Jessy is on the Human Geography Pathway at the University of Birmingham. Her research topic is “Treating negative affects among young people: the emerging technological landscape of therapeutic encounters”. From April to June 2023 she undertook an Overseas Institutional Visit (OIV) to Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Jessy attended a regular reading group and guest lecture series at the Institute for Human Geography as well as research events at the Lab for Studies of Science and Technology (LaSST). She met individually with professors, post-doctoral and doctoral researchers across human geography, digital anthropology and sociology to discuss shared research interests, her PhD project, theoretical frameworks and to establish connections. Jessy also organised and convened a guest lecture at the Institute for Human Geography, inviting a guest lecturer from the UK and organised and led a workshop on the topic of ‘researching digital interfaces’, attended by researchers and MA students. While there, Jessy wrote a draft of an empirical chapter for her thesis and will share the next draft of this with her host academic contact and potentially the human geography reading group at Goethe University as this will be a great opportunity to discuss her work and receive further feedback.

Jessy comments:

The visit has had a positive impact on the development of key themes and theoretical frameworks for the empirical chapters of my thesis because of attendance to reading groups, lectures and the discussions I had with people at Goethe University. These discussions will help me to refine my arguments in the next draft of my empirical chapters and future publications. I met a range of academic staff who have shared research interests …and I plan to stay in contact with them to build my research networks, potentially co-convene a conference session or collaborate on a paper in the future. I plan to continue attending the Institute for Human Geography reading group virtually, this will help maintain these connections. I have greater confidence in organising workshops, guest lectures and networking in an academic context. I also have increased understanding of academic career and funding paths post the PhD, in both UK and German contexts.”