elena聽received the聽Established Career Academic聽award for her research with refugees, currently examining responses to displacement from Syria in nine communities in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

Her commitment to public engagement includes the creation of online 鈥榗ommunities of conversation鈥�, and collaboration both with locally-based researchers who have themselves been affected by displacement and humanitarian policy-makers and practitioners.

With colleagues in the UCL Institute of Education, she has also been working with women refugees and charities in London to strengthen their pathways to education.

The award panel were,

鈥�鈥渉ugely impressed by the role [Elena has] played in catalysing the development of UCL-wide public engagement activities in relation to support for refugees and displaced people and by the impact of [her] own research on humanitarian policy and practice.鈥�

Muki聽and the聽Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS)听驳谤辞耻辫 received the聽Institutional Leadership聽award.

Their聽work is unique in catering to individuals and communities with widely differing levels of scientific engagement and confidence, in multiple locations, from London to the Congo and the Amazon rainforest.

It is 鈥榚xtreme鈥� in the global applicability, scope and benefits of the methods. This includes helping indigenous groups, such as the Ashaninka of Brazil and Peru, to stave off illegal loggers, and supporting the Baka groups in the Congo basin to protect themselves from the threat of heavily armed commercial poachers.

Hosting local 鈥榮cience cafe鈥� events and workshops also disseminates the principles that scientific knowledge and techniques belong to any and all publics, wherever and whoever they may be.

The award panel,

鈥�鈥渨ere struck both by the team鈥檚 sustained commitment to exploring how Citizen Science approaches can be used in diverse contexts and communities with the aim of empowering people to develop collaborative solutions to problems, whether global or local in scale.鈥�

Both Elena and Muki demonstrate that commitment to public engagement does not conflict with 鈥渇rontier research鈥�, whether in聽promoting 鈥淪outhern-led Responses to refugee displacement鈥澛爋r promoting 鈥淐itizen Science鈥� in widely different geographical contexts.

See

• Provost鈥檚 Public Engagement Awards 2018
• Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh