Academic Workshops Research Articles

All on board: Why we held an academic workshop on sustainable shipping on a sailing boat

All on board: Why we held an academic workshop on sustainable shipping on a sailing boat

The Brussels Breast Surgery Fellowship | A Three-Month Experience in Advancing Skills in Breast Surgery.

The Brussels Breast Surgery Fellowship at Brussels University Hospital offers a unique 3-month clinical immersion in reconstructive and aesthetic breast surgery. Under the guidance of fellowship director Prof. Moustapha Hamdi and his esteemed colleagues, the fellow is exposed to a high volume and wide breadth of cases spanning autologous and implant-based breast reconstruction, oncoplastic surgery, breast reduction and mastopexy, implant augmentation, revision breast surgery, and fat grafting. The multidisciplinary team approach, involving close collaboration with breast surgeons, provides valuable experience in oncoplastic planning and execution. In addition to time in the operating theater, the fellow gains knowledge through outpatient clinics, didactic teaching sessions, and clinical research opportunities leveraging the department's extensive prospective database. As the 2023 fellowship awardee, I had the privilege of learning directly from Prof. Dr. Moustapha Hamdi and participating in over 130 cases across the reconstructive and aesthetic spectrum. Unique features of the fellowship included exposure to lymphedema surgery utilizing the Symani robotic system, advanced techniques like the internal bra, volume distribution mastopexies, observation of private aesthetic clinic cases, and optional participation in academic workshops. This fellowship represents an outstanding opportunity to refine one's skills in breast surgery and microsurgery while experiencing the rich culture of Belgium.

Report on the Academic Round Table, 30 April 2024, New York City: Freedom of Online Communication Across Transatlantic Borders

Abstract The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI), the Columbia Global Freedom of Expression and the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Communication and Information co-hosted an academic workshop in New York City on 30 April 2024. European and US experts examined the current state of freedom of expression on digital platforms on both sides of the Atlantic. The round table took place as part of the Year of Science 2024 in Germany. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the German Basic Law (‘Grundgesetz’), this Year of Science has ‘Freedom’ as its central theme. This provided an excellent opportunity to examine the various understandings of freedom as it relates to communication rights and free speech between the US and Europe. The full extent of mutual learning opportunities remains untapped, and the practical implications are vast.

IMPORTANCE OF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PLACE AND CULTURAL AWARENESS IN DESIGNING COMPETITION PROJECTS DURING STUDENTS’ WORKSHOPS

This article’s primary objective is to illustrate how an understanding of the historical and cultural context of a location can significantly enhance students’ academic workshops, fostering interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and aiding them in designing projects for international architectural competitions. Frequently, such projects tend to conform to global trends, often imitating fashionable patterns without regard for the local context, traditions, or cultural nuances. The first section of this article describes the methodology employed in international student workshops. The second section delves into the application of the problem-based learning method (PBL) when conceiving projects for architectural competitions, emphasizing the importance of factoring in historical and cultural heritage when selecting design concepts. The third section provides a comprehensive analysis of the workshop outcomes and initiates a discussion on the pivotal role of historical context and the significance of cultural awareness in this educational context.

Supporting nutrition and dietetics students' relationships with food and body image: Adopting a co-created curricula approach.

The aims of this study were to: (1) explore perspectives of university students' and academics' regarding disordered eating, eating disorders and body image in relation to pedagogy and curricula and (2) to evaluate a co-designed student seminar and an academic workshop on these topics. A participatory action research approach was employed whereby an educational intervention was co-created by academics and students. An online seminar was presented to students and a 1-h workshop was presented to academic staff. Evaluation was conducted via a post-seminar anonymous survey for students and a pre- and post-anonymous workshop survey for academics with a mix of Likert-scale questions and open text boxes. Qualitative data were open coded, both deductively and inductively, and quantitative data were analysed descriptively. One hundred and seventeen students attended the voluntary education seminar. Six themes were identified from student qualitative data which included feeling safe, empowered, inspired, connected, emotional and reflective. Problematic aspects of pedagogy and curricula were identified by students and included: using personal data for teaching, demonising language to describe food/bodies and not always feeling safe or supported to discuss disordered eating. Twenty academics shared divergent perspectives-some reported feeling concerned and challenged by the content (exploring disordered eating with students), others noted the complexity of the area, and others reported low/moderate confidence or indifference in the space and felt this content outside of their scope as educators. Curricula interventions that reduce triggering and shaming and increase space and support for strengthening students' relationships with food and their bodies are valued by nutrition and dietetics students. We encourage academics to consider pedagogical approaches and expand discourse in this space.

