"I encourage everyone to apply"
Ann Ekdahl spent two weeks in Iceland and Osvald Wiklander one semester at Yale in the United States. The Faculty of Human Sciences at Mid Sweden University is now once again announcing internationalisation grants for doctoral students.
The purpose of the grants is to promote the internationalisation of doctoral students. The stay will strengthen and advance the thesis work and doctoral education, and that it will also benefit long-term contact and network building. The grant, which goes to two people and is SEK 70,000 each, can cover travel, accommodation, course fees and other costs linked to the research stay in another country.
Opportunity to make important contacts
Ann Ekdahl, senior lecturer at the Department of Health Sciences, HOV, used the grant when she was a doctoral student for a research stay in Iceland in 2023. During her stay at the School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, she had the opportunity to present her dissertation on women with severe COPD and the experiences of their loved ones. During the two-week stay, Ann established a collaboration with Professor Helga Jonsdottir, an expert in pulmonary nursing.
"One of my purposes with the exchange was to get in touch with her because my dissertation work is closely linked to her research interest. It went well, and our collaboration has continued after I was in Iceland. I have now been invited as a keynote speaker at an international conference in Iceland," says Ann and continues:
"I encourage everyone to apply. International exchange is good for getting other perspectives, changing environments, developing, creating networks, educational and stimulating and not least fun."
"It's incredibly developing"
Osvald Wiklander, doctoral student in comparative literature at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, HSV, chose to apply for the internationalisation grant to finance his research stay at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University. Osvald is writing, and wrote during the spring semester of 2024, his dissertation on Swedish poetry. At Yale, he had a unique opportunity to work at one of the most prominent institutions of comparative literature.
"Many of the biggest names have been there, sat on the same old rickety chairs in Bingham Hall that I sat on there last spring: René Wellek, Erich Auerbach, Harold Bloom, Shoshanna Felman and Paul de Man and so on." says Osvald.
During his stay at Yale, he took various courses, participated in seminars and had the opportunity to discuss his work with Professor Martin Hägglund.
"It's extremely stimulating to get away and see a different subject environment. You don't even have to go very far."
Read about and apply for the internationalisation grant
Questions? Contact Sara Häggström at the HUV faculty office.