Prof. dr. Halleh Ghorashi is a Professor of Diversity and Integration in the Department of Sociology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She studied Cultural Anthropology and Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit. In 1994 she completed her MA degree (cum laude) in Anthropology and in 2001 she defended her dissertation at Radboud University in Nijmegen (Department of Center for Women’s Studies and Anthropology). Between 2005 and 2012, she held the prestigious position of PaVEM Chair in Management of Diversity and Inclusion at the Department of Organizational Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In 2016, she co-founded the Refugee Academy (one of the expertise labs of the Institute for Societal Resilience) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam together with Elena Ponzoni. Ghorashi’s work is situated in Critical/reflexive Sociology (intersecting with the aforementioned disciplines), focusing on narrative and engaged methodology. In 2018, she received the VICI Grant for the research project Engaged Scholarship and Narratives of Change.
What is your academic background and expertise?
I studied Anthropology and Philosophy. Later during my PhD, I was introduced to Gender Studies and after my PhD, I worked for 12 years in the field of Organizational Science. Currently, my work is mainly situated in Critical Sociology (linked to the previous disciplines), focusing on narrative and engaged methodology.
What role do you have within the Refugee Academy?
Supervising research, facilitating meetings, networking and writing research proposals.
What do you find most important within the Refugee Academy, and why?
Connecting different forms of knowledge (academic, professional, personal) to determine the conditions necessary for the full participation and inclusion of refugees in society.
What is your personal ambition within the Refugee Academy, and how would you connect this to your work and personal life outside the Refugee Academy?
To make a real change in the lives of refugees and increase the impact of refugee initiatives and policies by bringing them closer to the lives of refugees.
Refugee Academy- related projects :
– Engaged Scholarship and Narratives of Change
– Learning Crossroads for Refugee Inclusion
– Towards an inclusive work environment! based on life stories
– 2incING project
– Towards a structural place for refugees’ perspective and vision in policymaking
