We are already (over) halfway through our webinar series. High time to reflect a little on past webinars with great speakers, and great webinar speakers yet to come! Read more about it here.

Digital wellbeing in schools: the example of Information and Communication Clubs (Assoc. prof. dr. Maria José Brites and dr. Teresa Sofia Castro, CICANT, Lusófona University, Portugal).

The webinar series kicked off strong with a wonderful presentation from Assoc. Prof. dr. Maria José Brites and dr. Teresa Sofia Castro from CICANT, Lusófona University. In their presentation of digital wellbeing in schools, they highlighted the example of information and communication clubs to discuss how digital wellbeing in non-formal spaces can shape and promote digital citizenship. Examples of such spaces are the School TV and Radio, Podcasts, Blogs or the school newspaper. Besides research with the students active in these spaces, Brites and Castro also conducted interviews with teachers, in which three key themes emerged:

1. Emotional learning (empathy and critical thinking)
   • Teachers tried to discuss issues surrounding impactful societal topics, including those connected to migration, with the students.
2. The “ban paradox” and digital separation
   • Digital devices were not allowed to be used in the context of school, or exclusively educational. But even with these ‘bans’, teachers paid attention to preparing their students for digital futures.
3. Critical media literacy as a core life skill
   • Teachers worry about student’s ability to critically evaluate information, highlighting the lack of verification and students’ illusion of digital competence.

And while teachers were active and passionate about digital wellbeing and media literacy, they also state that they have limited time for topics outside the curriculum. Non-formal spaces may offer the essential flexibility, bypassing classroom constrains and able to foreground media competence.

Their presentation sparked plenty of valuable insights. Thank you both! If you couldn’t attend the webinar, you can catch the recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSt7Oev14Q8

Exploring digital inclusion, vulnerability and migration: A social lab framework (Prof. dr. Panayiota Tsatsou, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom)

The webinar series continued with an insightful presentation from Prof. dr. Panayiota Tsatsou of Birmingham City University. In her talk, she introduced a novel social lab framework for researching digital inclusion among vulnerable communities, with a particular focus on migrants and ethnic minorities. Grounded in intersectionality, Foucauldian theory, and a decolonial epistemology, the framework centres lived experiences, power relations, and diverse ways of knowing to better understand digital inequalities.

Drawing on a 2024 study, Tsatsou demonstrated how this framework enables an in-depth exploration of the “digital good” across four key life domains: health, social welfare, education, and social networking. Participants shared complex and often ambivalent experiences with digital technologies, highlighting both their empowering potential and their role in reinforcing exclusion. Their recommendations called for culturally responsive support, inclusive design, and greater recognition of community-based knowledge and informal expertise.

The findings underline the potential of social labs as participatory and interdisciplinary spaces that generate grounded insights and practical solutions. By foregrounding the voices of migrants and ethnic minorities, this framework offers a meaningful shift in digital inclusion research: moving these communities from the margins to the centre of both academic inquiry and policy development.

Curious about the work of Prof. dr. Panayiota Tsatsou? Check out this webinar now on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-H6Zxm6Lrg

Networked Mobility Divide among Older Migrants and their Fragmented Social Networks (dr. Earvin Charles B. Cabalquinto, Monash University, Australia)

The third webinar in this series was a thought-provoking presentation by dr. Earvin Charles B. Cabalquinto, exploring how older migrants engage with digital technologies in an increasingly networked world. Focusing on older Filipino Australians and their transnational networks, the study examined how digital tools shape and sustain personal, familial, and social connections across Australia and the Philippines. At the same time, it highlighted how these individuals remain vulnerable to exclusion and exploitation within digital environments.

Drawing on a year-long multi-sited and visual ethnography (2023–2025) involving 96 participants across 82 households, the presentation offered rich, grounded insights into how older migrants navigate the digital divide in everyday life.

By presenting several vignettes, the study unravels how the participants’ changing physical, psychological, social and environmental conditions over time and space inform and reconfigure perceptions, experiences, and negotiations of digital media use. Additionally, it pays close attention to the ways datafication reproduces affective communicative opportunities and challenges, ranging from enabling networked connections or personalised contents to amplifying digital threats. Importantly, the findings reveal the coping mechanisms deployed by the participants to address and negotiate exclusion and vulnerability in digital environments.

Importantly, the study situates these experiences within intersecting social, economic, and technological conditions, showing how changing life circumstances shape digital engagement over time and space. Building on frameworks such as mobilities, socio-digital inequalities, and digital ageism, the presentation introduced the concept of a “networked mobility divide” to capture the uneven, relational, and constantly negotiated nature of digital participation.

Overall, the presentation offered a critical lens for rethinking the digital divide by centring the transnational and networked lives of ageing migrants, and by highlighting the complex interplay between technology, inequality, and everyday lived experience.Watch it now on our YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS4oYsVyQuY

Digitalisation and social and labour market inclusion of female refugees in the Netherlands (dr. Giacomo Solano, Radboud University, the Netherlands)

The final webinar (for now!) was given by dr. Giacomo Solano from Radboud University. In his presentation on digitalisation and social and labout market inclusion of female refugees in the Netherlands, he highlighted findings from his project ‘DigiSkills2Work’. The DigiSkills2Work project investigates the relationship between digital skills and labour market integration through an innovative and multi-method approach. Combining policy analysis, interviews, focus groups, participatory activities, and co-creation with stakeholders, the study provides a comprehensive understanding of both structural and lived experiences.

Against the backdrop of an increasingly digitalised society, the project explored how limited digital proficiency can act as a barrier to employment, particularly for women who already face intersecting challenges compared to male refugees, other migrant women, and native populations.

Findings include that participants encounter an uneven distribution of digital skills, material constraints, and a lack of self-confidence to use digital media that requires more specialised digital literacy, but also discusses gendered barriers and labour market challenges.

While there are support and policies in place, digital skills support is inconsistent, not specifically meant for or targeted to female refugees and generally stops once the partner has found a job.

Want to know more about the project? You can read the research report and policy brief, or check out the webinar recording.

• Solano, G., Al Jaramani, A., Kiewiet, A., Mena Montes, N., Oers, R. van & Hjeij, N.S. (2025). Digital skills and (labour market) inclusion of female refugees in the Netherlands. (internal report). The Netherlands: Radboud University Nijmegen doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19950.27201
• Solano, Giacomo & Jaramani, Araa. (2025). From Digital Skills to Work: Enhancing Female Refugee Inclusion (Policy brief). 10.13140/RG.2.2.28054.82241.
• Webinar recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9MbKjxv5Ks

More is yet to come!

The webinar series is not finished yet! We are very much looking forward to some wonderful presentations and speakers that are yet to come, including the following webinars:

• Mind the Digital Gap: From Digital Inequality to Digital Equity in Migration & Media (dr. Noemi Mena Montes, Radboud University, The Netherlands)
  May 21st – 16:00 (CEST)
• The Myth of Digital Diaspora. An intersectional approach to the study of diasporic digital networking (dr. Claudia Minchilli, University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
  June 25th – 16:00 (CEST)
• Inclusive media education for diverse societies (dr. Annamária Neag, assoc. prof. dr. Koen Leurs, and assoc. prof. dr. Çiğdem Bozdağ, University of Groningen and Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
  September 15th – 14:00 (CEST)

Register here: https://forms.gle/MMecXJuwAtAVEFnq6