Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and courage of people who have been forced to flee, and of those who stand alongside them. The 2026 theme, Courage, invites reflection on the many ways courage shows up in everyday life through resilience, care, community and solidarity.
As a recognised University of Sanctuary, the University of Reading marks Refugee Week as a meaningful moment within our wider, ongoing commitment to welcome, belonging and global civic responsibility. It is one way we make those values visible and lived across our campuses.
From 30 May to 14 June, the University will host a programme of events across Whiteknights Campus and The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL). The programme brings together opportunities for conversation, creativity, learning and reflection, shaped collaboratively by students and staff.
Events range from informal, community-building activities, to creative workshops, exhibitions and discussions, including shared experiences beyond the campus. Together, they create spaces to listen generously, build connections across differences, and explore courage as something practised collectively.
Refugee Week at Reading is both an invitation and a statement of intent: to come together with care, to strengthen community, and to be part of a university grounded in dignity, compassion and shared humanity.
Students, staff and members of the wider community are warmly invited to take part.
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Refugee Week