Guest post: The Beauty of Academic Conferences

 

I met the first person of the conference while in line to check-in at the hotel’s reception. After dropping my things in the room, I had a 30 minute conversation with a girl who had asked me where to find the conference registration table. My assigned roommate and I became close after noticing that our separate beds were shoved together into a king-size mattress (we managed to fix the problem).  In less than an hour I’d met three engaging and diverse individuals. Conferences are fantastic.

Every international student at UEA should try to attend a conference during their time in Norwich. Whether this is an event in Norwich, London, Europe, or the US, such conferences offer the opportunity to meet tens or hundreds of similarly passionate people in a comfortable and intentional setting. They are also opportunities to expand knowledge or certain areas and find new ideas or research opportunities. 

The Fulbright Conference in Berlin was a general conference focusing on networking Fulbright scholars from across Europe. More traditional conferences bring people together from similar professions to form social and professional relationships and share their common/diverse experiences.  The Fulbright conference allowed people like Matt (working on animal behaviour research in southern Germany) and Teddy (studying folk music in Bulgaria) to discuss the common traits shared by a German swallow and a Bulgarian trumpet player. Who knows what they discovered!

The first two days of the conference centred on European and American relationships, with sessions European politics, media, economics, and transatlantic cooperation. The third was Berlin-specific, with a panel discussion on diversity among the neighbourhoods of Berlin and a speech and Q&A session from Bjorn Bohning, Head of the Senate Chancellery. Questions for Mr. Bohning ranged from the upcoming destruction of sections of the Berlin Wall to his favourite part of Berlin.

The conference’s final day began with presentations about solar energy, orange-peel leather, and rudeness then ended with three hours to walk through Berlin’s neighbourhoods and a two-free-drink night-out of networking and social relationship building at a local night club. Of course, these were all “conference sponsored” activities.

So remember. Search for available conferences, go to them (seek funding from your department or other sources at UEA, or outside of UEA), meet interesting and engaging people, further your career, and learn something meaningful. Then repeat.

Cheers,

Kurt

 

Kurt Berning, 2012 Fulbright Scholar and co-founder of Global ADE, is currently pursuing a MA in Education and Development at UEA and exploring social entrepreneurship, campus social involvement, and local community engagement. Besides studying, Kurt’s activities in the UK include hosting a social entrepreneurship conference at UEA, interning and working with private and non-profit community organizations, and participating in athletic and social student clubs. Find more of Kurt's writing at www.kurtberning.blogspot.com.