Last year in October until the end of November, I went on a research visit to the University of Göttingen, Germany. From the very start, the colleagues at the Department of Human Resource Management and Asian Business welcomed me kindly, provided my own office space, shared their research as well as offered recommendations on things to see and do in Göttingen. I had a chance to explore not only the campus, but also the quaint and charming city of Göttingen.
During the visit, I collaborated on a research project with Alara Yaman, a fellow PhD colleague, under the faculty host and supervision of Prof. Dr. Dr. Fabian Jintae Froese, the Chair of Human Resource Management and Asian Business. The project, “Skilled migrant women workers from Malaysia and Turkey: Navigating career and networking challenges and opportunities in Germany and Scotland” had been selected to the European Centre for Advanced Studies (ECAS).
The institutional visit allowed us to finalise data collection which requires interviewing skilled migrant workers we have recruited in Göttingen and Hannover and refine the discussion and analysis of the potential paper we are working on.
In addition, as part of the ECAS research network, we presented our research at the 4th Edition of the Lower Saxony – Scotland Joint Forum hosted by ECAS at the Leibniz University Hanover on 20 and 21 November 2023. This was a good opportunity to gain constructive feedback and learn from policy-makers, academics and practitioners for both my PhD thesis and potential paper publication.
Alara, my research collaborator also completed her research visit to the University of Edinburgh in September 2023, and this became a great chance for us to exchange our knowledge and experiences as PhD students in Scotland and Germany. This month-long research visit was not only beneficial for my academic and professional development, but it helps foster research collaboration and network between the University of Göttingen and the University of Edinburgh Business School.
Amira Rahmat, PhD candidate in the Organisation Studies group