Reflecting on My Experience at the 2023 GINTL Seminar of International Education and Development
By Sydney Harrington, MSc CEID (class of 2023)
This is a reflection on one MSc Comparative Education and International Development (CEID) student’s experience at the 2023 GINTL Seminar: International Education Development and Internationalisation in Education. To read more about the seminar and advice from MSc CEID students that participated click here
I’m sure it’s an unwritten law of the universe in pretty much any event that if there is something that could go wrong then it probably will, in some way, go wrong.
That being said, I think the GINTL seminar went very well and I had an incredible time visiting Finland and learning about others’ research while sharing my own.
I was one of two presenters from Edinburgh who went in person, and I’ll be honest and say that I was more than a little anxious. I couldn’t help but heave a small sigh of relief when I saw Will, our program director, come up to the front of the stage. He was one of the opening panelists and would be doing the closing remarks as well, and it felt good to be in a completely new environment with two familiar faces.
The morning of the seminar went well, and I sat in on Ijaaz’s panel asking questions and offering praise when I felt it was warranted, which I felt often. Did I fully understand what an auto-ethnography was? Nope. Did I understand the philosophical underpinnings behind his research question? Also no. But that didn’t stop me from clapping the loudest and taking as many pictures as I could subtly get away with to later share with the CEID group chat.
After the coffee break, it came to my turn to present and when I got to the room and realized that I was the only panelist who hadn’t emailed their presentation and instead brought my slides in on a USB, I started getting a bit nervous. When I realized that I had all my notes on my PowerPoint and would need to reformat the display of the computer so that no one but me would see my notes, I started to panic.
It took a bit of finagling, and I’m sure I said something amusing to the waiting audience as I got a few chuckles, but eventually, I was able to start my presentation. I remember absolutely nothing of it besides the fact that I was passionate about what I was saying and that my heart was in my throat the entire time. Once I had landed on my reference slide and received the usual polite applause, the chair thanked me for the presentation and made a remark about how quick it was, instantly turning me beet red. I’m sure I looked a bit like an ice cream cone, my white dress offset by my quickly deepening pink cheeks.
I answered the questions that were asked and defended my choice of topic, gladly accepting the praise and critiques. That’s why I was there, after all. I wanted the help and needed the practice, especially if I wanted to continue on to a Ph.D. someday.
When one of the GINTL conference leaders asked me about how I was going to cut down the research to make it appropriate for a master’s dissertation and to fit the timeframe I had, I hesitated. “To me, I guess there isn’t such a thing as too much research–” I started and noticed the wince on Will and Ijaaz’s faces, “but of course, I’m going to make sure to break it down into the relevant pieces for my dissertation.” I laughed a bit breathlessly, color darkening my cheeks again. “I suppose I have an academic’s heart–” Another wince from Will and Ijaaz.
I swear I swallowed my tongue.
“This has all the potential to turn into a Ph.D. research project as well, so that’s something to keep in mind,” I finally squeaked, not entirely sure how to defend my love of learning for learning’s sake, especially since the people looking at me were there to judge the application of my research on future endeavors.
Despite it, I felt rather good about my presentation, and when we left the conference room and Will teased me saying “Honestly, you were slower than you normally speak!” while Ijaaz laughed, I was able to elbow him good-naturedly with a mumbled, “oh shut up”. There is a reason that we call Will our CEID Dad, he’s just as supportive as we need him to be.
Being able to share my research project in Finland was a fantastic opportunity and I am so glad I swallowed my initial hesitation to send in my abstract. I got to meet a group of incredible people who were on a similar path and I connected with academics that have been able to help me with different inquiries around my dissertation.
If you get the opportunity to go in person to a seminar, I would say that you should definitely try to go. It was an amazing experience and I feel more prepared to tackle my dissertation and the rest of my academic journey.
