When talking to newcomers who had migrated to Europe via the Balkan Route, artist Akira Takayama became interested in the fact that – thanks to free Wi-Fi and phone charging possibilities as well as access to toilets – McDonald’s were seen as meeting points and places where information about the journey could be shared. This inspired him to develop McDonald’s Radio University, a project in which Takayama fulfils the utopian plan for a decentralized and mobile university, once designed by British architect Cedric Price. Takayama uses these plans to develop a model that passes on knowledge and enables training for people whose knowledge is not recognized in society (newcomers, people in precarious jobs, homeless people, etc.). In a ten days lecture series, “professors” deepen and expand the traditional academic canon of knowledge by drawing on their own life experiences and research interests. You are welcome in front of McDonald’s on Place de la Bourse/Beursplein for a series of live lectures by the professors. The recorded lectures are available at any other time, to be combined with a hamburger and drink.

• 11.05, 19:00 Kinda Almaaz (English)
  Chimie – Chemistry as a matter of choice
  A young pharmacist shares her passion for chemistry and how she used it as a weapon during the Syrian Revolution to support displaced populations and their children.
• 12.05, 19:00 Abdelkader Amoura (French)
  Etudes urbaines – Squatter, recycler, récupérer : 3 stratégies de survie en ville
  A life expert in unformal economy explains his surviving strategies in the city of Brussels and how he finds the resources to be more autonomous through squatting, food recovery and recycling.
• 13.05, 19:00 Kevin Champt (Dutch)
  Gender Studies – Drag Queen Patient Zero
  An expert in drag culture and performance explains gender nonconformity and how to challenge fixed identities on stage and in life.
• 14.05, 19:00 Barry Mamaddou Lamarana (French)
  Economie – Le développement économique et social
  From national planning to informal economies, from Guinea-Conakry to Belgium, a former economist analyses the (im)possibilities of contributing to the economic and social development of one's country.
• 15.05, 19:00 Mohamed Almafrachi (French)
  Etudes culturelles – De l'Irak vers la Belgique: quelques différences culturelles en 5 blagues
  An Iraki actor questions some cultural stereotypes in 5 jokes that helped him through his journey from Baghdad to Brussels.
• 16.05, 19:00 Fabienne (French)
  Anthropologie sociale – Le restaurant social
  An expert and regular of a social restaurant offers a guided tour of the place and explains the functioning of this refuge which "restores" human dignity and offers a bridge between the world of precariousness and the others.
• 17.05, 19:00 Soniabyby Sona (French)
  Etudes familiales – L'arbre généalogique de Sonia: une histoire belgo-congolaise
  A Belgian-Congolese expert explains the procedures for the recognition of paternity from her own experience as a mixed-race woman, caught up in the post-colonial history of the DRC where she grew up.  
• 18.05, 19:00 Fouzia Sadala (Dutch)
  Culturele antropologie – Wat betekent een “safe space” voor mensen van kleur in een witte universiteit
  Starting from a love story, a student of colour shares her vision on what a “safe space” within a white university could be and on how to find your own “chosen family”.
• 19.05, 19:00 Kinda Almaaz (English)
  Chimie – Chemistry as a matter of choice
  A young pharmacist shares her passion for chemistry and how she used it as a weapon during the Syrian Revolution to support displaced populations and their children.
• 20.05, 19:00 Hussein Alqawas (English)
  Swimming – The river as a teacher
  A young para swimmer from Iraq remembers how the Tigris river served as his teacher, letting him experience his disability as a strength and opening a path towards competition swimming and coaching for children with and without a handicap. 

• You can listen all the lectures recordings on mru.global/brussels