Title of research project:

Career learning in danish upper secondary school

I really enjoyed my research stay. I had the opportunity to meet up with many different people – both university staff and practitioners within my field - who were all interested in my project and in the Danish educational system in general. The first two weeks of my stay I concluded a small scale European research project (for which I got my funding), and the last part of my stay I worked on my own project. However, I used a lot of my time ‘on the road’ – visiting different contacts, and attending workshops and seminars in the UK. It was a unique possibility to emerge into a different cultural setting.

Title of research project:

Symbolic Communication in Stone Age Northern Europe

I did not have a good experience with my research stay. I was seated in the corner of the library with the students of the university, and with both students and staff members walking through the room all the time. I hardly spoke to anyone during my stay, as the staff members were busy with exams and teaching. I initiated some meetings with the staff members, which were somewhat fruitful, but only made up less than 1% of my total time at the institute. I ended up working on the exact same tasks that I would have done if I was in Aarhus, so it was a complete waste of time and especially of my energy, as I do not feel comfortable being away from my home and family for so long. It took me more than half a year after I returned to Aarhus, before I started liking my project again, as I was completely drained from the research stay. I think it would have been better for me to visit later on the same year, when the exams where finished. The only benefit I can recall from my research stay is two people I meet at the institute. Both are experts in different fields which I am also entering into, and I guess that it might become handy later on in my project, that I was introduced to them. Maybe they could even become opponents at either my pre-defence or my actual defence.

Title of research project:

A participatory writing experiment on digital sexual assault

The department I was visiting at University of Sydney had a different and really inspiring mentality around the writing-part of the PhD process. It was at times slightly difficult to get in touch with senior researchers, but people were welcoming and friendly, and the PhD environment was very open and broad. It was an excellent place for focussed work and the facilities (library, office etc.) were good. The social environment for PhD students and in the department was also great.

Title of research project:

Daigou: A Study of Market, Trust, and Transnational Chinese Networks

The research stay at PolyU is fantastic, even though I have to come back earlier than the scheduled because of the protesting. My principal supervisor at AU recommended a very helpful and excellent co-supervisor to me at the Department of Applied Social Sciences at PolyU. We met 2 to 3 times per week when I stayed there. And thanks to the frequent contact with my co-supervisor, I got new insights for my research project, especially on gender perspective. The research environment is very nice as well. As an incoming student, I basically have access to all the facilities, and the multifunctional library is my favourite. Personally, I think that the library at PolyU is amazing as I could find all the materials about China studies (My major at AU) in both English and Chinese. I also met several scholars in the field there, which is also beneficial to my research. I took one PhD course and two master courses taught by my co-supervisor at APSS. I got to know other PhD students at PolyU and made good friends with them. One of them is considering visiting AU as an exchange student, which I feel happy about and this is, I think, what the exchange research means. Last but not least, my co-supervisor also helped me to apply for a small fund for exchange student (app. 5000 HKD per month) at PolyU. The accommodation is a little bit challenging as Hong Kong may be one of the most expensive cities in the world and exchange student need to take care of their own accommodation.

Title of research project:

Conversation-groups for children in Danish Schools

I have been in Norway as a part of my research abroad. It has been an outstanding experience for me. I have participated in a seminar with both Danish and Norwegian phd-students which where a really interesting and fantastic way of sharing thoughts and visions with each other. I have qualified my writhing process because of this stay.

Title of research project:

Effect of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support

Title of research project:

Antigender Campaigns in Czechia and Slovakia

Overall, I had a great research stay abroad at the Department of Social and Political Science (https://www.sns.it/en/political-science-and-sociology) mostly due to the fact that the department has very specific, inclusive atmosphere, where one feels very welcome and as a part of the community. On the other hand, for PhD students who are used to Danish working conditions, the department does not offer you your own office and one will sit in the library with his or her colleagues. However, if one focuses on social movement studies the department offers access to relevant methodological and theoretical classes, library with fundamental literature in the field and most importantly access to the respected experts in the field. There are also many well known scholars coming to visit the institution and hold presentations and the institution often hosts interesting conferences. It's a lively environment with many possibilities to get inspired for your own research. Finally, one is also allowed to visit EUI and attend courses at their department which opens even more opportunities to encounter respected professors and discuss your topic with other researchers.

Title of research project:

Young Hegelian continuities in Karl Marx's Capital

I had a very good experience in Oxford. My academic host was very helpful and welcoming, and I learned a lot from spending time with an expert in my field. The tutorial system means that academics are used to giving hour long one on one tutorials to students, often once a week, so at least during term it is possible to get a lot of feedback if you are slotted into this system. Though Oxford reeks of privilige and elite institution, getting in is not hard. They are a private research institution, so if you're willing to pay they are generally willing to let you in. Though there might nominally be an application process, this seems to mostly exist in case there are more applicants than there are room for. But expect the price to be hefty. I paid £1200 for one term (2 months), and that included a hot seat desk and library access, nothing else. While the university is great and staying in Oxford is a wonderful experience in itself, one should not expect to absorb the 'eliteness' simply by osmosis. Rather, one must work hard in order to integrate into the wider research community; graduate students only have precarious affiliation with the university, and research groups are (at least in my experience) more like lecture or seminar series with international scholars giving talks organised long in advance - so the option to present your work does not necessarily present itself. For that reason, it might be a good idea to plan your stay well in advance.

Title of research project:

The Life of Kingdoms: Staging Royal Succession in Caroline Drama

Title of research project:

My research stay contributed significantly to my PhD project. At Deakin, there are a great variety of researchers, relevant to many educational fields. The main benefit of the stay was the theoretical and methodological inputs from excellent scholars. However, these inputs emerged from relatively random circumstances and not the planned relations to professors. The professors and other scholars at Deakin were very welcoming and willing to talk to me and invite me into their social relations and academic events. One of the main challenges was that I was offered a desk in a seasonal office. This office had about 40 desks, and several of the people working in the office had a lot of phone calls and conversations, which made the office unfit for reading and writing. On the other hand, the silent library was quite good. The detachment from the local PhD students made it relatively hard to get into the research environment.