NEW FRONTIERS Conference 2025
Inter-disciplinary Research on Refugee Children and Youth
Reykjavík, Iceland | 31.10. - 1.11.2025
Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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Agenda Overview |
| 8:00am - 4:00pm |
Registration Location: Saga - Open area - ground floor You can pick up your nametag and lanyard at the registration table. |
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| 9:00am - 9:15am |
Opening session Location: Saga S-114 Welcome to the New Frontiers Conference 2025!
Kolbrún Þorbjörg Pálsdóttir, Dean, School of Education, University of Iceland will deliver the opening address. |
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| 9:15am - 10:15am |
Keynote - Laura Robson - Youthful peril, youthful promise: Rhetoric versus reality around refugee children and young people Location: Saga S-114 Laura Robson is Professor in the Department of History and the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale University. She is a scholar of international and Middle Eastern history, with a special interest in questions of refugeedom, forced migration, and statelessness. |
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| 10:15am - 10:45am |
Coffee/Tea Break Location: Saga - Open area - ground floor |
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| 10:45am - 12:15pm |
Migrant youth integration and Educational Inclusion: Exploring the process of migration, inclusive relational practices and school climate Location: Saga S-312 Chair: Hermína Gunnþórsdóttir Click on the session subtitle to view more information about the presentations in this session. |
Critical and Intersectional Approaches in Migration Research Location: Saga S-346 Chair: Lara Hoffmann Click on the session subtitle to view more information about the presentations in this session. |
| 12:15pm - 1:15pm |
Lunch break Lunch is not included in the conference ticket. Participants can purchase lunch in the nearby canteens and restaurants. |
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| 1:15pm - 2:45pm |
Children and Youth at the Margins: Disability, Visibility, and Empowerment Location: Saga S-346 Chair: Hrafnhildur Kvaran Click on the session subtitle to view more information about the presentations in this session. |
Artistic Expressions: Creative Outlets and the Refugee Experience Location: Saga S-312 Chair: Magnús Bernhardsson Click on the session subtitle to view more information about the presentations in this session. |
| 2:45pm - 3:15pm |
Coffee/Tea Break Location: Saga - Open area - ground floor |
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| 3:15pm - 5:15pm |
ESRCI refugee children project – presentation Location: Saga S-114 Apart and a Part: New Frontiers in Researching Resettlement Refugees in Iceland
In this panel and roundtable, the inter-disciplinary group of eleven scholars associated with the multi-year research program that hosts this conference, will highlight some of the initial results of their ongoing work. After an overview of the scope and ambition of the project, they will describe the methodology, the process, the challenges, the implications and some of the initial insights that they have gained in the last three years. This research and data collection has taken place all of over Iceland including in small, remote villages to the metropolitan region of Reykjavik. The topics that the team has explored includes well-being, inclusion, language acquisition, education, trust, community building, communication, policies, expectation management, the role of volunteers and translators, and the various stages of resettlement. As they reflect on their efforts, success and findings and consider... |
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| 5:15pm - 6:15pm |
Welcome Reception Location: Saga - Open area - ground floor This will be a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow participants, speakers, and organizers in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
Light refreshments will be served, and everyone is warmly encouraged to attend. |
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| 8:00am - 12:00pm |
Registration You can pick up your nametag and lanyard at the registration table. |
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| 9:00am - 10:00am |
Keynote - Gry Paulgaard - Pedagogy in Times of Uncertainty: Refugees in the Nordic Regions, Navigating New Landscapes. Location: Saga S-114 Gry Paulgaard is Dr.Polit. in Pedagogics and Professor emeritus at the Department of Teacher Education & Pedagogics at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, Northern Norway, campus Tromsø. |
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| 10:00am - 10:15am |
Coffee/Tea Break Location: Saga - Open area - ground floor |
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| 10:15am - 11:45am |
Understanding children´s educational experiences: wellbeing, educational structures and support approaches Location: Saga S-312 Chair: Guðbjörg Ottósdóttir Click on the session subtitle to view more information about the presentations in this session. |
Inclusive Educational Practices: shaping equitable education for all Location: Saga S-346 Chair: Susan Rafik Hama Click on the session subtitle to view more information about the presentations in this session. |
| 11:45am - 12:45pm |
Lunch break Lunch is not included in the conference ticket. Participants can purchase lunch in the nearby canteens and restaurants. |
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| 12:45pm - 2:15pm |
Educational trajectories and psychosocial needs: Refugee youth experiences, policy, and practice Location: Saga S-312 Chair: Eyrún María Rúnarsdóttir Click on the session subtitle to view more information about the presentations in this session. |
Bridging languages and Identity: multilingualism, digital literacies, and inclusive education for youth with refugee backgrounds. Location: Saga S-346 Chair: Zulaia Johnston da Cruz Click on the session subtitle to view more information about the presentations in this session. |
| 2:15pm - 2:45pm |
Coffee/Tea Break Location: Saga - Open area - ground floor |
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| 2:45pm - 3:30pm |
Panel on refugee issues Location: Saga S-114 Chair: Susan Rafik Hama Unfolding Journeys: A Refugee-Led Symposium on Identity and Belonging
This symposium brings together resettled refugees from diverse backgrounds to share their lived experiences, insights, challenges, and aspirations for the future. By centering refugee voices, the event aims to foster inclusive dialogue, inform equitable policy development, and promote community empowerment and global solidarity.
A representative from the Center for Language and Literacy—an initiative under the City of Reykjavík—will participate in the discussion by presenting insights from their work in supporting language development, literacy, and multicultural engagement. The presentation will highlight the impact of these initiatives as well as the systemic challenges faced in creating inclusive educational environments. |
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| 3:45pm - 4:45pm |
Roundtable session – Policies and practices, ways forward Location: Saga S-114 Chair: Joanna Marcinkowska In this roundtable, we invite a dialogue on policies and practices and the way forward regarding matters related to refugees in Iceland. As researchers, we believe it is important that such a large-scale research project as the ESRCI initiative can contribute to future policy development in this field. Likewise, the research team has made an effort to engage in dialogue with policymakers and professionals in the field, so that the research is informed by the realities it seeks to reflect. Participants in the conversation will include advisors from ministries, municipalities and NGOs in Iceland.
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| 4:45pm - 5:00pm |
Closing of conference Location: Saga S-114 |
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