Barriers to Women in Academia: The Case of Moroccan University Female Professors

This paper aims to enhance our understanding of the challenges women in academia face in their pursuit of research, with a particular focus on the Moroccan context. Using in-depth interviews with female Moroccan university teachers, we explore personal narratives to highlight the perceived barriers to women’s academic advancement. The results showed that family related factors and financial constraints were the most commonly mentioned obstacles that hinder women’s aspiration and/or time to conduct scientific research and attend international conferences and academic workshops. Implications of these findings suggest creating a gender-friendly work environment and providing specific incentives that could help female academics in their quest for research.

ACADEMIC WORKSHOP AND IT’S IMPACT ON LEARNING

Objectives: Academic workshops have drawn much interest as a potential instrument to improve medical education and fi ll the knowledge gap between theory and practice. This study investigates how academic workshops aff ect the learning of medical graduates. Materials and Methods: This institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Medicine, Khyber Medical College/Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar. A workshop on "Artifi cial Intelligence (AI)" was organized on May 17, 2023. A total of 25 workshop participants took part in this study. Ethical approval from the institute was granted for this study. The study duration was two months. Participants in our study comprised willing undergraduate medical students of Khyber Medical College (KMC), House offi cers (HO’s) of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Peshawar, and Postgraduate (PG) trainees of KTH Peshawar. These participants have already enrolled themselves in this Artifi cial Intelligence workshop, organized as part of a prequel for the upcoming annual conference of the Pakistan Society of Physicians (PSP). Pre-test and post-test during this one-day workshop, and then an online evaluation after one month was conducted to determine the impact of this academic event; ANOVA and t-test were utilized for this purpose. All the pertinent data were recorded on R-Data analysis and were then analyzed accordingly. Results: Out of 25 participants, there were 18 males and seven females. The baseline knowledge of medical undergraduates regarding artifi cial intelligence was better compared to that of HOs and PGs. This trend remained persistent in post-test evaluation. However, evaluation after one month showed a good learning impact on medical undergraduates and HO's. PG's documented a decline in their learning impact as evidenced by t-test, ANOVA, and posthoc analysis. Conclusion: Academic workshops narrow the knowledge gap between practice and theory by integrating active learning methodologies, adhering to learning theories, and encouraging skill development. Motivation and practice are the key factors in this learning process.

Constraint breeds creativity: A brainstorming method to jumpstart out-of-the-box thinking for sustainability science

Abstract Conservation science often addresses highly complex issues; creative approaches can help develop new ways of doing so. We describe constraint-based brainstorming, a 10-minute creativity-inducing exercise inspired by design thinking. Although we applied the method with the goal of developing creative environmental valuation methods, it is applicable to almost any complex, interdisciplinary environmental research problem. We tried the approach at two academic workshops, in Japan and in Germany. We generated, in each short activity, scores of unique ideas for the target question. We present this engaging activity as a way to simultaneously achieve multiple outcomes that can support innovative conservation science: quickly generate many seeds of ideas to address a challenge or goal, offer insight into nuances of and shared convictions related to the topic at hand, set a tone of creativity and breaking outside of established thought structures, and build community around a willingness to take risks and freely share ideas.

