UNIC's Superdiversity Thematic Line connects researchers, educators, and faculty members from different fields related to superdiversity and inclusion to better address the needs of our post-industrial societies.

Through transversal work, it is dedicated to understanding how higher education can make optimal use of the potential of superdiverse student and staff populations, ensuring inclusivity in teaching and mobility, engaged research, and capacity building activities.

UNIC's seven cross-cutting Thematic Lines are interlocking collaborative structures that establish relations between faculties of our universities around specific areas of post-industrial transition.

Topics covered by UNIC's thematic lines include health and wellbeing, sustainability, resilience and digitization, security, inclusion, entrepreneurship, and arts. They are communities of researchers and educators within UNIC that provide the contents for UNIC’s innovation in education, engagement, and cooperation capacities. Find out more about our Thematic Lines and get involved!

Superdiversity is one of the pillars and defining features of the UNIC alliance which impacts the project and our societies at every level, from policies and institutions to individuals and their daily lives.

Coined by Steven Vertovec, the term refers to the increased and complex forms of diversification and the existence of multiple identity markers that intertwine to shape the socio-cultural reality around us.

How We Work

The Superdiversity TL, led by Koç University Istanbul and University of Liège, established an advisory board of academics from different disciplines with expertise in the field of superdiversity and inclusion. To this end, the TL has been organising meetings to ensure the possibility of virtual and face-to-face exchanges and to produce the planned outputs.

The group established collaborative working platforms which have completed a mapping of respective courses across our consortium for possible virtual exchange cooperations, preparatory work that constitutes CityLab organisation as part of an engaged research activity, as well as a comprehensive summer school.

Our ongoing projects include:

Virtual Exchange Mapping and Cooperation: This action point first involves the mapping of courses based on societal engagement (such as service-learning courses) and courses targeting superdiversity as a theme. The mapping will result in cooperation amongst these courses. Such a frame will contribute to including/integrating short-term mobility for students for education/research purposes as well as virtual exchange.

Engaged Research: This is envisioned as an Engaged Research activity which will include strong connections with city actors via roundtables and CityLabs that will map diversity within our UNIC cities. It also offers training possibilities on key topics such as organising CityLabs, engaged research planning etc.

Summer Schools: The MiReKoc-UNIC International Summer School 2025 is scheduled for 14-25 July 2025 at Koç University Rumelifeneri Campus in Istanbul, Türkiye. This year’s theme, “Beyond Borders: Health, Migration, and Diversity in an Interconnected World,” will explore the intersections of migration, diversity, health, and well-being, in collaboration with the UNIC alliance. The summer school will host students and faculty members from UNIC for a two-week period in one of the most diverse cities in the world which offers a living laboratory for this work/topic.

Future Initiatives and Plans

Joint Conferences & Seminars: Bringing together experts to discuss emerging issues and participate in conferences.

Establishing virtual exchange partnerships between respective fields and courses.

Joint research project applications: Bringing together experts to seek and develop mutual research projects.