1. Introduction

This blog outlines the activities I completed during an Overseas Institutional Visit (OIV) primarily to the Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) in Braunschweig, Germany. My purpose of this Visit was to disseminate my research, develop my research agenda, grow my international network, and enhance my professional development. The blog highlights the impact of the activities on my doctoral research and professional growth while discussing timeline adjustments and logistical challenges.

2. Policy Research Skills Development and Research Fellowship

My first activity was to develop policy briefs on education interventions in settings of protracted conflict and crisis. During the OIV, I worked with a team of researchers to coauthor two briefs, one on improving access to education in such settings and the other on the state of effectiveness research on education interventions for children in those settings, with more in the pipeline to work on and publish. This experience honed my skills in research review and synthesis, policy-oriented writing, and researcher teamwork, while also helping me appreciate working in faster-paced, non-academic research environments. I believe this skill and experience gain to benefit me greatly in writing up my thesis, particularly in presenting my Literature Review and Implications chapters such that they are clear and perhaps compelling not only to academic researchers but also to concerned colleagues in the realms of policy and practice.

Interactions with GEI staff and visiting fellows constantly drove my motivation and learning. For instance, discussions with my GEI mentor and two visiting fellows illuminated to me pathways for using research to influence policy and practice, further enriching my exposure to high-quality education research that integrates, in its design and dissemination, potential to influence policy.

3. International Networking, Dissemination, and Research Agenda Development

3.1. At GEI

My two-week lodging fellowship at GEI allowed me to fully engage with its resources and staff. I connected with key staff members managing and publishing the Institute’s research. These interactions helped me refine my approach to presenting my research so that it better appeals to colleagues who are actively engaged in research conducted at institutions other than (UK) universities. I believe this refined approach will serve me well in pursuing career opportunities beyond those based at (UK) universities.

GEI’s physical and digital libraries were invaluable during my OIV, particularly for accessing textbooks exploring narratives of national cohesion. Regular discussions with my mentor and visiting researchers, especially regarding contexts of mass disruption to education, challenged me to reconsider research stances in which formal curricula are presumed to be of primary significance for understanding what education people receive. These discussions inspired me to draft ideas for potential postdoctoral projects, which I subsequently discussed at GEI and received constructive feedback thereon, including on potential hosting and funding opportunities.

3.2. In Berlin

My OIV plan included a stop in Berlin in order to connect with think tanks and policy foundations running scholarship programmes—which are the key topic of my doctoral research. My outreach to such organisations was met with delayed explanations of inability to have me visit due to staff being too busy or on leave. That was a bit frustrating because connection with those organisations had always been on my networking agenda and their work relates closely and insightfully to my research. Overcoming that frustration, I redirected my effort to studying their scholarship programmes as published on their websites, and I identified key contacts whom I intend to contact at a later point. I also reached to other organisations to make use of my time in Berlin. For instance, I was welcomed to visit Das Forum Transregionale Studien, where I attended their 15^th anniversary celebration, joined a researcher-practitioner seminar on restitution across different country contexts, and had encouraging conversations about the Forum’s postdoctoral opportunities and about my post-completion career plans.

Beside these formal OIV activities, I used the bit of free time I had in Berlin to tour the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This unplanned OIV activity offered me a powerful experience to reflect on a key historical and global dimension of the country context with which my doctoral research is concerned, especially being a Palestinian from Gaza myself. I still have a lot to reflect on from this visit. For the purpose of this blog, I find it sufficient to share that the two-site tour challenged me as a researcher to consider an aspect in international education that is barely investigated in extant research: How access to memorials, museums, and similar spaces/sites of informal learning during academic sojourns may advance the role of international education in challenging prejudice and bridging understanding.

3.3. In Athens

During my OIV, I went to Athens, Greece, to attend the Forum on Education Abroad’s 7^th Europe, Middle East, and Africa Conference, supported by an external grant covering accommodation, travel, and registration costs. Here, I attended the 2024 Pharos Summit, which helped me see from close proximity how diplomats and government officials can make significant and direct contributions to higher education internationalization in their respective countries. I then joined a variety of exciting Conference sessions addressing timely issues in international education, e.g., intercultural conflicts and racism during academic sojourns abroad and LGBTQ+ student participation in education abroad. Building new contacts at the Conference was also a key highlight of my experience in Athens, helping me connect with scholars and practitioners addressing topics of thematic and/or geographic relevance to my doctoral research. This networking activity further deepened my motivation about my own doctoral research and the potential contribution it could make to our understanding of the political significance of international education.

4. Other Activities

The OIV afforded me good time to complete those kind of activities that I had always said of them: “Yes, I’ll do them. I’ll certainly do them. They’re very important to do, so I’ll definitely do them. Let me just find the time later”. During my OIV, I found that time. I found time to engage in more influential ways in my role as an editorial assistant with a peer-reviewed journal, where I contributed to peer review rubric development, Editorial Board restructuring, and onboarding new Board members. These tasks deepened my understanding of journal leadership processes and of publishability-enhancing criteria to fulfil in my manuscript writing.

I found time to revise a research article developed from my doctoral research (and get it published!). I found time to begin drafting a new manuscript informed by the comments I received throughout my OIV on my doctoral research as well as by the methodological insights I gained from working on the policy brief on effectiveness research. I also found time to complete a peer review for Higher Education, to (finally) update my CV and LinkedIn profile and better organise my career planning journal, and to secure nomination for an award recognising promise in the field of international education.

5. Behind the Scenes

This blog may give the impression that my OIV was a smooth journey of all-easy travel. It was not. I had invested so much time in planning it to be as rich and fulfilling as reported in this blog. And yet, I had to adjust the timeline of it, extend certain activities of it and do others remotely, secure external grants to make it financially viable, and continuously monitor and evaluate my spending of budgeted time and funds. But, I think of these perhaps taken-for-granted aspects of planning and undertaking the OIV as equally significant for my professional development. They were good for me to practice key skills such as mini-grant and time management and logistics and travel coordination, as well as attitudes of resilience, focus-on-goals, and appreciation of challenges conducive to intercultural literacy.

6. Unfolding Gratitude

Overall, my OIV was an excellent opportunity to advance my research dissemination, research agenda, international network, and professional development. The various experiences I had across these four areas will extend their positive remit to my immediate focus on writing up my thesis and exploring job opportunities, just as well as to my short- and long-term plans of planning and collaborating on high-quality, policy-relevant research in the field of international education. I am so very appreciative of the generous support that NINE offered me to pursue this OIV. I trust its strategic impact will continue to unfold, i.e., manifest and grow, through the long term of my academic and broader research career. And so will my gratitude.

Note: I am happy to chat to anyone who is interested in doing an OIV. Please do get in touch: [email protected]