Students to study refugee camps in Dunkirk and Calais

Published On Tue 24 May 2016 by Dominic Younger

Social work students from the University of Dundee are busy fundraising for a trip to the refugee camps at Calais and Dunkirk.

Members from the Dundee Social Work Action Network (SWAN) want to report on the living conditions and the mental health of those living in the camps. Their report will then be presented to both the Scottish and UK Governments as part of National Refugee Week.

Dr Jane Fenton, Senior Lecturer from the School of Education and Social Work is helping the group. She said. “This is a fantastic opportunity for the University of Dundee to play an active part in. I am incredibly proud to assist our students in undertaking this important humanitarian endeavour.”

MSc Social Work student, Amy Kenyon, said, “As student social workers we are concerned about issues of child protection and unaccompanied children who have very little support, a worrying number continue to go missing. It's a massive humanitarian issue which many people fear the UK government are not taking appropriate responsibility for.”

The students hope to travel to France early next month and will present their findings during the National Refugee Week which takes place between 20^th – 26^th June.

To help the students raise enough for their report, please donate through the following link:
https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/DundeeStudentSWAN

The Social Work Action Network (SWAN) is a radical, campaigning organisation of social work and social care practitioners, students, service users, carers and academics, united by the concern that social work practice is being undermined by managerialism and marketisation, by the stigmatisation of service users and by welfare cuts and restrictions. Many of these difficulties are rooted in the inequalities and oppressions of the modern world and good social work necessarily involves confronting the structural and public causes of so many private ills.

Photo: Richard Mcallister

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University of Dundee
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Email: d.w.glasgow@dundee.ac.uk