Research Activity - September 2017
Glaveanu co-chairs symposium at the SPP conference
Dr. Vlad Glaveanu, Associate Professor and Head of Psychology and Professional Counseling at Webster Geneva Campus, co-chaired with Prof. Tania Zittoun (Neuchatel University) the symposium "Sociocultural psychology of imagination and creativity” at the 15th Swiss Psychological Society Conference "Treasuring diversity in psychology” that took place in Lausanne, 4-5 Sept. 2017.
This symposium focused on new developments in theory and practice of imagination and creativity in relation to a variety of applied settings, from the refugee crisis to education. Two of the paper were co-presented by Dr. Glaveanu: "Political imagination and the refugee crisis: The role of perspective taking" (with Constance de Saint Laurent, Neuchatel University) and "From culture to creative design activites in teacher training” (with John Didier, HEP Vaud).
The first paper used examples from on a recent study of social media representations of refugees. It considered how we imaginatively construct the perspective of (distant) others in ways that contribute to a certain kind of political imagination. This research shows that the different processes involved in perspective-taking are fundamental for how we envision our society and open up or, alternatively, close down possibilities of understanding other people. The second paper explored new possibilities of cultivating creativity in teacher training with a particular focus on design activities.
Mihalca participates at the 17th Biennial EARLI Conference
Dr. Loredana Mihalca participated at the 17th Biennial EARLI Conference hosted by the University of Tampere, Finland on "Education in the crossroads of economy and politics - Role of research in the advancement of public good" (27.08.2017-2.09.2017). EARLI conference is one of the most influential conferences in educational research. Dr. Mihalca spoke in the session entitled "Metacognition" about the effects of prior knowledge and degree of control when learning from problem-solving tasks.
Fatton appears on Swiss Public TV
Dr. Lionel Fatton, Lecturer of International Relations, participated in a TV debate about the recent developments and escalation around the North Korean nuclear program. The debate was screened by the Swiss public channel RTS on Wednesday, Sept. 6, in the program Infrarouge (posted online here).
Arese Visconti and Sacco present at Monash University - Prato Center
On Sept. 26, Francesco Arese Visconti, head of the Media Communications Department, and Betty Sacco, adjunct faculty of the Psychology Department, were invited to present their research "Hidden Identity" at the teaching and research centre of Monash University in Prato, Italy. Arese Visconti and Sacco explained their findings to criminology students who are studying human rights in the context of immigration, migration, detention and punishment. The presentation focused on the concepts of insideness, outsideness and cultural complexes related to the specific case of the Italian-Chinese community in Prato.