Collaborative research for transitioning to Climate-Neutral Cities – contouring a prospective framework for integrated planning

Transitioning to climate-neutral cities is difficult in practice, depending on complex urban activities and involving a vast range of stakeholders. Cities need ongoing support for assessing and implementing climate-neutral solutions. Following multi-country, collaborative academic workshops on this topic, we debate the use of new technologies and integrated planning approaches. We contour a preliminary framework underpinned by five key dimensions (urban nature; urban mobility; built form; energy; and circularity), triangulated with three research pillars: 1) citizen engagement, 2) city governance decision-making, supported by 3) digital technology. This essay proposes digital technologies as a bridge between bottom-up and top-down directions, challenges silo-thinking, and informs a cross-disciplinary, integrated climate-neutral planning process (in Europe).

LARISA KADYROVA: LITTLE SIDES OF ARTISTIC TALENT (SKETCHES FOR A CREATIVE PORTRAIT OF THE NATIONAL ARTIST OF UKRAINE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY)

The article is dedicated to the anniversary of People’s Artist of Ukraine Larisa Kadyrova and the celebrations held on this occasion at the Kyiv Academic Workshop of Theater Arts “Constellation” (September 15, 2023). The performance “Chopin’s Secret” based on the novel “Madame Pylinska and Chopin’s Secret” by E.-E. Schmitt (translated by Ivan Ryabchii) with the participation of the actress, the celebrations began in Kyiv. The creative activity and iconic roles of the outstanding Ukrainian actress L. Kadyrova during her work in the Lviv Ukrainian Drama Theater named after M. Zankovetska (1963–1993) and from 1993 – in the National Ukrainian Drama Theater named after I. Franko are briefly analyzed. In addition to the general characteristics of the actor’s work, emphasis is also placed on the artistic-administrative, cultural, and pedagogical activities of the artist, which was especially vividly manifested in the Kyiv period. For seventeen years (2004–2021), Larisa Kadyrova was the initiator and organizer (on the basis of the Kyiv Ivan Franko National Theater) of holding the only international theater festival of women’s monodramas “Maria” in Ukraine, which became an important sign of the openness of the cultural and artistic space of independent Ukraine for theatrical Europe and the world. The article singles out the most important things that Larisa Kadyrova gained and brought to the socio-cultural and spiritual life of independent Ukraine, and also emphasizes her civic position in the conditions of the Russian–Ukrainian war. On the example of a wide spectrum of creativity, the significant contribution of the artist to the development of national-centric Ukraine is shown.

Graduates Employability Skills and Placements - Mediating Role of Career Adaptability

This paper focused on examining the relationship exist between psychosocial variables, employability skills and career adaptability for procuring placements among management graduates; to ascertain the mediating effect of career adaptability skills in the relationship between employability skills and placements. The study opt, cross-sectional design. Data were gathered from management graduates (N=207), placed in varied job settings through academic placements. Hierarchical regression were performed to accomplish objectives of the study. The results showed positive and significant correlation among employability, career adaptability towards procuring placements. Further describes partial mediation effect of career adaptability in relationship between employability and placements obtained among graduates. The results proposes that management graduates need to possess more adaptability skills compared to employability skills in order to secure employment through placements. The career adaptability dimensions: control, curiosity, concern, confidence and major employability skills can be enhanced by providing academic workshops and training interventions to management graduates.

Instilling the need for academic honesty into Hong Kong university students: how well are we doing?

ABSTRACT All public-funded Hong Kong universities have explicit practices to promote integrity and prevent students’ academic dishonesty. Using the Behaviour Change Wheel as a conceptual framework, three common practices were analysed in the present study, namely, enforcement of policies to penalize dishonest acts, use of plagiarism detection software, and mandatory attendance at academic honesty workshops. Qualitative data were collected from 50 students (in 14 focus groups) and individual interviews with 18 faculty members from eight publicly-funded universities in Hong Kong. Content analyses reveal that, although the students and faculty staff endorsed punishment as an effective intervention to reduce motivation to cheat, they also believed it would not enhance motivation for honest behaviours. Plagiarism detection software might reduce opportunities to plagiarize, but students with dishonest motivations will only turn to harder-to-trace means to cheat. While demonstrating good concepts of academic honesty, a sign that academic honesty education was working, the students attributed dishonest motivation to insufficient capability to perform academic tasks, which they described as a common problem. Both students and staff opined that the solution lies in more responsive learning support and pedagogical enhancement, but that it is constrained by university policies.

