Dr Elena Boukouvala

I am an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in Human Geography, conducting Participatory Action Research through creative methods in the field of migration, with a particular focus on the current refugee policy crisis in Europe. My PhD was in Sociology (The Open University), where I investigated borders, belongings, and creative acts of young people from refugee and local backgrounds in Lesvos, Greece. I have an MA in Drama and Movement therapy (University of London), an MA in Counselling Children and Young People (University of Nottingham), and an Honours Degree in Psychology (Aristotle University, Greece). I have also been trained as a Social Therapist and a Performance Activist (East Side Institute, USA).

Before pursuing my PhD, I worked for 15 years in the field as a researcher, clinical practitioner, and artist, leading creative and therapeutic projects and supervising other practitioners, with a particular focus on mobility and the representation of marginalized communities. As a therapist, I have practiced in schools, mental health hospitals, prisons, rehabilitation centers, and refugee camps. I have led projects through arts-based methods in Europe (Greece, Serbia, Hungary, Moldova, and the UK), Asia (Beirut), Africa (Western Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria), and the USA (New York). Since 2016, I have worked in refugee camps and community-based organizations in Europe, organizing local and transnational artistic events that create spaces for new cultural encounters and noble representations of migration journeys through art. As part of this work, I collaborated for the first time with the Open University in 2017 as a curator of the artistic exhibition 'Dialogues Across Borders' which was hosted at the Tate Exchange, as part of the Who We Are Project. In 2017, I founded the Play, Perform, Learn, Grow conferences, which explore migration and community-making processes through creative methods.

I have been teaching Dramatherapy at a postgraduate level since 2018. I have also been invited to teach research-led lectures on migration and creative methods by various universities, including Harvard (USA), Lloyds (USA), Goethe (Germany), Copenhagen (Denmark), Canterbury (UK), and Aristotle (Greece). I have worked with the International Organization for Migration (Moldova) as a consultant and trainer, collaborating with state staff and border police to develop procedures of operation that are psychologically and culturally sensitive.

Awards and Grants

2024- 2025 ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Open University, UK

'Creating Stages with Young People and Publics in Response to the Refugee Crisis in Europe. Mobilizing Affects and Politics through Creative Methods.'

2019- 2023 AHRC DTP Open Oxford Cambridge Award, The Open University, UK

'Creating Stages with Young People (refugees, asylum seekers, and locals) in Lesvos, Greece. Negotiating Bordering, Belonging and Citizenship through Creative and Digital Methods.

2013- 2014 East Side Institute, USA

Grant for studies in Performance Activism and Social Therapeutics

2000- 2005 Municipality of Thessaloniki, Greece

Excellence of Research Award for Graduate Studies

'Social Inclusion of People with Learning Disabilities'

Projects

2021- 2022 Lead coordinator of 'Embodied Temporalities, Lesvos' in collaboration with Oyoun Berlin. Residency with migrants and locals exploring embodied belongings through creative methods, funded by Perform Europe and Creative Europe.

2017- 2025 Founder and Artistic Director of 4 editions of the international Play Perform Learn Grow conference (www.pplg.org)

2016- 2019 Lead coordinator and curator of Dialogues Across Borders. An art, poetry, and photography exhibition that travelled across Europe, engaging people with histories of displacement and diverse publics. Presentation at refugee camps, conferences, universities, community venues, and museums.

2016- 2020 Psychosocial support of migrants and coordination of artistic events to amplify personal and collective representations of migration experiences. Collaborations with: Cherso, Limani, Diavata, and Lesvos Solidarity camps (Greece), Zoe family house for unaccompanied minors (Italy), C31 (Serbia), Fred Newman Centre (Mexico), Olive Branch Arts (Algeria Sahara and UK), She is Syria (New York, USA), Unity in Diversity (Wales), Swanswea Asylum Seekers Group (Wales).

Publications

2023 Boukouvala, E. 'Creating Stages with Young People (refugees, asylum seekers and locals) in Lesvos, Greece. Negotiating Bordering, Belonging, and Citizenship through Creative and Digital methods'. The Open University.

2013 Boukouvala, E. 'Mind the Gap, Training on Autism in Refugee Camps in Sahara'. Line Journal.

2012 Boukouvala, E. 'Little Prince in Exile, Poverty in Greece. Dialogues in the Bus'. Sesame Journal.

2010 Boukouvala, E. MA Dissertation: 'Case Study: Dramatherapy in an Acute Mental Health Ward. Interweaving Threads of Symbolic and Concrete Material'. University of London.

2009 Boukouvala, E. MA Dissertation: 'Case Study: Physical Abuse of Children by their Carers'. University of Nottingham. Distinction.

2005 Honours Degree Dissertation: 'Participatory Action Research: Social Inclusion of Children with Learning Disabilities'. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and European Programme Socrates Comenius I. Distinction.