Five MINT students from four different specialisation tracks and three faculty — Dr Claudia Seymour, Head of Applied Research and Practice; Dr Rémi Viné, Faculty Lead; and Idil Yildiz, Teaching Assistant — attended a workshop in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, on July 3-6, 2023. While the students presented their completed Applied Research Projects in the workshop, our faculty provided feedback for the continuing projects of the students from the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) and the Central European University (CEU).

The workshop was organised by the AUCA in Bishkek as a part of the collaborative project titled Learning by Doing: Policy Labs and Civic Engagement in which the Geneva Graduate Institute has been collaborating with the CEU and the AUCA since September 2021. This project is funded by the Open Society University Network (OSUN). Currently, Dr Buğra Güngör is leading and Dr Claudia Seymour is providing extensive support for the project that was initially brought to the Institute by Dr Claire Somerville.

The project promotes engaged scholarship and innovative pedagogies to advance student learning through practice-based applied research in partnership with external organisations from civil society, NGOs, INGOs, the UN and the private sector. Moreover, it aims to produce an online handbook of Applied Research/Policy Labs for universities that are willing to incorporate Applied Research/Policy Labs into their current curricula. 

The stakeholders of the project run Applied Research/Policy Labs at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels each year. They organise summer workshops in Budapest, Geneva, and Bishkek/Issyk-Kul where they showcase their completed and ongoing projects to receive feedback.

Below, you can read the short testimonies of the participants from the Institute.

TESTIMONIALS

Signe Skov Jensen (MINT student):

Getting to travel to Kyrgyzstan to meet with university students from around the world and exchange experiences and lessons learned on applied research projects was a true privilege. While you are working on an ARP, it is easy to forget the importance that your work carries in the real world; this workshop illustrated to what extent we need more projects of this kind to help students share their knowledge and offer solutions to local and global challenges alike.

José Daniel Reyes Silva (MINT student):

The experience in Kyrgyzstan was extremely constructive. On the one hand, it allowed us to approach new ways of conducting ARP, both from CEU and AUCA students. On the other hand, it allowed us to learn about the social, cultural, and environmental realities of Central Asia, with research projects dealing with the development and international issues of Kyrgyzstan and its neighboring countries.

Rémi Viné (Faculty Lead):

The Issyk-Kul meeting with the Central European University and the American University of Central Asia, also conducting projects close to our ARP, was the opportunity for students to share their experiences, not just regarding the topics covered but most importantly providing key elements on how to split work, handle conflicts and communicate around the results. I particularly appreciated seeing former students proud of their work and seeing former students whom the ARP helped thrive. On top of that, sharing experiences on the side of the teaching team was crucial too. Observing patterns, and differences due to the structure differentials, contributed greatly to our learning and continued to improve the ARP on the Geneva Graduate Institute side. This meeting, organised by the Open Society University Network is hopefully a start and this experience sharing will grow: Students of the world, unite and share experiences!

Agathe Vuichard (MINT student):

In my opinion, the OSUN workshop was an opportunity to share my experience of the ARP and learn from the ones of the students of the Central European University (CEU) and the American University of Central Asia. I was delighted to discover the variety of ARPs in terms of partners, topics, and research processes. It is interesting to see that the ARP contributes to everyone differently in their professional, academic and personal paths. Having the chance to spend three days with students and teaching staff from diverse cultural backgrounds, exchanging during the presentations, activities and meals, was also one of the highlights of this workshop!

Martin Eggenberger (MINT student):

The Policy Lab workshop in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan allowed me to network and learn from my peers visiting from fellow universities on diverse international issues but also on their personal experience of conducting research projects for a client partner. It was interesting to witness the similar challenges that my peers faced during their research projects and to discuss ways to mitigate them. In sum, conducting a Policy Lab was a distinctive and rewarding experience because it allowed me to further research in my chosen field of study and was a gateway to establish relevant and enduring contacts in the field.

Article prepared by Dr. Buğra Güngör, Project Lead. Photos sourced from the American University of Central Asia.