The main activity of UPSET are the drama-action research linking science, education, theatre and civic activism. The first steps were taken in 2009 when this event was first introduced as an addition to the University course “Prejudice and prevention of discrimination” (head: prof. Renato Matić). That year and the next year we held workshops and lectures with the students of Social Sciences (primarily sociology), and the students were able to personally experience the stigmatized people and also learn about acting.

Although, those workshop had certain restrictions which did not allow a deeper involvement of students in the process of investigating social stigma and the potential for its overcoming.

More about these origins can be found on page UPSET 2009-2010.

The first real dramatic-action workshops were launched at the Trešnjevka Cultural Centre, and with the support of the City of Zagreb and the City Office for Culture, Education and Sport held in 2011 and 2012. These workshops reflected the model of drama-action research and also enabled us to develop the method further, as well as recruit some of the first UPSET actors from the ranks of stigmatized and the “normal”.

More of these workshops can be found on page UPSET 2011-2012