photo by Ewelina Orzeł
The opportunity to sit on the Executive Board is not only a great honour but also a pleasant surprise. When I started the doctoral studies, I did not dream of being able to develop my competencies through participation in such projects as Transform4Europe. I am more than happy about this nomination. First, I am grateful for the opportunity to take actions for the community of students, PhD students, and young scientists, which I am part of. Second, working in an international team will surely let me develop as a fresh PhD student who takes her first steps in the academic world.
Emilie Szwajnoch
Vice-Chair of the Student Council
in the Transform4Europe project.
One of the most important voices in creating the European university of the future belongs to students and PhD students. In order they have a real influence on the decisions made under the Transform4Europe alliance, the Student Council has been created to support the works of the project’s international board.
A total of 14 representatives of students and doctoral students from seven partner universities were selected, and the first virtual meeting took place on 28 April 2021.
“We had an opportunity to get to know each other. We briefly introduced ourselves and talked about our work for the student community at our own universities,” says Emilie Szwajnoch, PhD student of the University of Silesia.
During the meeting, the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the Council were elected, along with students and PhD students’ representatives under the Executive Board and three Steering Committees.
Our representative, Emilie Szwajnoch, was elected the Vice-Chair of the Student Council. The Chair of the Council is Lukas Redemann, a student from Saarland University, who has been involved in the Transform4Europe project since the very beginning.
The participants of the meeting also decided that these two people will represent the community of students and PhD students of seven partner universities during the Executive Board meetings.
“We are proud and delighted! The election of our PhD student as the Vice-Chair of the Council is a great honour for the University of Silesia. It is worth adding that the voices of Emilie and Lukas will be equally important to the voices of the other members of the Executive Board, the most important body in the structures of the Transform4Europe alliance, which includes rectors of all universities,” says Małgorzata Myśliwiec, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor, coordinator of the Transform4Europe project on behalf of the University of Silesia.
Representatives of students and PhD students will also engage in the works of the three Steering Committees where, together with vice-rectors, universities’ employees and experts, they will carry out tasks related to e.g. mobility, multilingualism, or innovative teaching methods and programmes.
“During the meeting we found out about the Transform4Europe project opportunities for students and PhD students of the seven universities,” says the Vice-Chair of the Student Council.
“First, we will be in contact with PhD students and more experienced scientific employees, which will let us develop research competence and inspire young scientists. Second, Transform4Europe offers development through classes. It’s a chance to participate in meetings held in international groups and conducted by researchers and teachers from all the seven universities. Third and finally, we will meet new people. We will have opportunities to organise and carry out joint initiatives and events on an international level. There are already some ideas of PhD students for joint activities in this area,” says Emilie Szwajnoch.
Several students and PhD students have already engaged in activities related to Transform4Europe. One of them is Transform4Europe Week, an event during which we will have the honour to host students, PhD students, as well as scientific and administrative employees from the other universities of the consortium at our University.
The latest news about the Transform4Europe project is available at the University of Silesia website: www.us.edu.pl/t4e.
Emilie Szwajnoch – a PhD student in political science and public administration of the Doctoral School at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Vice-Chair of the Student Council in the Transform4Europe project, Chair of the University Council of the PhD Student Government at the University of Silesia. She is a University of Silesia graduate of the English Studies: Translation Programme with Chinese. During her Master’s degree studies she received a scholarship from the Chinese government, which allowed her to study Chinese at the Northeastern University in Shenyang.
Her research interests lie in the domestic politics of China, in particular the security policy. She is a beneficiary of the PRELUDIUM grant from the National Science Centre for the project “China’s domestic security policy as an instrument of securitization of infrastructure projects implemented in Central Asia” (grant No 2020/37/N/HS5/02910).