Despina Syrri served as Education Specialist at the UNICEF Refugee and Migrant response in Greece, Advisor to the Regional Cooperation Council Political department in Sarajevo and Senior Expert on the Roma Integration 2020 in Belgrade. She is the co-founder of Symbiosis-School of Political Studies in Greece, affiliated to the Council of Europe Network of Schools, and has coordinated over twenty EU projects on integration, gender and intercultural education. She has been a visiting fellow at the Amsterdam Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and director of research and international cooperation at the Immigration Policy Institute in Greece; worked amongst others with Reuters and Athens News, the Berlin Migration Netzwerk, Oxford Refugee Studies Centre and British Council on issues of migration, refugees, borders and peace building, and the integration of the Western Balkans to the European Union. She has cooperated with the OSCE/ODHIR, Council of Europe and EU Fundamental Rights Agency. Despina Syrri taught Political Science and Political Anthropology at the American College of Thessaloniki. She has published journal articles and book chapters in Greek, South Slavic and English, and authored research papers and documentaries.
Intercultural cities experts
A range of international experts participate to support the Intercultural cities programme.
Their tasks include, inter alia:
- Drafting analytical reports on cities’ results on the Intercultural cities’ index;
- Participating in monitoring visits and preparing reports such as the Intercultural profiles of member cities;
- Providing advice to cities in the context of the preparation of their intercultural strategies;
- Preparing thematic events and drafting reports and policy briefs based on the results;
- Providing advice and training in specific areas (eg myth-busting, intercultural competence, political communication);
- Providing policy advice in specific areas (education, culture, housing, economic development, social services, urban planning, impact evaluation etc.);
- Managing national intercultural cities networks;
- Designing and managing specific projects (eg. awareness campaigns).
