Discrimination, racism and prejudice

Description: This PhD project focusses on the access to education, employment and housing for beneficiaries of temporary and international protection in Belgium. It thereby aims to identify the obstacles (both in policy and in practice) that these families encounter when trying to gain access to education, employment and/or housing as well as the extent to which these obstacles are a result of the respective protection scheme that the family falls under. Following the identification of obstacles, any differences in treatment will be assessed from a non-discrimination perspective. This research is part of the REFUFAM project “From policy gaps to policy innovations. Strengthening the well-being and integration pathways of refugee families”, a BRAIN-be 2.0 project funded by Belspo and carried out by a consortium of research partners. This interdisciplinary research project places families with an (international) protection status in Belgium at the centre of its analysis.
Promoter(s): Ellen Desmet , Robin Vandevoordt , Milena Belloni
Researcher(s): Roos-Marie van den Bogaard
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Law and Criminology
Period of time: 2021 - 2025

Description: In Europe, blood for transfusion is collected from voluntary, non-remunerated donors. In public discourse, blood donation is framed as an exemplary act of citizenship and solidarity. Despite sufficient blood supply, however, only a small percentage of the population donates, and in particular, ethnic minorities are underrepresented. Existing research has mainly focused on identifying cultural and structural barriers experienced by minorities. This project argues that such a donor-centered approach prevents us from questioning in a more fundamental way how the non-participation of ethnic minorities challenges the basic architecture of the blood procurement system as a Western beacon of citizenship and solidarity. We therefore conduct a country-comparison between Belgium and the UK, representing two different blood collection systems, to explore how ethnic minorities challenge the organization of blood collection.
Promoter(s): Lesley Hustinx , Pierre Monforte
Researcher(s): Toyah Van der Poten
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
Period of time: 2022 - 2026

Description: Forced migration continues to captivate social discourses, which often represent refugees as predominantly male, heterosexual, cisgender (and homophobic/transphobic) individuals. However, many people flee their home due to the persecution they fear on the ground of their sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). To receive international protection, SOGI refugees have to construct a narrative which proofs the credibility of their queerness and the well-foundedness of their fear of persecuction - in the eye of the beholder. The asylum procedure leaves SOGI refugees and state actors to negotiate with(in) the legal framework to come to the same understanding of SOGI rights, despite different cultural contexts and the dominance of Western frameworks. Building on the critical insights of queer and post-colonial scholars, the research will analyse the narratives used by SOGI refugees and state actors in the Belgian asylum procedure.
Promoter(s): Ellen Desmet, Marlies Casier
Researcher(s): Liselot Casteleyn
Department / Research group: Migration Law Research Group
Faculty: Faculty of Law and Criminology
Period: 2021 - 2025

Description: The perception of being treated fairly in the classroom and at school is important for pupils. Previous research shows that these perceptions are associated with positive school outcomes such as motivation, enjoyment and interest in learning. In contrast, the perception of being treated unfairly at school is associated with higher levels of aggression, hostility and resistance to teachers. This research project studies classroom justice perceptions for the first time in an ethnically diverse context with attention for the perspective of ethnic cultural minorities. Using qualitative methodologies, we study classroom justice among different age groups (parents, adolescents and elementary school children) across generations. To develop a better understanding about this phenomenon, we also study how parental socialization, societal changes across generations and child development help shape these perceptions.
Promoter(s): Bart Van de Putte , Alain Van Hiel
Researcher(s): Fien Geenen
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Political and Social Sciences , Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Period of time: 2020 - 2024

Description: Persons from migrant and ethnic minority groups are relatively overrepresented in forensic mental health care, however, it remains unclear how they recover and desist from crime. The Good Lives Model, as a leading strengths-based rehabilitation framework, is regarded as a promising avenue. One could wonder though how forensic service users who identify themselves as MEM prioritize and conceptualize the Good Lives conceptions. In this study, we place MEM forensic service users’ perspectives on their rehabilitation needs and how these needs can be fulfilled (i.e. Good Lives conceptions) center stage. Additionally, we study forensic service providers’ needs towards MEM rehabilitation in forensic mental health services while identifying currently implemented promising practices. Next, these results will be validated by international experts in culturally sensitive mental health care and/or forensic mental health care, in order to formulate policy recommendations.
Promoter(s): Freya Vander Laenen, Stijn Van de Velde
Researcher(s): Marjolein De Pau
Faculty: Faculty of Law and Criminology
Period: 2021 - 2025

