Spring School 2026 Call for Contributions
The call for proposals for our 9th annual UNESCO RIELA Spring School: The Arts of Integrating is out!
Download the SS26 call
Deadline for application: 2 February 2026
The UNESCO Chair hosted within the School of Education at the University of Glasgow undertakes a programme of work focused on multilingual knowledge exchange in the area of refugee and humanitarian protection, with a focus on fostering multilingual, multimodal and multilateral models of integration through creative and cultural expressions. We are now inviting community groups, artists, academics, students, third sector organisations and anyone working on community building to respond to this call for contributions to our next UNESCO RIELA Spring School 2026.
Theme: caring and sharing
The Spring School is a 3-day in person knowledge exchange event, organised and hosted by the UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Education, Languages, and Arts (UNESCO RIELA). We host this annual event in person in May, with an online edition during the Southern Hemisphere Spring. At our 9th annual Spring School in 2026, we will explore intergenerational caring and the sharing of knowledge, wisdom and practices in the context of (forced) migration and restorative integration through education, languages and the arts.
How can Elders, the living archives among us, pass on their language, history, culture and wisdom to younger and future generations when spatial, temporal and political barriers stand in the way? How is care organised when people are forced to flee? Who carries culture forward, and how is it kept alive when communities are broken up and dispersed? Can cultural heritage be maintained and transmitted within new communities, and what mechanisms or efforts are involved? How can destination countries support those experiencing the loss of cultural and linguistic heritage? How do refugees and people seeking asylum access knowledge about their own cultural heritage? UNESCO has declared a Decade of Indigenous Languages and the wisdom-speech, linguistic inheritance and forms of speech of elders, and of those beginning steps in the languages of home are critical to intergenerational forms of care for intangible cultural heritage. How are the generations undertaking care for culture and language in times of genocide, pain and protest?
We want to understand how intercultural caring and sharing is organised, how it can be supported by longstanding communities and what we can learn from these practices. We welcome proposals that offer practical examples, as well as performances and academic reflections. We are particularly keen to hear from migrants and people seeking refuge, and we favour interactive and creative formats over formal presentations.
We invite creative contributions that connect with the theme and with UNESCO RIELA’s thematic areas to apply. We are looking for proposals for workshops, performances, presentations, discussion panels, and other creative ways of sharing and generating knowledge.
Key information:
When: 26-28 May 2026
Where: Glasgow, Scotland
For whom: creatives, academics, students, community groups, policy makers, third sector organisations and anyone else with an interest in community building
Deadline for application: 2 February 2026
Contact: Bella Hoogeveen (Project Manager) at unesco-riela@glasgow.ac.uk
Submission Process
- Written description of maximum one side A4 (11pt Calibri)
- Link to an audio/video recording of maximum 2 minutes
Please include:
- Title of your contribution
- A description of your contribution and its aims
- Format and duration of your contribution
- Name(s) and short biographie(s) of the presenter(s) - around 100 words per person
- A explanation of how your contribution links to the theme
- Any audio-visual, IT, space, access, language or other requirements you might have
- Any days/times you CANNOT present on 26, 27 and 28 May 2026
Next steps
Proposals will be assessed by a mixed panel, made up of members of the wider UNESCO RIELA family, based on the following criteria:
- Fit with the theme of intergenerational caring and sharing
- Fit with UNESCO RIELA thematic areas (education, languages, arts)
- Originality, we hope to learn from new stories, initiatives or methodologies
You will be notified of the outcome by Friday 27 February 2026. If your proposal gets selected, you will be requested to send us a promotional text and at least one image for in the programme booklet. We will request this is returned by Monday 9 March 2026.
The Spring School runs on a very tight budget – this is how we can ensure it remains FREE to all with no registration fees. Unfortunately it also means we cannot pay presenter fees.
Due to the location of the event, it will not be possible to provide on-site childcare. If you will require childcare, please get in touch with us as soon as possible to see if we can assist or partially subsidise childcare as required.
For examples of programmes from previous years, please see our website. If you would like to discuss your proposal before submission, please contact Bella Hoogeveen at unesco-riela@glasgow.ac.uk.
We look forward to receiving your proposal!
The UNESCO RIELA team
Alison Phipps, Hyab Yohannes, Tawona Sitholé, Esa Aldegheri, Pinar Aksu and Bella Hoogeveen
Click here to download the SS26 call