The Universitat de València will introduce the studies at 17:30 at the Assembly Hall of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The first is a diagnosis of LGBT and ethno-cultural diversity among students at the UV which was edited by PUV in 2021. The second one is entitled ‘Between invisibility and empowerment. Romany students at the UV. Qualitative approach to their reality’ (Publications by the Chair of Gypsy Culture, 2023), by authors Elena Mut Montalvà, Francisco Torres Pérez, Yaiza Pérez Alonso and Jordi Giner Monfort. The event will also include a screening of one of the two short documentaries “Referentes. El debate”, which moves on from the debates opened by the documentary “Referentes. El efecto multiplicador”, an audiovisual project promoted by the Chair of Gypsy Culture of the University of Alacant presented by the Universitat de València on the occasion of the celebration of this day in 2022.

There will be a debate on the barriers that Romany students encounter in their day-to-day lives from school to university. Representatives of Romany students at the university who participated in the study will take part in the event.

The event, which will be opened by Sylvia Martínez, Vice-principal for Equality, Diversity and Inclusive Policies of the Universitat de València, together with Stephane Soriano, General Director of Diversity of the Valencian Government, and Elena Mut, Dean of the Faculty and author of the study, will take place on 24 April at 17:30 at the auditorium of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the UV. Prior registration is required via email diversitats@uv.es

On the occasion of this celebration, as part of the Culture on Campus programme, a conference-debate on the history, culture and language of the Romany people in Spain is also scheduled to take place, with the participation of Donatella Donato, trainee lecturer and doctor of the Department of Didactics and School Organisation at the UV; Santiago Vicente Llavata, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish Philology at the UV, and Emilia Heredia Pisa, activist of the Las Ganchilleras Luchadoras collective in the Cabañal neighbourhood. This conference-debate, which will take place on Wednesday, 10 April at 12:00 at the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, offers a space for reflection on the cultural valuation of the history and the Romany language in Spain. More informatoin here.

8 April is International Romany Day. It commemorates the First World Romany Congress in London in 1971, which culminated in the establishment of the flag and anthem representative of the Romany people. This day was established to raise awareness of the reality and history of the Romany people and to vindicate Romany culture.