I Am Not All the Way Here

I Am Not All the Way Here

Moral urban citizenship and the youth problem in a Danish ghetto

PurposeThis article examines the interventions from municipality, state and other actors in the Gellerup estate, a Danish “ghetto” by focusing on the youth problem and its construction, by examining a cross-disciplinary academic workshop intending to “solve the youth problem” of the estate.Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on the two authors' participation in the academic workshop, as well as their continued engagement with the Gellerup estate through separate project employments and ethnographic research projects in the estate, consisting of both participant observation and interviews.FindingsIn the article the authors suggest that the 2015 workshop reproduced particularly the category of idle urban young men as problematic. The authors analyze this as a form of “moral urban citizenship”. The article also analyzes some of the proposed solutions to the problem, particularly architectural transformations, and connects the Danish approach to the problems of the “ghetto” to urban developments historically and on a global scale.Originality/valueCross-disciplinary academic attempts to solve real-world problems are rarely incorporated as ethnographic data. In this article the authors attempt to include part of their own practice as academics as valuable data that opens up new perspectives on a field and their own involvement and analysis of it.

Strategic Planning and Safety of Mountainous Areas in Türkiye’s Public Administration Organization

Türkiye is a country with lots of mountainous areas. Türkiye’s total area is 782219.7269 km2 and 583770.9139 km2 of this total area is composed of mountainous areas. In other words, our country’s 74.63% consists of mountains. 50% of our country’s lands are higher than 1000 meters and 2/3 of the total area is above 500 meters of altitude. Studies have shown that Türkiye’s average height is higher than the continent of Asia. Mountains are being opened to settlement in an ever-increasing fashion starting from the foothills. Despite the climate changes and the increasing population on the mountains, there is still no mountainous area administration policy in Türkiye. Nevertheless, administration of mountainous areas is related to the important topic of sustainable society, sustainable resource management. In other terms, the issue is strongly related to the important matter of social development enhanced by the untouched and natural environment. Humans first need to design the environment that they live in. It is crucial to highlight the importance of mountainous areas and define multifaceted safety issues related to the features of those areas depending on their geographical position. There are lots of interdisciplinary subjects regarding mountains to be directly or indirectly studied. What is the important factor? Is it the organization? Or is it the effects of that organization? The answers to these questions lie in the lack of administrative awareness regarding mountains in Türkiye and the problems arising from the lack thereof. Accordingly, it is crucial to include the administration of mountains into the public administration agenda and adapt the current protective improvements regarding mountainous areas taking place in the Council of Europe of which Türkiye has been an official member of since 1950. Due to unplanned settlement and the lack of administration structure’s adaptation to new circumstances, we directly face serious threats listed below. The mountains and their administration should not be considered as another element of the bundle of human or nature-induced problems such as intense heats, intense cold temperatures, strong winds and storms, drought, falling rocks, landslides, fires, terror, and etc. The responsibility to separate the mountains from other issues, the need to turn the “planning and administration of mountainous areas” into a matter of public policy, preparation of action plans regarding the structure of the necessary organization and the safety of mountainous areas are all included in the scope of this study. In addition, the paper also includes an administration model suggested by the Council of Europe supported by the notes of the author taken during the Academic Workshop on Sustainable and Effective Administration of Mountainous Areas and Society 5.0 held on December 11, 2019 in Izmir with the help of the Governorship of Izmir in celebration of the International Mountain Day.