Description: The needs of people from migrant and ethnic minority groups (MEM) in a forensic psychiatric context have, despite their overrepresentation, long been overlooked. Contrary to a large body of evidence in regular mental health care, it remains unclear how MEM forensic service users recover and desist from crime, or how they hope to lead Good Lives (see also Good Lives Model). In this study, we research MEM forensic service users’ perspectives on their needs and how these needs can be fulfilled. Additionally, forensic service providers contribute to the discovery of promising practices, while indicating their professional needs concerning the treatment of MEM forensic service users. In a last phase, these results will be internationally validated by experts in treating MEM service users in a forensic psychiatric context.
Promoter(s): Freya Vander Laenen , Stijn Vandevelde
Researcher(s): Marjolein De Pau
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Law and Criminology
Period of time: 2021 - 2025

Description: The existing body of research on psychotherapy has emphasized the crucial role of culturally sensitive care from both therapist and client perspectives. Despite its importance, there remains a paucity of evidence on the implementation of culturally responsive practices that prevent premature dropout and enhance therapy success. In the current research we aim to contribute to the literature by studying meaningful cultural conversations– i.e. broaching - in psychotherapy with ethnic minority clients.
Promoter(s): Alain Van Hiel , Bart Van de Putte , Piet Bracke
Researcher(s): Hilde Depauw
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences , Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
Period of time: 2020 - 2025

Description: The main aim of this research project is an intersectional analysis of in- and excluding mechanisms in higher education for ethnic minority students and those from socio-economically vulnerable groups. During this project, the researcher(s) will investigate barriers & support-systems within higher education in a comprehensive way. To do so, two perspectives are employed: the agency perspective (i.e., the perspective of the student) and the system perspective (i.e., the perspective of the lecturer and system of higher education).
Website research project: https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/projects/diversity-and-inclusion-higher-education
Promoter(s): Wendelien Vantieghem
Researcher(s): Jente De Coninck
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
Period of time: 2022 - 2026

Description: Ethnic minorities are still underrepresented at higher echelons of many organizations, including the public sector. This co-funded project by BelSpo and BO/SA aims to identify factors that promote (and inhibit) ethnic diversity in the federal public services during the initial screening stages as well as later career/promotion stages. The project should allow the federal public services to improve their strategies, procedures and practices for recruiting, selecting and promoting ethnic minorities. Although the focus of this project is on ethnic diversity, we will apply an intersectional perspective in terms of gender, age, job levels, contract type and other relevant variables.
Promoter(s): Eva Derous , Donatienne Desmette , Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe
Researcher(s): Eva Derous , Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe , Donatienne Desmette , Aylin Kocack , Bert Leysen
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Period of time: 2023 - 2024

Description: Lore’s doctoral research echoes the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR, 2013) concern that asylum authorities might base credibility assessments on stereotypical and erroneous perceptions of gender. Her research aims to analyse the gender-(in)sensitivities in credibility assessments of asylum applications based on sexual or gender-based violence (SGBV) in the European asylum procedure (going beyond only ‘rape’ as a type of SGBV). Her research will collect data from 3 complementary resources: existing literature, asylum authorities (through case law analysis and KAP (Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices) surveys) and asylum seekers themselves (through qualitative interviews). This triangulation of input will expand the understanding of the asylum procedure and its gendered legal challenges and will contribute to the further theorization of asylum-specific gender studies.
Promoter(s): Ellen Desmet , Ines Keygnaert
Researcher(s): Lore Roels
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Law and Criminology , Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Period of time: 2021 - 2025

Description: The Hub Developing in Diversity wants to apply social innovation to increase opportunities for all children, youth and adults in Ghent. We mainly address social inequality in a learning context, by fully utilizing diversity. The Hub designs solutions which support them in their development and help them to build a future. The Hub is a space where innovative ideas are tested in short-term experiments, which can influence opinion, vision and policy regarding diversity. The experiments build on cocreation and exchange of knowledge and expertise, between Higher Education institutes of Ghent, the City of Ghent, citizens, institutions and organisations. The Hub will be fully operating by the end of 2021. In the meantime we set up a couple of pilots and prepare the working of the hub.
Website research project: https://www.ontwikkelenindiversiteit.be/
Promoter(s): Wendelien Vantieghem , Piet Van Avermaet
Researcher(s): Iris Vandevelde , Sofie Beunen , Eva Dierickx
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
Period of time: 2019 - 2035

