In June 2017, the Sandra K. Abell Institute for Doctoral Students was held for one
week in Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei is a wonderful city with some of the most
superb, welcoming people we have ever met. However, to provide blow-by-blow
accounts of our time in Taipei would be of little value to any future Abell
Institute attendees. Instead, we will attempt to summarize our experiences of
the Institute in a way that captures what was most special about it to us from
our respective perspectives, while also giving you a sense of what the
experience might be like for you.
Liam – University of Limerick,
Ireland
It was June 22nd 2017, somewhere in Turkish airspace hurtling
at 500mph towards Taipei. Despite the speed, there was still more than 10 hours
of flight time remaining. I close my eyes and try to anticipate what the coming
few days would be like. But I couldn’t, at least not with any great clarity.
The Sandra K. Abell Doctoral Institute would be a very new experience for me. I
had no point of reference as to what might be in store. I had no similar
experiences and no colleagues who had already been. Even if I had, this was the
first time it was being held outside of the USA! It was very new territory
indeed.
Noelle – Temple University, USA
I began my journey approximately 3 days before Liam. I boarded an 11pm
flight out of JFK and tucked myself in for the first leg of my journey; about 19
hours long. Having a 7.5 hour layover in Shanghai, China proved to be somewhat
of a mind and body savior before my 2.5 hour hop over to Taipei. Although it
makes for a much longer time traveling, I suggest taking advantage of indirect
flights as they certainly break things up a bit. Also, make sure you bring
things to keep you entertained, hydrated, and stretched! Much like Liam, I had
no point of reference either. I was the first from my university to be
accepted, and I have never traveled to Taipei’s neck of the world before
either! I was incredibly nervous, and incredibly excited.
What did I gain from the experience?
Liam -
Some of this is
almost in-explicable. Academics often talk about ‘the community’. It is always
a goal to get your work out to ‘the community’ through conferences and
publications. But sitting at my desk in the University of Limerick, down the south-west
of Ireland, I didn’t put much weight in this use of the word ‘community’. Even
though I had attended conferences and published work I certainly didn’t feel
part of it, if ‘it’ existed at all! The Abell Institute was a pivot point in this
regard. As I entered the lecture hall in the National Taiwan Normal University
(NTNU) for the opening ceremony, I felt disconnected and I was timid enough
that I didn’t think I would feel anymore connected by the time I left. But that
was a faulty conclusion; I clearly hadn’t analysed the data sufficiently!
There were warm,
welcoming, and supportive mentors that told us how they could not wait to start
working with us. There were also the faces of all my peers that seemed to
suggest they felt much like I did, and were very willing to become friends and
future colleagues (there were even some who would make it their business to
make sure everyone would be friends – cherish these people when you find
them!). Why do I spend so much of our allotted word count on this aspect? I do
so because while I learned a lot, progressed my thinking, and was both
challenged and supported during my time at the Institute, the most impactful
thing for me has been that I left the closing ceremony feeling like I was genuinely
part of a community.
Noelle –
Liam certainly
stole my sentiments. How does one cram a week’s worth of once-in-a-lifetime
experiences into just one blog post!? Yes, I am (well, was at the time) a
student (candidate now!!), I also work full-time as a 5th, 6th,
and 7th grade STEM teacher at a public charter school in
Philadelphia, so the “Academic Community” seemed intangible to me. I often
prioritize my students’ experiences over my own publications (unplublished,
right here…YIKES!). Community-building opportunities are typically lost on me
due to being stuck in the middle; while my work-colleagues are out socializing at
Happy Hour, I am home reading and writing for my studies. At the same time,
while my school-colleagues are preparing conference proposals and publications,
I am writing lesson plans, grading papers, and responding to parent emails.
Even being an introvert with a small amount of social anxiety, I still craved
community. Meeting and connecting with my academic colleagues, outside of my
small (albeit, wonderful) cohort was my sole motivation for applying to the
Institute and my mission while there.
I started the
week with full-blown Imposter Syndrome and a touch of Homesickness. Being the
only one still very much connected to the classroom, I knew just one person
whom I met (seemingly) lifetimes ago when she was a classroom teacher, and I
clung to her that first day. But the Imposter Syndrome and Homesickness slowly
started to melt away as we were introduced to our mentors and fellow Institute
members, and put into our Critical Friends groups. We quickly began bonding; sharing
our experiences as teachers, researchers, and individuals. I got exactly what I
went to Taipei for.
So, what happens at the Abell Institute (and how is
the community built)?
Liam -
There are
workshops and lectures, which are delivered with excellence by undisputed
experts in the field. The value that you take from these will vary from person
to person depending on your interests and the courses you have already taken in
your home institution. But you can be guaranteed that some will change your
mind, solidify your thinking, or give you new perspectives. You have time, both
structured and unstructured, to talk with these expert mentors about your
research and career. You will also be split into groups and assigned two of
these mentors to stay with you for the week. In these groups, you will discuss
various aspects of your research every day. This is where the community is
built and where, in turn, you gain most from being part of the community. The
critique, the challenges, the support, the clarification, and the affirmation.
It all happens here. You learn to
evaluate research of your peers and to develop your ability to critique and give
feedback in a constructive way. I cannot oversell the immense value of this
space if you engage with it openly and willingly. You develop skills and you
develop your thinking.
While in Taipei, we had planned and unplanned opportunities to socialize
together – from organized day-trips and meals together, to simply walking the
markets at night or just chatting in the common rooms of our shared
accommodation. In short, we had fun! And that is part of the joy of the whole
experience. Getting to know people in the academic sphere as well as the social
one. I feel part of the Abell Alumni community now. The words my supervisor, as
she suggested I apply to the Abell Institute, ring in my ear now that it is over:
“These will be your colleagues and peers for your whole career.” I put a lot of
meaning in that. I was delighted to see Abell Alumni at the recent ESERA
conference in Dublin. Never before did I feel so connected, supported, and
ultimately, comfortable at a conference.
Noelle –
In addition to everything Liam said, you also learn how to deliver
feedback and offer new perspectives. You become attuned to how different people
interpret and use different words or constructs in their own research. For
example, I think of the word (ahem, construct), “interest” very differently
than many of my colleagues. As a result, when one of my Critical Friends was
discussing “interest development” as part of their research, I was able to ask
for clarification of their meaning and offer the most current research to them.
At the same time, I was struggling with my qualitative methodology and was
offered many techniques from my mentors and group members.
Even after the
Institute, our community continues. We have formed a “WhatsApp” group where we
often touch base with each other, or share successes. It is a safe place to ask
for advice, or to continue to send goofy photos of each other from our time in
Taipei. Another Institute member (shoutout to Katie Bateman of PennState
University) described the experience best when making it analogous with the TV
show, The Real World. “This is the
true story... of [thirty-six] strangers... picked to live in [campus housing],
work together, and have their lives [critiqued]... to find out what happens...
when people stop being polite... and start getting real...[The SK Abell Institute].” (anyone know how to site this quote in
APA?!)
***
This is what we have gained from the Sandra K. Abell Doctoral Institute;
but it is so much more than networking, it is an induction into a community. It
is a community we both are very glad to be a part of and a community we look
forward to seeing at NARST 2018 Annual Conference in Atlanta.
See you there!
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| Liam Guilfoyle |
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| Noelle Luccioni |
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