RESEARCH INSIGHT ▼

DIFFERENT 'LEARNING-TEACHING CULTURE'

AN INTERVIEW WITH VERENA BENOIT l by Madalena dos Reis Gonçalves

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SHORT PROFILE

Name: Verena Benoit
Field: Sociology
Country: Germany
Occupation: Doctoral Fellow at the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences
Research Interests: Anti-Immigrant Attitudes, Islamophobia, Social Groups

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▐ Many of our doctoral fellows take the opportunity to do research abroad. One of them is Verena Benoit, who went to the United States. In an interview, she tells us about the experiences she made during the stay.

// At which university or institution did you spend your research stay? Did you work on a specific project?

V.B. I spent my research stay at the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice (Princeton University). The purpose of my stay was threefold: First, I continued to work on my dissertation project. Second, I got in contact and exchanged ideas with researchers who work on similar topics but focus on the US and the Middle East, while my focus is on Europe. Third, I participated in the graduate workshop and the related seminars and courses for graduate students.

// During your research stay you received the Lanahan Best Graduate Student Paper Award. Can you tell us about the award and about the paper you handed in?

V.B. During my research stay, I attended the annual conference of the Northeastern Political Science Association. I presented my work on the roles of religion and values for the formation of attitudes toward Muslim immigrants in Europe. A few weeks ago, I received the great news that I got awarded the Lanahan Best Graduate Student Paper Award for this paper. The process of getting a paper published is quite challenging sometimes, so for me, an award like this is a good motivation that the paper heads in the right direction.

// To what extent was the research stay beneficial for your academic career?

V.B. For me, the research stay was beneficial in two ways. First, I got to meet and discuss my work with excellent scholars in my field and received valuable feedback. Second, it was really interesting to experience a new research environment and the – in some aspects – quite different ‘learning-teaching culture’ in the US.

// Interview: Madalena dos Reis Gonçalves

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