Languages Students Translate for We Still Have a Chance: 12 Climate Stories for 12 Days of COP27

Undergraduate and postgraduate student interns in Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies have been a key part of an international collaboration that is about to unveil a series of powerful stories that reflect upon the climate emergency. 

We Still Have a Chance: 12 Stories for 12 Days of COP27 has been co-created by scientists, activists, artists and students in the UK and Egypt, ahead of COP27 in Sharm el-Shikh in November. The anthology will be made available to the public for download and in print and will form the basis of performances in Cairo, a film, and murals, as well as events in Exeter. 

12 Stories for 12 Days of COP27

Dr Eliana Maestri invites primary and secondary schools in Exeter to participate in her '12 Stories for 12 Days of COP27' project, a project supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The video shows Dr Maestri's COP27 team of experts, scientists and scholars encouraging schools and pupils to transform We Still Have a Chance stories behind climate change into artwork. The stories were co-created in May with scientists, activists, students and health professionals from Egypt and the UK. Exeter schools have responded very well to Dr Maestri's call and are now at work with skilled DAISI artists to produce beautiful works, full of hope and love for the environment, and to support COP27.

The 12 Stories were translated into Arabic by PhD students in Translation Studies, Sarah Alateeg, Slwa Alhammad, Rawan Al Qassas and Majida Deeb Ibrahim, and 5 undergraduate student interns – Zuzanna Bialas, Emily Cooper, Anthony de Carlile, Rhian Hutchings and Alia Manshi – translated them into Afrikaans, French, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Welsh. 

The stories and translations into Arabic will be read out at Maketank, 9 November, from 5.30 to 6.30 pm. Speakers from the University of Exeter and the Met Office will engage with the audience, discuss how these stories are coming to life through translation and reflect on how storytelling can bring us together and offer solutions to the climate and health emergency. A beautiful graffiti artwork on wood inspired by the stories and produced by artist Steve McCracken will also be on display.  This event is part of the 12 Stories for 12 Days of COP27 project led by Dr Eliana Maestri from the University of Exeter and is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England

The stories and translations will be available from the University of Exeter’s Green Futures website. 

Read the full story on the university news.