Being a Border: Workshop with Professor Noit Banai

12:00-02:00pm

Hebdomadar’s Room, St Salvator’s Quad, St Andrews

Noit Banai (Columbia University, PhD) is Professor of Diaspora Aesthetics at the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies, Academic of Fine Arts, Vienna. An historian and critic, she specialises in modern and contemporary art with a focus on conditions of migration, exile, diaspora, border-regimes and statelessness in a trans-cultural and trans-disciplinary perspective. Her current book project is titled Statelessness: Artistic Practices by Refugees in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, 1933-1953. This event is an interdisciplinary, discussion-based workshop for staff and PGR students. It is supported by the School of Art History, the Centre for Contemporary Art, the Centre for Art and Politics, and the CCRHR.

Attendees must register and complete some brief pre-reading. Please visit this link to register.

Palestinian Disposability: International Law and Political Strategy, with Bashir Abu-Manneh

01:00-02:30pm

Butts Wynd 09, Butts Wynd, St Andrews

Join the CCRHR for our first event of the 2026-2027 academic year. Dr Bashir Abu-Manneh will deliver a talk based on his new book Disposable Palestinians: Israel’s Wars and Genocide in Gaza

In Conversation with Rebecca Buxton and Samuel Ritholtz The Way Out: Justice in the Queer Search for Refuge.

03:00-05:00pm

School II, St Salvator’s Quad, North Street, St Andrews

Dr Roxani Krystalli will moderate a conversation with Drs. Buxton (Bristol) and Ritholtz (Oxford) about their new book, The Way Out: Justice in the Queer Search for Refuge. The Way Out examines the complexities of queer and trans displacement around the world. Centring personal narratives of LGBTIQ refugees, the book exposes the shortcomings of an international protection regime that is unable to address the harms that drive displacement. This event is jointly hosted with the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.

Working to Create a Welcoming Environment in Falkirk: Reflections from Friends of Scottish Settlers (FOSS)

Time: 04:00-06:00pm

Garden Room, Kennedy Hall (English), The Scores, St Andrews

In the context of ongoing de-industrialisation, the rise of unemployment, and the far-right in Falkirk, newcomers (asylum seekers, refugee families, and new migrant communities) and the anti-racist communities of Falkirk are struggling to develop inclusive and strong communities. In the past 4 years, Cladhan Hotel, the initial accommodation of asylum seekers, turned into a site for far-right protests as well as solidarity activities of the anti-racist communities. Friends of Scottish Settlers (FOSS) has been a prominent organisation emerging out of the solidarity activities of people of Falkirk. In this event, Sohrab Rezvani (Chief Executive of FOSS) and Doro Richter (Engagement Lead of FOSS) will present the challenges and opportunities that FOSS is encountering to defend and develop the rights of newcomers in Falkirk.

Communicating Human Rights on Social Media

Time: 04:00-05:30pm

Arts Seminar Room 1, New Arts Building (IR), St Andrews

Join the CCRHR as we host a panel to discuss the challenges and opportunities of social media as a human rights communication platform. More details coming soon!

State of Asylum: Current Issues and Future Directions in UK Asylum Policy

03.30 PM – 06.00 PM

Younger Hall, Seminar Room 1, University of St Andrews

CCRHR hosted a group of leading scholars on UK asylum and immigration policy from across the UK. Scholars shared their insights and fostered an interdisciplinary and constructive discussion on current challenges, emerging research, and possible future directions in the UK’s approach to asylum. This event was organised with the support of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs under the ‘State of Asylum’ project.

Palestine and the Arts

04.00 PM – 05.30 PM

Stewart Room, Younger Hall, University of St Andrews

Artist Leena Nammari, poet Yousif Qasmiyeh, and children’s writer Feda Shtia held a conversation about their practice. Organised in collaboration with the Centre for Poetic Innovation.

Poetry Workshop

11.00 AM – 01.00 PM

Bute Building, A11, St Mary’s, University of St Andrews

Yousif discussed a selection of poems from his two volumes Writing the Camp and Eating the Archive. Organised in collaboration with the Centre for Poetic Innovation. Please email [email protected] for copies of poems.

Poetry Reading

06.00 PM

School III, St Salvador’s Quad, University of St Andrews

Poetry reading by noted Palestinian poet Yousif Qasmiyeh and contributors to SINK magazine. Organised in collaboration with SINK magazine and the Centre for Poetic Innovation.

Interdisciplinary Rights Conversation 2: Being Human

04.00 – 06.00 PM

School V, St Salvador’s Quad, University of St Andrews

An interdisciplinary panel discussion where scholars from International Relations, Literature and Social Anthropology explored what ‘the human’ means in human rights.

More info →

Inaugural Annual Lecture: Baroness Shami Chakrabarti

06.30 – 08.00 PM

Parliament Hall, University of St Andrews

The CCRHR’s inaugural annual lecture was delivered by leading British human rights lawyer and campaigner, Baroness Shami Chakrabarti.

More info →

The Poetics and Politics of Embodiment: A Discussion with Artist Sonia Khurana

3.00 – 5.00 PM

Butts Wynd 10, University of St Andrews

Visual artist Sonia Khurana, introduced by Prof Griselda Pollock, explored the body, power and displacement through her interdisciplinary practice.

Race, Citizenship, and Rights: The Case of Britain in the 1950s

03.00 – 05.00 PM

Garden Seminar Room, Kennedy Hall, University of St Andrews

In discussion with Allan Hepburn.

Global Learnings from the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy

02.00 – 04.00 PM

Garden Seminar Room, Kennedy Hall, University of St Andrews

With Alison Phipps, Dan Fisher, Esa Aldegheri, Hyab Yohannes and Tawona Sithole.

Interdisciplinary Rights Conversations 1: Meeting Our Contemporary Moment

05.00 – 07.00 PM

Arts Seminar Room 5, New Arts Building, University of St Andrews

CCRHR launched its Interdisciplinary Rights Conversations series with a dialogue on how imagination can renew and expand human rights.

More info →