Digital empowerment and refugee settlement symposium 2023

Digital empowerment and refugee settlement symposium 2023

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This online research symposium brought together international and transdisciplinary scholars to better understand how people from refugee backgrounds navigate digital experiences across different aspects of settlement such as everyday life, learning and employment.

Using a strengths-based perspective, the symposium aimed to conceptualise and apply the notion of ‘digital empowerment’ in relation to refugee settlement from a range of perspectives and in a number of contexts in order to:

  • promote more focused research about this important area of successful settlement
  • build a knowledge base for strategic and practical implications for policy makers and educators

The symposium presentations are listed below.

This symposium was hosted by Monash University Faculty of Education, DER@Monash and HEDI.

Keynote presentation:

Digital empowerment: taking a strengths-based perspective on digital practices of people from migrant and refugee backgrounds

Dr Katrina Tour (Monash University)

Keynote presentation:

Building digital resilience in migrant and refugee communities

Margaret Corrigan (CEO Carringbush Adult Education, President VicTESOL,
Immediate Past President ACTA)

Online Early Childhood Education and Care experiences of refugee communities during COVID- 19

Dr Anne Keary (Monash University)
Professor Susanne Garvis (Griffith University)
Dr Haoran Zheng (Monash University)

Refugee voices from the Northern Territory: Tyranny of distance and disadvantage

Dr Devaki Monani (Charles Darwin University)
Dr Ben O’Mara (University of New South Wales)

Rethinking digital empowerment: Relationality and the experiences of older
Karen refugee-background adults in Australia

Associate Professor Raelene Wilding (La Trobe University), Dr Shane Worrell
(La Trobe University), Professor Loretta Baldassar (Edith Cowan University)

How digital spaces are helping ethnic Karen adapt and cope in the Southeastern US

Associate Professor Daniel Gilhooly (The University of Central Missouri)

Super jagged literacies: Superdiversity, jagged profiles, and digital literacies

Associate Professor Mark Pegrum (The University of Western Australia)

Digital literacy needs for education and labor market integration of recent
Arabic speaking immigrants in Sweden

Associate professor Linda Bradley (University of Gothenburg),
Associate Professor Fredrik Olsson (Østfold University College)

Exploring the teacher’s role in digital empowerment: a case study from a
community-based provider in Australia

Dr Peter Waterhouse (Monash University),
Dr Edwin Creely (Monash University),
Dr Katrina Tour (Monash University),
Professor Michael Henderson (Monash University)

Roundtable
Discussant: Professor Michael Henderson (Monash University)