Description: This project examines conviviality as an everyday practice of bridging religious and cultural difference from the perspective of Muslim minorities in Belgium. It aims to reveal the modalities in which Islamic frames of reference and ethics are mobilized by individuals while striving for harmonious convivial living together across religious difference. The project investigates conviviality in relation to notions of tolerance in Islamic theological and philosophical writings bearing on Western urban contexts. These insights are complemented by in-depth anthropological fieldwork. This project empirically investigates how Belgian Muslims engage in everyday ethical thought and practice while seeking conviviality and negotiating identity. Analysis will identify obstacles and categories of experiences of success and failure while seeking convivial living. Doing so, this project offers solid and evidence-based research on highly neglected facets of Muslim life in Europe.
Promoter(s): Chia Longman
Researcher(s): An Van Raemdonck
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
Period of time: 2022 - 2025

Description: While the so-called European migration crisis has been echoed with increasingly hostile EU border policies and anti-migrant rhetoric, it has also prompted many citizens' solidarity initiatives towards migrants across the continent. In this context, hosting migrants at home emerged as a new puzzling and exciting phenomenon. Drawing on ethnographic research methods, this project aims to be one of the first to conduct a systematic analysis of hospitality practices - providing shelter at one's home - and the strong, affective, family-like relations (fictive kinship practices) emerging between migrants illegalised by the State and their urban resident-hosts in Brussels and Rome.
Promoter(s): Robin Vandevoordt , Lesley Hustinx
Researcher(s): Julija Kekstaite
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences , Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
Period of time: 2021 - 2025

Description: This research aims at reconfiguring decolonization in higher education by means of re-imagining how to organize higher education in regards to accessibility and knowledge production. Flanders is characterized by growing diversity. Not only the number of persons with migration background is increasing, but the internal diversity of these groups is too. This ‘superdiversity’ of the population in Flanders is an important challenge for policymakers and the service-providing society (Noppe et al., 2018). We aim to understand what decolonization can mean within the context of the University of Ghent, whilst staying close to the perspectives and experiences of students with a migration background and mapping barriers to participation in higher education. Additionally working with the diversity sensitivity of teachers through monitoring learning networks and looking at role models and leadership in the context of promoting students with a migration background within the University of Ghent.
Promoter(s): Elisabeth De Schauwer
Researcher(s): Yasmine Kaied
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Period of time: 2022 - 2028

Description: People are forced to flee their country for numerous reasons, one of them could be the persecution they fear on the ground of their sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). My research listens to the experiences of SOGI applicants for international protection in Belgium: in the reception centres, with LGBTIQ+ organisations and during their asylum interview. Their experiences, narratives and self-identification are all shaped by the people and systems they encounter, and those they eventually need to convince of the credibility of their SOGI - which might be different from what fits within the dominant Western LGBTIQ+ discourse of the listener-assessor.
Promoter(s): Ellen Desmet , Marlies Casier
Researcher(s): Liselot Casteleyn
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Law and Criminology
Period of time: 2020 - 2024

Description: The STAMINA project (2022-2026) aims to gain a better understanding of mental health stigma among ethnic minority and majority adolescents in Flanders and examines how the school plays a role in this, more specific, social relationships with peers and teachers, the school culture, the school structure and the mental health school policy. It is funded by FWO and carried out under the supervision of Dr. Fanny D’hondt from the research group CuDOS (Department of Sociology), and Dr. Melissa Ceuterick and Prof. Piet Bracke from the resaerch group Hedera (Department of Sociology).
Website research project: https://www.ugent.be/ps/sociologie/en/researchgroups/hedera/research-projects/stamina-project.htm
Promoter(s): Piet Bracke , Fanny D'hondt , Melissa Ceuterick
Researcher(s): Lies Saelens
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
Period of time: 2022 - 2026

Description: Louise is conducting research on the labour market disadvantages faced by individuals with a migration background. The study focuses on first- and second-generation migrants, primarily in Belgium. Through her research, she aims to map out the employment opportunities for these individuals and investigate the drivers of differences in employment prospects between people with and without a migration background. Ultimately, this research can lead to concrete policy recommendations.
Promoter(s): Stijn Baert , Louis Lippens
Researcher(s): Louise Devos
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Period of time: 2023 - 2027

Description: Ethnic minorities are often confronted with racism, which increases their probability of developing mental health issues significantly. Yet, studies show that they receive far less or inadequate mental health care than the dominant ethnic group. Recent studies have illustrated the importance of negative attitudes and interpersonal racism. However, up until now, the impact of structural dimensions of racism on mental health care have hardly been studied. Building on a theoretical framework developed by Fanon and Hook, this PhD study aism to discern structural and cultural racism within current mental health care institutions, by conducting a series of qualitative studies focusing on the subjective experience of both professionals and ethnic minority patients.
Promoter(s): Stijn Vanheule
Researcher(s): Lotte Morel
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Period of time: 2023 - 2027