The Islamic University of Gaza wins a Research Project “ Disabled Voices from Gaza – narrative methodologies with media and information literacy (MIL) to empower university students with disabilities in Palestine”
Islamic University of Gaza has won becoming the main applicant in a research project entitled “ Disabled Voices from Gaza- narrative methodologies with media and information literacy (MIL) to empower university students with disabilities in Palestine”. This project funded by Arts and humanities research Council , in partnership with Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) organisation.
The project is expected to be launched in October 2022, and its activities will be carried out in a period of 15 months ends by 2023. The project team includes Dr. Nazmi Al-Masri as a principal investigator, Ms. Nesma Al-ghola as principal researcher , and Eng. Sharehan El-Masri as a project administrator from IUG, and their counterpart researchers from Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) organisation in the UK.
The project primarily aims to empower 100 Palestinian university students with disabilities living in besieged Gaza, Palestine, to effectively communicate and produce narratives about their lived experiences. Mainly UNRWA registered refugees, these students will gain skills and experience in narrating stories of their lives during ongoing conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic using creative and storytelling methods bolstered by media and information literacy (MIL) training.
The project Outputs including writing, oral narratives, videos, blogs, and artworks posted on a project trilingual website and social media and disseminated during an exhibition held in Gaza to local universitystudents, schools, local and international organisations, and virtually to a UK audience. A multi-lingual press conference will also by the participant students as a means to amplify the voices of persons with disabilities to challenge dominant discourses on disability in conflict and crisis to reach wider audiences locally and globally.
Dr. Nazmi Al-Masri the principal investigator (PI), explained that the ultimate goal of this project is to enable Palestinian students with disabilities to effectively convey their life experiences to achieve this goal and to make the invisible voices of students with disabilities more visible locally and globally.
The research project contributes directly to the achievement of Goal (4.3/4/5/6/7, 10.3 and 17) of the Sustainable Development Goals, which stipulates achieving quality education. The project also focuses on cross-cutting barriers and obstacles that limit disabilities advancement.
Its worth to mention that this project is the second project implemented at the Islamic University of Gaza “IUG” in the context of promoting people with disabilities in Palestine and addressing critical issues that contribute to advocating for people with disabilities and helping them obtain their rights.
