Refugee Support and Integration Projects

The "Connect & Create" initiative functions as a methodology for participatory research and constructive civic engagement, effectively operationalizing concepts of citizen science and volunteering within the context of forced migration and displacement. The programme is built upon the framework of transcultural project-based learning, engaging participants alongside university faculty and students in collaborative activities that result in the co-creation of knowledge. By using multimedia art, storytelling, and collective reflection to process collective trauma and explore cultural hybridity, participants voluntarily contribute valuable qualitative data regarding resilience, identity, and multilingual communication. This hands-on process of data collection and processing, focused on complex themes like challenging stereotypes and promoting inclusive perspectives, positions participants as essential contributors to academic discourse and social change.

The connection of this initiative with both society and academia is critically important, yielding mutual strategic benefits through the following three objectives:

1. Establishing Pedagogical and Therapeutic Rigour and Validation:

• Direct cooperation between Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg and partner Ukrainian Universities ensures the foundational concepts are validated within academic and professional contexts. This relationship guarantees the programme’s methodologies focusing on emotional resilience and the processing of collective trauma are evidence-based and possess sound pedagogical and therapeutic rigour.
• Provides material for scholarly dissemination, such as conferences, and empirical validation of transcultural project-based learning approaches.
• Assures that participants receive effective, accredited support designed to enhance their psychological condition and emotional state.

2. Fostering Evidence-Based Policy and Systemic Advocacy:

• The project’s outputs are designed to transcend personal support, aiming to inform state language policy and foster multicultural communication. By linking personal growth to broader themes of social change, the initiative translates lived experiences into actionable insights.
• Generates vital, context-specific evidence required for developing policy recommendations concerning linguistic identity and integration in migrant populations.
• Empowers individuals by ensuring their collective experiences contribute directly to positive systemic reform, fostering inclusive perspectives in policy and public discourse.

3. Advancing Research in Multilingualism and Cultural Hybridity:

• The collaborative structure provides a unique, cross-border laboratory for investigating the complex interplay of multilingual communication (Ukrainian, German, English, and others) and the construction of identity and belonging. Activities centered on creating personal mandalas explicitly investigate cultural hybridity after migration.
• Offers rich, qualitative data for scholarly research concerning linguistics, cultural studies, and the migrant experience.
• Provides a structured, safe platform for individuals to explore and express their complex identity and language connections, reinforcing their sense of self and well-being.

In January 2023, the event “Ukrainian Women and Families in Würzburg – Arrived?”, organized by the Office of the University Women’s Representative (UFB) at JMU in cooperation with the City of Würzburg, took place. Following the event, we received numerous calls for help. In cooperation with the “Welcome to Würzburg” office of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband in Bavaria (Lower Franconia district association), we were able to find interpreters and translators who support refugees from Ukraine during administrative appointments, medical visits, or apartment viewings.

There is a particular need for support in integrating children and adolescents into the German school system. A project initiated by Würzburg Slavonic Studies and the Chair of Subject Didactics – Modern Foreign Languages, and planned to run for approximately one year, aims to support refugee children and adolescents from Ukraine in acquiring the German language and integrating into school life. Around 30 parents asked us to organize individual tutoring in German as a foreign language for their children. Several students from the University of Würzburg (Slavonic Studies) and pupils from Würzburg secondary schools, who are registered as tutors with the City of Würzburg in the department for Integration, Inclusion, Senior Citizens, Pension Affairs, Education, and Participation, provide this tutoring.

All staff and students of the University of Würzburg are warmly invited to participate.