Power of Community celebrated during Refugee Week

The Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees (CTAR) organised a special conference on refugee care and the power of community to mark Refugee Week 2025.

The event brought around 100 people together to make connections, share learning and exchange ideas.

People working in practical ways in humanitarian and charity sectors, people with lived experience of seeking sanctuary, human rights activists, clinicians and students and researchers from all disciplines joined CTAR at the Tavistock Centre in London with people from across the world joining online. Attendees travelled in from Bedfordshire, Essex, London, Kent, Medway and as far as Scotland.

The programme encouraged discussions around different perspectives on the power of community and overcoming the challenges to building community.

Event chair Dr Zibiah Loakthar, who is a Senior Lecturer in Refugee Care at Essex, said: "CTAR seeks to create spaces for idea exchange and collaboration across sectors and communities. Thank you so much to everyone for generously sharing experiences, questions and reflections and holding open shared space for creative connection, warm listening and dialogue. We welcome ideas for future collaborative activities."

Feedback from participants was incredibly positive:

• "Brilliant and moving conference"
• "Powerful gathering, we learn so much from each other"
• "Great connecting with others working in the sector"
• "We need to make sure we share news about triumphs and successes, such as the Pamoja projects, at a time when being able to offer support ... is so challenging"
• "Thank you for organising such an inspirational event! I was so honoured to be a part of it..."
• "It was really amazing to connect to so many beautiful people and to get inspired"
• "Superb conference...heartfelt presenters"
• "I am leaving the room feeling I have found community"

Other events during Refugee Week 2025

As a University of Sanctuary, the University of Essex organised several events on its campuses to mark Refugee Week.

These included an art workshop organised by the Centre for Migration Studies in collaboration with Art Exchange and RAMA Colchester, which saw Clare Iles work with children to visualize the migration journey using mixed methods materials inspired by Refugee Week's theme for 2025 - Community as Superpower.

Readings in Solidarity with Refugees and Migrants was also organised on our squares by the Human Rights Centre, the Centre for Migration Studies and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Literary Studies.