Refugee support in the heart of Europe’s capital:

Insights from a collective initiative carried out in solidarity with asylum seekers on a university campus in Brussels

Yannick Vanderborght

May 11, 2026 / 18:30-20:00 (JST)

Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University

In person only / No registration required

Since the 2015 migration “crisis,” the European Union (EU) and its member states have adopted increasingly restrictive policies toward refugees. In Brussels, the EU capital, thousands of asylum seekers are now forced to sleep rough on the streets due to a lack of public support from the federal government. In May 2024, a small-scale collective initiative carried out in solidarity with them was launched on a campus of the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain). For nearly a year, twice a week, a few dozen asylum seekers were able to access sanitary facilities, take a shower, and receive information about their rights. This presentation will provide insights into the concrete dimensions of this initiative and highlight what it reveals about the dire situation of people on the move in Europe. It will also offer an opportunity to reflect on the role of universities as actors embedded in their local environments.

Yannick Vanderborght is full-time Professor of Political science at UCLouvain (Belgium), where he belongs to the Research Centre in Political Science and the Hoover Chair for Economic and Social Ethics. He has published several books and articles on basic income and poverty alleviation. His book Basic Income. A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy (co-authored with Ph. Van Parijs, Harvard University Press, 2017) has been translated into 10 languages so far, including Japanese (クロスメディア・パブリッシング).

This talk is organized by David Slater (Professor Emeritus, Sophia University) and Megha Wadhwa (Assistant Professor, DES, Sophia University)