Conceptions and Receptions of Antiquity in Classical Studies. Academic Workshop in Memory of Professor E.A. Chiglintsev (Saint Petersburg, May 29, 2021)

Conceptions and Receptions of Antiquity in Classical Studies. Academic Workshop in Memory of Professor E.A. Chiglintsev (Saint Petersburg, May 29, 2021)

Reconfigurable Pilot Lines Enabling Industry Digitalization: An Approach for Transforming Industry and Academia Needs to Requirements Specifications

Reconfigurable Pilot Lines (RPLs) are one practical concept for implementing the test-before-invest strategy to improve skills and capabilities of European small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs typically have limited resources for systematically exploring the potential benefits of available technologies. By utilizing the RPLs offered by research institutes and universities, companies can get both commercially uncommitted and realistic proof-of-concept studies for their applications, and valuable information about the skills and personnel competences needed for successful implementation of the new technologies. Test-before-invest services offered by RPLs can also foster the process of adopting new digital technologies in manufacturing industry. RPLs are versatile. RPL can act as a test bed for manufacturing company’s investment study, industry-scale product development laboratory for technology provider, as well as a platform for scientific research and education. Due to versatile roles and functions, defining pilot line requirements specifications call for systematic contribution from both industry and academia. This paper introduces a collaborative approach for defining requirements specifications for RPLs from the future technology skills development perspective. As a basis for this research, we combine results of three joined industry-academia workshops and one academic workshop with total 87 participants utilizing Affinity Wall method. This data was supplemented with an online survey for 74 companies from manufacturing industry. The analysis indicates that defining requirements specifications and development roadmaps for RPLs is a complex process, requiring multidisciplinary collaboration. Based on the analysis, a conceptual model supporting the requirements specification work is proposed in this paper. The model was applied to an existing testbed environment for further evaluation.

Inclusive curriculum and BAME student advocacy in a business school: reflections on three years of inclusive module reviews

This article presents a case study of BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) student advocacy and its impact upon the curriculum of a large business school within a post-92 UK university. Learning from the University of Birmingham's (2017) ‘BME Ambassador Scheme’ and the ‘Curriculum Consultants’ model at Kingston University (2017), a programme of BAME Student Advocates was established in 2018 across this university, to raise issues of race equity with staff in positions of power. The scheme has grown from 10 BAME Student Advocates in 2018 to 14 in 2020, offering student advocacy on many aspects of university life, including employability services, the learning environment, academic skills workshops, student community and belonging, and the undergraduate curriculum. The role-holder is employed by the central Student Success Team, and partners with a senior member of staff in each academic school (and several other business functions) to collaborate on specific race equity objectives each year. One recurring aspect of the role involves offering diverse student perspectives on module content, delivery and assessment to achieve a more inclusive curriculum design for programmes with the largest awarding gaps. This article reflects upon the outcomes and lessons learned through conducting 24 such module reviews over a three-year period within a business school and proposes potential future developments.

SCULPTURE WORKSHOP: PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

One of the necessary and mandatory conditions for high-quality professional art education is training in an environment that encourages creative work and provides the necessary level of comfort, ergonomic, technological, sanitary and technical requirements and proper organization of labour protection. Compared to other artistic professions, the working environment of a sculptor is more complex. It must be equipped with the necessary technical equipment (mostly quite large) and manual and mechanical tools, take into account functional requirements and complex technological processes, as well as provide the necessary and diverse indicators of lighting level, temperature, humidity, noise, etc. All these requirements also apply to sculpture academic workshops, where students learn the basics of the profession. Subsequently, graduates of sculpture departments use the acquired skills in their creative activities. Stating a certain degradation of the requirements for the profession of the sculptor, the authors of the publication express worries about the obvious underestimation of requirements for the workplace of a professional sculptor, which can be observed in numerous examples, and remind the reader of these basic requirements

What is Business Anthropology? An Ethnographic Study of an Explorative Workshop

The anthropology of organizations is always political; it might take place over shorter, as well as longer, time spans and in singular, pluralistic, or even virtual, settings. This paper addresses such issues by describing and analyzing fieldwork experiences of an academic workshop, which took place at the Copenhagen Business School in 2012 under the title of ‘The Business of Ethnography’. The purpose of the workshop was to create a forum in which to discuss business anthropology as an emerging field or sub-discipline of anthropology. The paper considers three conditions (reflexivity, familiarity, and temporality) which give the mise en abyme configuration of the field – the site where action happens – and pose significant challenges to contemporary business ethnographers. We argue that by acknowledging these three factors one can advance easier towards the ambitious goal of rendering organizational interactions intelligible and meaningful.