Event showcases some of the University’s work making an impact and engaging with the community.
Date: 4 November 2015
A special day of talks, networking, and volunteer opportunities was held last month showcasing the University’s collaboration and partnerships with local voluntary and statutory organisations.
London Met Connects was organised by the School of Social Sciences and Humanities and opened with session about refugee women in the UK.
Guest speakers addressed issues with the asylum seeking process, gender based persecution and the needs of refugee women and the challenges they face at various stages of settlement in the UK. They also outlined their initiatives and campaigns to support and empower refugee women.
Representatives from Women for Refugee Women and the Evelyn Oldfield Unit attended the session along with Asylum Aid, who screened a short video produced for their Protection Gap Campaign.
The day then moved into an afternoon of community stalls and networking, offering attendees a chance to mingle informally with a range of groups and stakeholders including research and volunteering opportunities.
Chris Lane, Associate Dean (Business Development & Student Recruitment) for the School, commented “London Met is an organisation thoroughly embedded in its local community with dozens of local partners, this event is all about building a dialogue with them and understanding their needs.”
“We want to open our doors to local people and build closer partnerships between students, graduates, researchers, and local organisations and communities.”
The networking session was followed by an update on the University’s community engagement activities and featured presentations on three student-led research projects, an outline of work with Islington tenants and taster sessions from Crisis UK.
The day completed with the launch of Professor Keith Popple’s updated seminal work Analysing Community Work.
Essential reading on all community and youth work courses, the second edition updates the story, detailing New Labour and coalition government policy developments whilst retaining the core principles underpinning community work practice.
