Dear colleagues and friends,
We are pleased to welcome you to the third newsletter of the VOLARE – VOice LAb REpository!
Over the past months, our team has been working systematically to showcase the pedagogical and aesthetic design, the multimodal tools and critical methodologies behind VOLARE. We presented our work at conferences in Greece and France, while the testimonies and materials available on the VOLARE platform were put to the test in real time, in classrooms, at conferences, and during training sessions, reaching more than 480 participants.
In this issue, you will find highlights from these activities, along with the announcement of our very own International Conference “Digital Multimodal Narratives: From Displacement Testimonies to Critical Pedagogical Praxis” which will take place on 21–22 November 2025, at the main building of the University of Athens.
We are fully aware that in today’s challenging times, marked by violence, displacement and uncertainty, initiatives like VOLARE may seem small. Yet their contribution is meaningful. Every voice and every story that is heard, every experience that gains visibility strengthens understanding, respect and mutual support.
By applying scientific tools and methodologies, we continue to create the space that is needed for voices that often remain silenced. It is essential to listen and to share them.
Wishing you a beautiful summer,
The VOLARE team
VOLARE in the classroom
While the VOLARE platform is under construction, in May 2025 we tested some of its testimonies and multimodal materials in both physical and digital teaching and training settings. More specifically:
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At the Department of Early Childhood Education, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
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in the undergraduate course “Pedagogical Interventions in Open Settings: Analysis of Actions for Refugees and Socially Vulnerable Groups” (professor: Alexandra Androusou)
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in the postgraduate programme “Special Education”, within the course “Qualitative Approaches in Educational Research: Biographical Approach and Action Research in Special and Inclusive Education” (professor: Vassilis Tsafos)
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At the Department of History and Digital Humanities, Ionian University, in the undergraduate course “Multimodal Narrative and Ethnography” (professor: Anna Apostolidou).
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In the training programme “Teach.in.G.: Developing Teachers’ Skills for the Inclusion of Refugee and Migrant Children in Greece”, implemented by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens with the support of UNICEF within the module “Social Identities in the Digital Environment” (professor: Anna Apostolidou).
These pilot sessions also included guest speakers who had previously shared their stories on the VOLARE platform. In doing so, the individuals at the heart of these narratives, whose voices and experiences serve as educational material, engaged directly with the content and played an active role in the learning process.
These pilots served as a vital feedback phase, helping us assess the platform’s testimonies, tools and materials, not only in terms of technical and practical aspects, but also in terms of content.
VOLARE at conferences
VOLARE “travelled” to both national and international conferences, where the team presented several aspects of the project’s methodological and pedagogical approach, along with selected ethnographic material, multimodal tools and elements of the digital repository.
- ISLRF Colloquium «Les Xèmes Rencontres de l’Immersion en Occitanie», Carcassonne, 22–23 March 2025, Presentation: Aprene: The Pedagogy of Reception. A pedagogy to create an inclusive environment that welcomes the linguistic, cultural, and existential uniqueness of children and their families (Del Aram Bidabad)
- 7th International Conference “Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges”, Corfu, 9–10 May 2025, Presentation: Resisting Standardization: The Tensions Between Digital Infrastructure and the Aesthetic-Pedagogical Imperatives of Teaching Displacement (Anna Apostolidou)
- 7th Creative Writing Education Conference “Writing in the Real World”, Paris, 15–17 May 2025, Presentation: Multimodal Ethnography and Creative Pedagogies in Higher Education (Anna Apostolidou)
- 6th Panhellenic Conference on the Sociology of Education, Volos, 23–25 May 2025, Presentation: Methodological and Pedagogical Aspects of the VOLARE Project (Voice Labs Repository, Erasmus+) (members of the Greek VOLARE team)
Fragments of research material
The VOLARE platform will be online very soon! Until then, each of our newsletters will offer you a small “taste” of the “pieces” that make up this multivocal puzzle. In this issue, you can listen to short extracts from the stories shared with us by Mohamed Lamine, Olena Voronina and Pierre Johan Laffitte.
The VOLARE Conference in Athens
The VOLARE team invites you to the two-day International Conference to be held in Athens on 21 and 22 November 2025, titled “Digital Multimodal Narratives: From Displacement Testimonies to Critical Pedagogical Praxis.” Academics, researchers, educators and professionals from diverse fields will come together to share knowledge and experiences and to connect through the work and findings of the VOLARE project. Among others, the Conference will also feature the participation of:
Michelle Fine
Professor of Critical Psychology, Women’s Studies, Social Welfare, American Studies and Urban Education in Graduate Center, CUNY and a founding member of The Public Science Project.
Shahram Khosravi
Professor of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University. His research interests include anthropology of Iran and the Middle East, migration, displacement and border studies.
More information about the conference and how to participate will be shared soon!
A unique song -have a listen!
Among the materials available on the platform, you will also find 12 songs specially selected and recorded exclusively for the VOLARE digital repository.
Below, you can listen to one of them. A traditional lullaby from Ukraine titled “Oi louli louli.”