The Antiracist Observatory of the University of the Aegean (AOUA) consists of professors and researchers of the University of the Aegean. It was established in 2012 with the aim to intervene in order to deal with racist manifestations or practices taking place in Greece, and focusing on the islands of the Aegean where the various departments of the University of the Aegean are based. The past years the AOUA has placed more emphasis on current issues related to the transition of refugees from various countries to the EU area, whose first stop is Greece. More specifically the AOUA has been focusing on the recent "flood" of refugees mainly passing through the islands of the North Aegean.

The AOUA does not have a typical hierarchical structure or an authorization and representation mechanism. It relies on a horizontal cooperation allowing each member to take the responsibility to coordinate specific actions and represent the AOUA, on the basis of the accountability of the person to the meetings of members. From this perspective, even though the actions of its members are voluntary and selective, they do require commitment to the basic principles and guidelines of AOUA which are summarized in the following: a) All human beings are entitled to help in their effort to acquire basic living conditions with dignity and b) All human beings have the right to be respected and equally treated irrespective of their cultural, religious, ethnic, social or other characteristics.

The AOUA consists of the following research laboratories/teams of the University of the Aegean :

• Laboratory of Sociology of Youth, Leisure Time and Sport
• Laboratory of Collective Actions and Social Movements
• Image, Sound & Cultural Representation Lab
• Laboratory of Educational and Social Research
• Invisible Cities Research Group, Urban Geography and Planning Laboratory