Eyes Wide Open: Learning to See Inclusive Worlds Through NEOLAiA at UNIC

The Blended Intensive Program (BIP) of the NEOLAiA Focus Academy course Eyes Wide Open: Learning to See Possible Inclusive Worlds was successfully hosted at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, from May 18-22, 2026. The Focus Academy course, coordinated by the University of Nicosia (Dr. Agni Stylianou-Georgiou) and co-organized by the University of Salerno (Dr Erika Marie Pace, Dr. Emanuela Zappalà) and the University of Tours (Dr. Guillaume Cingal), brought together students from different disciplines and levels of Higher Education in a shared exploration of diversity and inclusion topics (belonging, participation, visibility, recognition, equity, voice).

Nicosia became a living classroom: a space for observation, photography and dialogue. Through visual and reflective methodologies such as Slow Looking and Photovoice, students learned how to broaden their perspectives, question what is visible and invisible in public and cultural spaces engaging meaningfully with multiple ways of seeing. The Taste Art program at the A. G. Leventis Gallery allowed for a creative embodied inquiry of art paintings. The exhibition Cyprus Insula: History, Memory, Reality at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation and the CYENS Center of Excellence spaces allowed for exploration of traces of history, memory, borders, identities, silences, and possibilities through interactive technologies, antiquities, maps, and contemporary art.

Stay tuned for student group multimodal narratives for wide-awakeness to possible inclusive worlds!

Credits

Warm thanks to all students from the NEOLAiA alliance universities, colleagues from the University of Salerno (Dr Erika Marie Pace, Dr. Emanuela Zappalà), Ms Poppy Aristidou (Design & Multimedia Department), the University of Nicosia Erasmus Office and the Marketing Department, Chef Andreas Charalambous and Chef Andreas Kyriakou from the Culinary Arts at Intercollege, Ms Theodora Demetriou (A. G. Leventis Gallery), Ms Andrea Oratiou (Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation), Dr. Panayiotis Charalambous, Myrto Aristidou, Noor Sajjad from Dr. Andreas Kamilaris’ SuPerWorld team, Dr. Styliani Petroudi (CYENS Center of Excellence), Mrs Jeannette Kurzentz who contributed to making this BIP a meaningful journey of learning, dialogue, and transformation.