These comments were collected via email through a survey conducted six months after the conference. The survey went to the 130 individuals who actively participated in the conference. Approximately 12% responded, and their comments are below.
The connections to other people with strongly positive and affirming attitudes for social action through science were most memorable for me. It was refreshing to hear from younger colleagues and students who are actively committed to making a difference in their academic communities. The special lectures from senior scientists were stimulating and one of them (the Arctic climatological presentation) is now material for an up coming course on Human Ecology.
The people I met in Berlin have inspired and encouraged me to bring more current and cutting edge science into my high school classroom. To have the ability to talk to scientist is a rare gift for a classroom teacher. In addition sharing the current state of a high school classroom in America and England shed a light for the scientists on the challenges and short comings for our up and coming future scientists. I have benefited from having the conversations that have led me to expand my thinking as well as my teaching practice.
The Berlin conference helped me by introducing me to a variety of different viewpoints on different issues. Being particularly interested in the relationship between science and government, it was both challenging and refreshing to hear how professional scientists deal with government policy already. By challenging I mean challenging my current conceptions as to how this relationship works and by refreshing I mean giving me some new ideas as to how the relationship could work.
It was great attending the Berlin Conference. I learnt a lot from the plenaries and the round tables. The fact that Fulbrighters from different horizons were there was a plus and a fabulous contribution to my personal and professional development. The organizers and the participants were very helpful and collaborative to the extent that I felt at ease and at home in Berlin. I do hope that many people who attended the Berlin Conference will show up in the Marrakesh Conference so that we can return some of their hospitality.
The Berlin conference created new international ties for me. Besides, it gave me the chance to hear about innovative ideas and to look for new channels and directions in the future. For example, I initiated a similar activity which will be held during the international week (middle of November 2006) for DVC meetings with cross cultural understanding between Palestinian and American Universities. The need for cross-cultural dialogue and understanding especially between Palestinians and Americans has been greater than ever before. There is much to learn about each other. I with my colleagues at Palestinian Fulbright Alumni Association (PFAA) are interested to contribute to this process by implementing cross-cultural exchange through video-conference dialogues between Palestinian institutions and a number of American institutions and organizations.
Outcomes accruing to me from the conference have not been great in number, but have been outstanding in quality. I have had a very productive series of contacts with [one attendee]. Our interactions have helped me to launch in new directions in my career, and might conceivably result in the future in a proposal developed for the Fulbright Senior Specialists program. As indicated above, my contacts with this person and others who attended the Berlin Conference have led me in some new career directions--ways in which to build upon experiences in my past that may prove to be highly productive. I very much appreciate having been offered the opportunity to participate in the conference.
As a result of contacts made in Berlin at the Conference, I visited Bucharest for 5 days. I taught seminars on strategic communication for university students and had a half-day meeting with a group of local nonprofit leaders for a discussion of fund-raising strategies and tactics. I have had subsequent email contact with some of the students and I email occasionally with those I met at the Conference who invited me to come to Romania. The possibility of future visits and interaction remains on our agendas. The contacts I made at the Berlin Conference stretched my Fulbright experience from a single country activity to a multiple country activity. My time in Romania, although short, had a multiplier effect and contributed greatly to the overall experience of the Fulbright, as well as providing contacts for my potential future involvement in the growth of civil society organizations in Central and Eastern Europe.
This is one of the conferences that I enjoyed most (I attend three national and two international per year). All the conferences I attend are naturally in my own discipline. This conference brought scientist from several disciplines and from numerous developed and developing countries. The nature of research topics, the lectures and the dialogues and debates that ensued facilitated knowledge dissemination and development and most notably facilitated the identification of common grounds for future interdisciplinary collaborations.
At the Berlin Conference, I've met people from different countries whom I think are an excellent opportunity to develop new linkages and to promote work. I feel that the Conference provides a basis for establishing long-lasting productive partnerships and relationships between citizens of different countries, fostering an exchange of knowledge and mutual understanding throughout the world. It would be a valuable opportunity of participating in the Conference at Panama City which would also offer you opportunities and challenges that you would be looking forward.
It was a wonderful event to meet so many interesting people pursuing a variety of activities across Europe. I felt inspired and grateful to be able to collaborate with so many. After the conference, a fellow Fulbrighter from Spain and I put on a conference in Madrid in collaboration with Americans for Informed Democracy, and two of the individuals we met at the Berlin Conference, flew down to speak at the conference.
The most important aspect was getting to know other researchers, understanding who works with whom and why. From a pure working perspective, the conference wasn't important - there are more than enough science conferences targeting things more in detail. But from a networking perspective, it was very fruitful.
It gave me the opportunity to network with other individuals and share our experiences and insights about Germany (especially) and other countries where Fulbrighters were. It was a chance for me to interact with good scholars outside my field. I also felt it gave me a chance to encourage students to pursue their careers.
As a result of my contact, I visited the Polytechncial University in Bucharest twice up to now (Oct. 2006) and made many subsequent contacts which are in detail: 1) Starting a co-operation in the physics department of the Politehnica with some preliminary experiments which seems to lead now to a joint research project. 2) Receiving the occasion to present an introduction to the new field of Bionics to announce a course in "Bionics for engineers", which I am supposed to give as an invited professor in SS 2007. 3) Further contacts, which at least will be continued for professional information exchange.
One of the things that I liked about the conference was that, although it was a science conference, it touched on various other fields and brought together scientists and scholars from many different disciplines. A lot of my research is interdisciplinary and at the conference I found it very helpful to learn from experts about their respective fields and also about their views on my research.
The Berlin Conference helped open my eyes to a wider range of problems facing the world. It got me out of my narrow box of focusing solely upon structural engineering and exposed me to issues of global warming, energy consumption, population enlargement, research funding, and healthcare. Since the conference, I have found myself reading more articles related to the search for natural resources, and environmental issues, specifically focused on saving national parks from further pollution and mismanagement. Thanks in part to what I learned at the Berlin Conference, I hope to keep my interests broad as I continue to grow as a structural engineer.
The Berlin Conference gave me the chance to reconnect with the scientific community. I studied geology as an undergraduate, but my primary academic foci were education and Norwegian language. I have always been interested in science, however, so this was a great chance to see what is currently happening within the scientific community, and reinvigorate my scientific interests.
|
