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Graduate Student Workshop

The European Union Centre of Excellence – Asia Pacific European Union Studies 1st Graduate Student Workshop was the inaugural post-graduate event in the research network of the four Asia-Pacific Centres of Excellence.  Hosted by the Chinese partners in a leading Chinese University of Fudan in Shanghai, the Workshop provided a stimulating forum for the post-graduates in Asia-Pacific to deepen their understandings of the complexities of the European integration and hone their research skills in an interactive and supportive environment.

Taking into account an interdisciplinary nature of the exercise and multidisciplinary background of the participants, the Workshop was designed around a leading theme “Pushing the Boundaries of your Research” challenging the participants to consider new subjects and research techniques.  Students had a chance to present their research case-studies to the group and elicit a critical feedback from the post-graduates and academic facilitators. This was followed by the faculty presentations on such subjects as “The changes in the EU’s external relations as a consequence of the Lisbon Treaty and EAS”, “How to make a Community with People-to-People Exchange", “EU External Perceptions?: EU External Identity”. 

These presentations set the analytical framework for the students’ small-group work with the original case-study:  “Visibility of the EU at the World Expo: What sort of actor the EU is?”.  Using a unique location ad timing of the Workshop – Shanghai during the World Expo 2010 – the Workshop gave its participants an opportunity to develop that case-study from the point of view of different disciplines and different methodological approaches.  A unifying element was the analysis of Chinese English–language media coverage of the EU in the context of the World Expo (using analytical tool developed by the internationally acclaimed research project “The EU in the Eyes of Asia Pacific Media, Elite and Public Opinion analysis”) pioneered by the NCRE (NZ) since 2002. Every small group reported their collaborative findings in a final round of presentations and complemented their theoretical explorations by a field trip to the Expo (on their own time and money).

The Workshop featured a highly interactive design prioritizing individual presentations, small group work, intense feedback and friendly atmosphere.  The Workshop started with an informal round of introductions and finished with a comprehensive wrap-up exercise which allowed participants to reflect on their updated knowledge, new research skills and strengthened research networks in a truly cross-cultural context.  The Workshop turned out to be an extremely successful event which triggered research collaboration between the new generation of Asia-Pacific young scholars of European Integration – the following conferences in New Zealand and Australia have already featured examples of the collaboration and contacts between the Workshop participants. 

Student Feedback on the Workshop

"This workshop was very productive for me because I learnt more about the perceptions projects once again in detail. And, something I gained from this workshop could be the probable improvement of the relationship between me and supervisor (might because of travel together). Another gain of this workshop could be making another special friends from many other fellow students at the Centre. The value of the networking in the workshop could be recognising the current research trends of the centres of European Studies in Asia-Pacific region. Finally, I enjoyed the most was experiencing China (such as food, travelling and speaking Mandarin Chinese)."

Sae Won Chung – University of Canterbury

"This workshop took us to see the world's biggest developing country's commercial centre. The workshop brought post-graduate students from different Asia-Pacific countries to exchange ideas. As a young acdamic, this networking and learning experience is valuable to me. Thanks for the workshop, I went to see the EU showcase in the Shanghai Expo, which was just amazing. I am delighted that I participated this workshop and looking forword joining next workshop in another great location."

Jiang Xiqian – University of Canterbury

"The workshop helped put a face on EUCN universities beyond New Zealand. It was great getting to know colleagues from China, Japan and Australia, and hearing about their research showed the wealth of academic diversity taking place within our network. Shanghai was amazing as well. Attending the conference was a great opportunity and I hope the chance will be there for others in the years to come."

Ruth Fischer – University of Canterbury

"I enjoyed the Shanghai Workshop. The students are all friendly and there was a variety of research interests and methods. I've learned a lot about critical content analysis and media research through the group work on analyzing newspapers."

Kimiko Kuga – Keio University

"The graduate student workshop in Shanghai organised by the National Centre for Research on Europe was an incredibly rewarding experience for all involved. It was wonderful to have a chance to collaborate with the next generation of Asian-pacific researchers into the European Union and to explore a new city with them. The workshops combined individual student presentations and group work. This gave participants the chance to practise presenting our individual projects. There was good feedback and constructive criticism for all students in a very supportive environment, which is an invaluable experience for all researchers. The group work gave us a great opportunity to exchange research skills, and the chance to network amongst the students; several new research projects came out of this collaboration. Finally, the NCRE went out of their way to ensure that all participants had a fantastic time at the workshop. They made sure we all knew how to get to the hotel from the airport, that the hotel took care of us, and that we had a good balance of hard work and social engagement. Dr Natalia Chaban was a wonderful convenor who kept us working hard in a very enjoyable environment.  Ms Sarah Christie worked hard in New Zealand before the workshop responding to many enquires and emails as we prepared to leave Australia. The result was a very enjoyable and professionally rewarding workshop in Shanghai."

Flora Anderson – Monash University