Who We Are
Five Artists: Nikita Abuya from Kenya, Béibhínn McCarthy, Tara O’Brien, Neave Alouf from Ireland and Viktoria Spokojna from Berlin
STAND Activities Coordinator, Caitriona Rogerson and Marketing and Branding Awareness Coordinator Madeline Campbell.
What We Did
In 2021, the STAND Student Festival celebrated collective resilience in the face of global challenges. From the fight for climate justice to social inclusion, gender equality to mental health, this year’s #RISEUP Exhibition puts stories of hope, determination, and resilience centre-stage.
The #RISEUP Exhibition showcased twenty changemakers from around the world who have risen up to take action for positive change. From Ireland to Kenya, Somalia to South Africa, Uganda to Afghanistan, these individuals and collectives have shown courage, creativity and dedication in tackling global challenges.
The following are but a few of the images included in the exhibition which toured the 14 participating campuses.
The activists and changemakers included in the exhibition included:
Climate Action:
- Saoi O’Connor (18) – Climate Activist, Ireland
- Nzambi Matee (29) – Social Entrepreneur & Engineer, Kenya
- Vanessa Nakate (24) – Climate Activist, Uganda
- Nina Gualinga (27) – Climate & Indigenous Rights Activist, Ecuador
- Aisling Byrne (27) – Entrepreneur, Fashion Activist, and Founder of Nuw, Ireland
Equality:
- Senator Eileen Flynn (31) – First Traveller to have a seat in the Oireachtas, Ireland
- Alex Kofi Donker (29) – Founder of LGBT+ Rights Ghana, Ghana
- Disabled Women Ireland (DWI), Ireland
- Louisamay Hanrahan (29)- Founder of Let’s Help Direct Provision & Let’s Match Mums, Ireland
- Black & Irish, Ireland
Women & Gender Equality
- Ifrah Ahmed (32) – FGM activist and campaigner, Somalia/Ireland
- #MeToo Movement, Global
- Movement to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, Ireland
- Candice Chirwa (25) – Menstruation Activist, South Africa
- Sonita Alizadeh (25) – Rapper & activist on Child Marriage, Afghanistan
Mental Health
- Jay Buntin & Mathew Taylor (19) Founders of Pure Mental, Northern Ireland
- Adam Harris (25)Founder of AsIAm, National Autism Charity, Ireland
- Geraldine McDonnell (25) Traveller & Mental Health worker, Pavee Point, Ireland
- Blessing Dada, (21) Irish-Nigerian Mental Health Activist
- Hauwa Ojeifa (29) – mental health activist, Nigeria
Features, blogs and guides
Workshop: A teachers’ guidebook to ‘greenwashing’
Author of the teacher’s guidebook, Rachel Elizabeth Kendrick, will lead a session on the 3 big ideas and teaching methods published as a 3-part series.
Episode 6: ‘A lot of it is questioning…all the time’ – Fiona King
In this episode, Ciara Regan catches up with visual arts educator Fiona King from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD)
3 countries who used COVID-19 restrictions as a weapon against social justice
Kai Evans explores how governments used COVID-19 restrictions for the wrong reasons.
COVID-19 Vaccine Inequality: a shot in the arm for Africa
COVID-19 vaccine inequality remains, despite many of us returning to a form of ‘normality.’ Kai Evans finds out why.
Protecting the civil society space – 5 lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
Kai Evans reviews lessons learned from the pandemic about protecting civil society space during a crisis.
I don’t know what the answer is, but we need to keep having these conversations
As educators (in whatever context you are in), how do you challenge misogyny, when facts are no longer sacred, and challenge popular opinion? Ciara reflects on International Women’s Day