Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
|
Daily Overview |
| Session | |
|
III. Session 1 · Track A: Service-Learning with Marginalised and Migrant Communities Location: F21/02.18 | |
    | |
“From classroom to neighbourhood: promoting intercultural social harmony”. A project with Translating and Interpreting students and migrants arriving in the Canary Islands via the irregular Atlantic route Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain This project was carried out at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) over two academic years, 2024/25 and 2025/26, embedded in four core curriculum subjects. In 2024, 46,843 migrants reached the coasts of the Canary Islands (an EU outermost region and a gateway to continental Europe) travelling in small, open boats from the African continent; another estimated 9,757 people lost their lives in the attempted crossing which can take anything between four days and two weeks. In 2025, arrivals dropped by around 60% to 17,788, with 1,906 deaths at sea, a downward trend that has continued into 2026, although the risks and outcomes for those attempting the journey remain unchanged. As in the rest of Europe, populist discourse finds an easy target in the migratory phenomenon, especially on social media platforms where facts are sparse and anonymous opinion is free. In response, this project was inspired by a desire to promote values of human dignity, reasoning and critical thinking, ethical responsibility, empathy, and global awareness, values, skills and attitudes that are aligned with the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. The objective of the project was to facilitate students’ acquisition of these competences by creating a space for exchange between undergraduate students at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting and members of the migrant community from local reception centres. Through this interaction, the project encouraged students to reflect on the causes of migration while fostering collaboration between all participants to build a more inclusive social environment. It also set out to strengthen the development of academic and professional competences essential to future translators and interpreters, for both students and migrants, by providing a real life experience of the emotional dependency and creation of trust involved in message transmission in humanitarian interpreting. The presentation will describe the details of the project and present results relevant to the acquisition of competences for democratic culture. | |