The Universitat Jaume I (UJI) has successfully held its third Multidisciplinary Migration Week, an initiative aimed at promoting reflection and discussion on migration issues from diverse academic perspectives. This year's event brought together researchers, professionals, and representatives from social entities.
The opening session focused on African art, featuring a lecture by Alfonso Revilla Carrasco from the University of Zaragoza. Through an analysis of pieces from various regions of sub-Saharan Africa, Revilla Carrasco explored the social and artistic meanings of these works, challenging Eurocentric views of African art. This session was coordinated by the UNESCO Chair on Slavery and Afrodescendence.
The second day shifted attention to the vulnerabilities faced by migrants from a social psychology perspective. A roundtable discussion, coordinated by faculty from the UJI's Department of Developmental, Educational, Social Psychology and Methodology, included specialists in gender-based violence and migration, such as Desirée Artero, as well as representatives from Amnesty International, including Guillem Badenes and Nacho Gay, who are involved in human rights advocacy. Lorena Arahuete Ribes, an expert from UJI on migrant vulnerability, also participated.
The programme continued with a session dedicated to mobility, administrative regularisation, immigration, and the labour market. Experts such as Ignacio Pineda Devesa and Jacqueline Carvalho da Silva from UJI, Paul Elguezabal from the University of Göttingen, and Joan Monrás, director of the Barcelona School of Economics and professor at Pompeu Fabra University, contributed to discussions on income inequality and its relationship with migration, the potential effects of regularisation processes on migration flows, the impact of immigration on the labour market, human trafficking in Spain, and the interplay between media, crime, and migration governance. This session was coordinated by the Interuniversity Institute of International Economics at UJI.
In her closing remarks, Raquel Agost, UJI's Vice-Rector for Culture, Social Commitment, and Equality, emphasised the university's contribution to the migration debate through rigorous academic input grounded in scientific evidence, steering clear of hasty conclusions. She highlighted the necessity of this knowledge to address the opportunities and challenges presented by migration phenomena.
The third Multidisciplinary Migration Week was organised by the Office of Development Cooperation and Solidarity within UJI's Vice-Rectorate for Culture, Social Commitment, and Equality, with funding from the First Vice-Presidency and the Ministry of Housing, Employment, Youth, and Equality, as part of the 2026 diversity activities promotion initiative.
