Indonesian PhD held open lecture

-The visit of Vina Adriany, PhD from Universitas Pendidikan, Indonesia is part of our strategy of strengthening the internationalization here at University West, says professor Kerstin von Brömssen.

Kerstin von Brömssen is making research within social sciences and educational sciences at University West. For a few days in May she is the host of the senior lecturer Vina Adriany head of Department of Early Childhood Education, School of Graduate Studies.

-The international perspectives is a prioritized area at out department and in programmes such as teacher education, where we need to strengthen an international/global perspective in our courses. According to statistics the international perspective is relatively weak at the Swedish universities especially within teacher education programmes, says Kerstin von Brömssen.

Senior lecturer Vina Adriany held an open lecture about "Young children's construction of femininities: negotiating religious and global values".

Vina Adriany, how is your stay in Trollhättan and University of West?

-I came to Sweden on invitation from both University of Gothenburg and University West. My engagement with University West was the result of my acquaintance with Prof Inga Wernesson from University of West and Dr Anette Hellman from University of Gothenburg. The three of us were involved in a network between Lancaster University, UK (I did my PhD in Lancaster) and universities in Sweden. It has been really wonderful to be able to come to Sweden and share my research with academics and students at the University West.

What is your experience so far?

-I have shared my research with the academics and students in University West. It was such a fulfilling experience. I am very much impressed with the level of questions asked by the students. I also managed to have discussion with Prof Inga Wernesson and Dr Kerstin von Brömssen. We see some potential collaboration in the future, not only between us as individuals but also between our departments and institutions.

What does it give you professionally and personally to be a lecturer abroad?

- For me, it is very important to share my research with the international community. In time, when there is a binary between the global south and global north countries, international collaboration like this can become a space to create dialogue and understanding. We listen to other perspectives and it makes us realise that despite of the fact that there exist some differences between the South and the North, there is also a global context that make some experiences quite similar.

On the photo: Vina Adriany (to the left) and Kerstin von Brömssen (to the right).