Trans-disciplinary online course building: A first meet-up in Erlangen, Germany
From May 16th to 20th, the Germany hub hosted, in Erlangen, Germany, the trans-disciplinary meeting for the DAAD-IVAC project titled “Ethical Global Partnerships, Resources and Sustainability: Virtual Collaboration in an interdisciplinary and intercultural inverted classroom”. Dr Lavinia Hirsu (University of Glasgow), Dr Mia Perry (Online – University of Glasgow), Joseph Watuleke (Makerere University), Dr Sizwe Mabaso (University of Eswatini) & Dr Raihana Ferdous (Oxford-Brookes University) travelled to Erlangen and were warmly welcomed by Prof Daniel Koehn, Dr Anette Regelous, Jakob Machleidt, Daniel Hafermaas & Dr Johannes Wiest, all from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Their participation in and contributions to the event were hugely appreciated and integral to the success of the planned activities.
During this week, all project partners jointly finalised the trans-disciplinary, interconnected learning modules for the postgraduate course. The final aims are to enhance digital and inter-cultural skills including geologic knowledge about the countries’ resources under the aspect of sustainability and ethical partnerships across the cultures of tutors and students with a global virtual perspective, and to develop a best-practice case for the wider community.
“The activities we developed in Erlangen enabled us to lock in valuable time for focussed collaboration. The in-person work allowed us to align our thinking about how the different parts of the course we are currently developing can work in synergy. The time to also know each other not only as researchers but also as people who come from different backgrounds, lives, and stories added a crucial dimension to the ‘soul’ of our collaborative work.” – Dr Lavinia Hirsu, University of Glasgow
“The week in Erlangen has increased my understanding of the project and my role. It improved my conceptualization of what we need to do and what the expectations are. As a result, it shaped my understanding of my role and built my confidence. I was able to contribute comfortably to the design and development of the trans-disciplinary course.
The week was also relevant for team building. I had met the Germany, Glasgow, and Eswatini teams on zoom but did not know them well. Team building was achieved, and at the end of the week, we knew each other well and committed to building a stronger network. The members of the German hub were so welcoming and caring. They made our stay in Germany interesting. Besides the project work, they provided us with a fascinating tour of the region. Visiting nearby cities such as Nuremberg and Munich helped me to put the European History that I studied in High School into perspective.” – Joseph Watuleke, Makerere University
“It sounds comprehensible to communicate, organize and work solely with virtual tools, if you start an educational project with an international team. Especially with the perspective of teaching it internationally. I stepped into this project as replacement of Dr Theresa Nohl, the project coordinator at FAU. Prior to this week, I had none to small connections to the team members. Meetings before our project week were formal gatherings, with one-dimensional people without personal background and connections. But seeing the team for the first time, not just on my screen, and being able to work together with direct responses and discussions adds so much more to the whole project. For me, meeting the members in person changed this loose group into a team.“ – Daniel Hafermass, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
Congratulations to Dr Mia Perry - Winner of a Research Culture Award
By Vanessa Duclos, Research Manager
Please join us in celebrating Dr Mia Perry, SFA Network Co-founder and Co-Director, who has been awarded the Research Culture Award 2021 at the University of Glasgow.
The University of Glasgow defines a positive culture as one in which colleagues
- are recognised and valued for their varied contributions to research
- support each other to succeed
- are supported to produce work that meets the highest standards of academic rigour
Key values that are promoted are research integrity, open research, recognition for varied contributions to research, fair approaches to evaluation and collegiality.
“Dr Mia Perry was nominated by a number of colleagues for her unsurpassed commitment across the University of Glasgow and beyond to research and development in the field of education and sustainable development.”
Read full text here.
Congratulations Mia, from the SFA Family! It is an honour to work and learn with you.
Dr Mia Perry | TedX Interview
Dr Mia Perry, SFA Co-Director, is interviewed at TedX Glasgow about the Sustainable Futures in Africa Network.
At TedX Glasgow the SFA Network brought a snapshot of its work to the event; this includes a public poll which questioned the approach that we take on research sustainability, engaging with the binary choice of ‘Giving v.s. changing your own practice?’ In this interview, Mia discusses the SFA’s work on collaboration across knowledge systems, exemplifying our work as ‘a community member working with an academic’. As SFA is a network focusing on ‘methodologies’, Mia shares how it is important to be able to share what that means in ‘real life terms’ which is at the heart of TedX – world changing ideas made accessible; she described the event as giving her a sense of ‘enthusiasm, motivation, passion and integrity’.
“More and more we realize that if we made good decisions about sustainability here in Glasgow, our colleagues in Africa would have half as many problems to deal with.”