Media literacy for unaccompanied refugee youth - a path to integration
According to Eurostat, 2015 saw 90,000 unaccompanied minor asylum seekers register in the EU. Refugee children pose considerable policy challenges: their integration in Europe is of utmost importance. Studies show that while refugee children have IT competences, they lack the ability to make critical media choices, and make informed decisions regarding their well-being. This project builds on the IT knowledge of young refugees in order to further their integration by developing media literacy pedagogic tools. Media literacy education is essential for empowering citizenship, for gaining skills to become drivers of economic growth, and not least to prevent radicalization. Media literacy, a necessary aspect of lifelong learning, enables young people to participate civically, to overcome disadvantage and to represent marginalized and missing voices.  For developing these pedagogic tools, the Fellow will first research how unaccompanied minor refugees use digital technology and social media through fieldwork carried out in 3 EU countries. In the second research phase, the Fellow will conduct participatory action research (PAR) in collaboration with an NGO which specializes in PAR with refugee youth. These results will be used to design teaching materials for youth workers and teachers. The project is unique because it brings together the disciplines of education, media literacy and migration studies for offering solutions to a matter of pressing urgency: the integration of unaccompanied minor refugees. This project will serve to widen the professional horizon of the Fellow. She will acquire specific research skills (digital ethnography, participant action research, educational tools design) and transferable skills (PhD supervision, leadership, editorial skills, managing large-scale events). The project will lay the foundations for the Fellow's long-term career goals, and she will be propelled to the forefront of media literacy research.