Joint Research Workshops and Seminars

From left to right: Prof. Wei Shen (Vice Chancellor International, Deakin University) and Prof. Dr. Mona Hess (KDWT, University of Bamberg)

The following research workshops and seminars were held by professors of the BRIDGES NETWORK:

Prof. Dr. Maike Andresen (University of Bamberg), Careers in context: An international study of career goals as mesostructure between societies’ career-related human potential and proactive career behavior and Presentation of the 5C research group (14.03.2019 at Deakin University)
- Careers exist in a societal context that offers both constraints and opportunities for career actors. Whereas most studies focus on proximal individual and/or organizational level variables, we provide insights into how career goals and behaviors are understood and embedded in the more distal societal context. More specifically, we operationalize societal context using the career-related human potential composite (CHPC) and aim to understand if and why career goals and behaviors vary between countries. Drawing on a model of career structuration and using multilevel mediation modelling, we draw on a survey of 17,986 employees from 27 countries, covering nine of GLOBE’s ten cultural clusters, and national statistical data to examine the relationship between societal context (macrostructure building the career-opportunity structure) and actors’ career goals (career mesostructure) and career behavior (actions). We show that societal context in terms of societies’ CHPC is negatively associated with the importance given to financial achievements as a specific career mesostructure in a society that is positively related to individuals’ proactive career behavior. Our career mesostructure fully mediates the relationship between societal context and individuals’ proactive career behavior. In this way, we expand career theory’s scope beyond occupation- and organization-related factors.
Prof. Dr. Maike Andresen (University of Bamberg), When at home, do as they do at home? Valuation of self-initiated repatriates’ competences in the French and German management career structures (14.03.2019 at Deakin University)
- While internationally experienced managers are highly sought after, expatriates who self-initiate their repatriation have been shown to face difficulties upon return. However, we lack empirical insights into the determinants of the employability of self-initiated repatriates (SIRs). By investigating how country-specific, career system-related factors influence employability competences of SIRs in the cases of France and Germany, we contribute to the expansion and refinement of the nascent theory of employability competences. Taking account of international context factors, we generate theoretical propositions about employability that serve to develop wider theory (theoretical generalisation). Our interviews with 40 SIR managers show that employability cannot be determined by isolating individual competences. The level and kind of employability competences proved to be determined, rather, by country-specific norms characterising management career structures. These vary for managers with national and international career paths and are moderated by expatriation mode (assigned versus self-initiated), length of stay, destination country, corporate size, and career phase. As such, these competences are relative. In offering specific guidance for the further development of employability competence theory and related future research, we seek to stimulate additional research in the field, to enhance the validity of future studies and to increase their utility for employees, organisations and policy makers alike.
Dr. Kaja Antlej (Deakin University), presentation about the CADET and her own research in the field of Cultural Heritage and Heritage Conservation (29.10.2019 at KDWT/University of Bamberg).
Assoc.-Prof. David Hundt (Deakin University), Finding their Voice? Overseas Koreans, Homeland Politics, and the Candlelight Rallies of 2016/17 (06.11.2019 at University of Bamberg)
- In his presentation he investigated the degree to which South Korea’s candlelight rallies, which were held between late October 2016 and early March 2017 to demand the resignation of then-president Park Geunhye, resonated with overseas Koreans. He uses first-hand interviews with Koreans in Australia, and articles published in the Korean-language media in Australia, to analyse the perspectives of the Korean diaspora in Melbourne. Informed by Charles Tilly’s “contentious politics” framework, the authors analysed the degree to which the rallies mobilised support, the goals that the organisers pursued through the rallies, and the ways in which the rallies were conducted. Despite a strong consensus among Koreans in both the homeland and the diaspora that Park’s impeachment was justified, they found that the rallies exposed numerous divisions in the Korean community in Melbourne, along ideological, generational and other axes. They concluded that it is difficult to sustain social movements in a transnational context.
Dr. Birgit Muskat (Deakin University), Contemporary Issues in Services Management: Knowledge Transfer and Customer Experience (02.05.2019 at University of Bamberg)
Prof. Alexander Newman (Deakin University), Writing Systematic Literature Review Papers (18.09.2019 at University of Bamberg)
- In this workshop for PhD students and Postdocs Professor Newman ran through the process of writing review papers. He was highlighting how to identify topics for review, how to undertake a systematic literature search, how to code papers and how to structure the writing of the review.
3D specialist Max Rahrig of University of Bamberg collaborated with a research team from Deakin University, led by Dr. Kaja Antlej, to develop 3D images of a 2009 Ford Falcon XR6 worked with. The 3D scan will be used to create a Virtual Reality (VR) pop-up museum experience during Geelong Design Week 2020. (01.12.2019 at Deakin University).

Further information available:

Click here for seeing an update on the project from March 2020.

Dr. David Tittensor (Deakin University), Muslim Aid: Exploring the Ethics of Giving in Islam (29.10.2019 at University of Bamberg)
- Presently the vast majority of aid from Muslim donor countries goes to fellow Muslim nations, and it is often the case that the recipient country is not the most in need. Therefore, this paper will consider the flow of Islamic aid and the issue of religious bias, and explore the theology and ethics of giving in Islam (zakat and sadaqa). This will be done through exploration of key verses, such as 9:60, by both historical and contemporary figures in Maududi and al-Qaradawi amongst others, on the application of zakat and sadaqa. Concomitantly, the paper will also explore fatwas issued in relation to humanitarianism and how these align with majority and minority readings of 9:60 that state zakat cannot and can be given to non-Muslims respectively. The aim of the paper is to assess whether there is an opening to have Islamic aid flows better integrate with wider aid sector.
Dr. Michiko Weinmann (Deakin University), Symposium about “Pioneering Teacher Education” and ?Teacher Education and Teacher Mobility in the Global Age“ (18.11.2019 at University of Bamberg)
Dr. Michiko Weinmann (Deakin University), Traversing multilingualism and the ‘monolingual mindset’: A critical perspective on Languages education in Australian schools (18.11.2019 at University of Bamberg)
- The lecture will provide an overview of the national context and state of play of Languages education in Australia, commenting on key policy and curriculum shifts in the recent decades, including the implementation of a national Australian curriculum – Languages. By drawing on selected examples from recent research projects, the talk aims to illustrate the complexities inherent in Languages education debates in Australia, and how these are articulated in teacher and student perspectives, media representations, and discussions around the provision of ‘quality’ languages programs.
  The talk seeks to provide a current commentary on the implications of some of the challenges that the Australian multi/monolingual context poses for languages education and teacher education, including concerns around language teacher recruitment and retention, high student attrition in languages classes, but also more complex concerns like identities of languages teachers (of different languages) and their students, and how powerful discourses of nation, geography, ethnicity, teacher 'quality' and 'professionalism' play out in the staffroom and in classrooms.
  It will conclude by providing some theoretical provocations, challenging the dichotomisation of ‘lingualisms’ towards a more constructive approach that acknowledges the multiplicity language users, irrespective of whether they speak one or many.