My research visit to Sweden exceeded all my expectations

March 31, 2022, by Postgraduate Placements Nottingham

My research visit to Sweden exceeded all my expectations

One of our ESRC researchers, Sara Palacios Arapiles, talks about her overseas institutional visit at University of Lund in Sweden.

~ Sara

The past term, I did a 3-month research visit to the Faculty of Law of Lund University (Sweden). I chose Lund because my doctoral research focuses on the asylum system of various European countries, including Sweden and Denmark. Located in the Öresund region (which comprises southern Sweden and eastern Denmark), the university and members of the Faculty are part of networks across the region. The Faculty of Law further hosts a vibrant community of scholars engaged in international refugee law, migration studies and human rights, and more broadly in international law. Thus, it was an idea place for me.

Since the very beginning, colleagues made me feel part of the School, and not just a “visitor”. Not only did they invite me to seminars directly relevant to my research, School meetings and related activities, but also to social gatherings and the Christmas dinner. Coffee was always ready in the morning together with boxes of fruits. This, as I later learned from my colleagues, is a common practice in the Nordic countries, which I would love to see implemented in Nottingham.

Overall, the research visit exceeded all my expectations. I had never thought that I would have the opportunity to meet so many scholars doing research on topics similar to mine, or at least in the same field, or that I would be invited to present my research on various occasions to different research groups, nor that future collaborations could arise from my stay at Lund. Indeed, after my departure, I have continued in contact with some of my former colleagues at the School and a former colleague and I have planned to write an article together given that our research intersects.

I am very grateful to the School of Law of Lund University for having invited me as a visiting researcher, and to the ESRC for the Overseas Institutional Visit (OIV) award. I really hope to maintain the working relationships that I established there and that collaborations continue to arise.

About the ESRC-DTP:

Dedicated Researcher Academy staff manage three strategic University of Nottingham doctoral training programmes (DTPs) in collaboration with external partners. The Researcher Academy’s management of these schemes has created a network of expertise and repositories of best practice with inward and outward flows of knowledge exchange. The Researcher Academy DTPs have been able to advise and support Schools on bid development, while these DTPs have in turn benefited from the insights and skills of partners in the Researcher Academy Placements and Training and Development teams, the university’s Careers Service, and industry partners. > More information.