The Department of Sociological Studies is delighted to welcome the first of three Visiting International Fellows of 2023, Professor Loretta Baldassar, from Edith Cowan University, Australia who will be visiting from 24th April to 12th May.
Professor Baldassar is Vice Chancellor Professorial Research Fellow in the School of Arts and Humanities at ECU and is one of Australia’s leading Social Scientists and internationally recognised leaders in migration and diversity studies. She is Professor of Anthropology and Sociology with research interests in areas such as Transnational Families, Ageing Across the Life Course and Youth Mobilities. You can find out more about Loretta’s research areas, interests and background by visiting her Edith Cowan profile.
Loretta's research has strong alignments with the Department’s research themes; 'Wellbeing & Health Across the Life-course' and 'Science, Technology and Medicine in Society' and her visit will focus on developing collaborations with colleagues whose research is attached to these.
Hosted by Professor Majella Kilkey, Director of Research in the Department of Sociological Studies, Loretta will be collaborating with colleagues across the department and research institutes within the Faculty of Social Sciences. During her stay Loretta will be participating in a variety of activities, including delivering a workshop on Migration, Diversity and Care in Sociological Studies and co-convening a Writing Hat workshop with Dr Katherine Davies.
I'm very excited to be hosting Professor Loretta Baldassar in-person through the Department of Sociological Studies' Visiting International Fellowship Scheme. Loretta is one of Australia’s leading Social Scientists and an internationally recognised leader in migration and diversity studies through her Social Care and Ageing (SAGE) Living Lab projects. Her visit will help develop our research collaboration and build links between Early Career Researchers and PhD students at Sheffield and Edith Cowan.
Professor Majella Kilkey
Director of Research, Department of Sociological Studies
The Department is very much looking forward to welcoming Professor Loretta Baldassar and the exciting opportunities that will come from this fellowship.
What is the Visiting International Fellow scheme?
The Visiting International Fellow scheme takes place annually and is awarded for the duration of one academic year, and involves a mix of one in-person visit and virtual engagement and collaboration over the course of the academic year. There are two categories of fellows, the Early Career International Fellow and the Senior International Fellow.
Fellows are expected to undertake a programme of work, collaborating with single or multiple colleagues from the Department. That programme of work will be bespoke to the Fellow, but would normally include elements such as collaborative writing of articles and other outputs, the staging of workshops / symposia, the development of external research bids and impact and public engagement activities.
In addition to the proposed programme of work, Fellows will be expected to contribute to the research environment of the Department by giving one or two seminar presentations (virtual / in-person).
Where appropriate, they will also be asked to deliver a research methods masterclass with post graduate students, and to nurture new research relationships in the Department with potential to develop funded collaborative proposals or research development/exchange activities. Fellows will also be asked to document their work and achievements via a report, blog activity or by other means deemed appropriate.
If you are interested in applying to the scheme for 2024, we will open for applications shortly. We will announce this via our Department website and Twitter.