'Representing People on the Move' subproject - IHRR and Geography collaborate with ZNU

"Representing People on the Move" is a £39,000 interdisciplinary subproject funded by the Universities UK International (UUKi) twinning partnership between Durham University and Zaporizhzhia National University (ZNU) for research on oral histories from eastern Ukraine. This subproject provided ten ZNU colleagues opportunities for thinking and learning about methodologies and tools to document oral histories while living through devastating circumstances.

As part of the subproject, Dr Hanna Ruszczyk (IHRR) and Dr Meghan Kelly (Dept. of Geography) hosted these ten ZNU colleagues over eight days (15 July to 22 July 2023). Hanna and Meghan organised a two-day narrative mapping and digital storytelling workshop (17-18 July) geared towards humanities and social science researchers from Durham University and ZNU. On Day 1, there were 60 participants: ZNU colleagues, postgraduate scholars from Depts of Geography, Philosophy, Anthropology, Business School, colleagues from Geography, Philosophy, the Business School, Centre for Visual Arts and Culture (CVAC), and other departments. On Day 2, there were 40 participants.

In addition to the two-day workshop, Hanna and Meghan organised a day trip to Hadrian’s Wall, The Sill (visitor’s centre and museum of the region) and Hexham (small museum in the Hexham Abbey), a day trip to Newcastle exploring the oldest private library (The Lit and Phil) and The Baltic (Art Gallery), a day of reflections, debrief and consideration of next steps and lastly, a day trip to Edinburgh.

Filmmaker Svitlana Pohasiy has created three films as part of this subproject. Two of these can be accessed with the following links:

Film 1

Film 2

Dr Hanna Ruszczyk presented the outcomes of the 'Representing People on the Move' subproject during the Ukrainian Talk 'Thinking Collaboratively with Ukraine at the Time of War: Outcomes, Challenges and the Future Directions of the Twinning Between Durham University and Zaporizhzhia National University' held on 1 December 2023.