How to Spend 24 Hours at HSRW - Part IV

How to Spend 24 Hours at HSRW - Part IV

00:00:00: Stephan Hanf: Welcome to How to Hochschule, our audio guide about tackling life and work at Rheinwall, University of Applied Sciences, one of the most international universities in Germany. So grab a cup of hot water, put on your comfiest headphones and join us as we explore the world of Hochschule

00:00:18: Music: Rhein Ulm.

00:00:34: Stephan Hanf: Welcome to the grand season finale of How to Hochschule, part of our compelling series How to Spend 24 Hours at Hochschule Rhein Bal. I'm Stefan Hampf and this is part 4. The evening

00:01:12: Stephan Hanf: as we conclude our first. season. This episode is more than just a finale. It's a tribute to you, the students of Rheinwald University of Applied Sciences. Our narrative tonight starts at dusk, capturing the campus pulsating energy. Join us. in exploring the university's transformation under the cloak of

00:01:34: Music: evening.

00:01:40: Music: Picture this,

00:01:41: Stephan Hanf: a colorful congregation of nearly 300 university affiliates, allies, and regional friends, all converging in a celebration of academia and community. As we also reconnect with How To Huschel Podcast guests of the past, the Huschel Band, celebrating amidst this vibrant scene.

00:02:05: Qusai: Guys, well done. Really, how did it sound?

00:02:08: Debabrata Chakraborty: Uh. A lot of places, I made so many f ing

00:02:11: Qusai: mistakes. So, it

00:02:12: Stephan Hanf: was the first time for you to play live, right? No,

00:02:15: Qusai: not for me.

00:02:16: Stephan Hanf: No, as a band.

00:02:18: Qusai: It was

00:02:19: Debabrata Chakraborty: really, first time, for

00:02:20: Qusai: me it was first time. So, how was it for you?

00:02:24: Debabrata Chakraborty: I was not nervous, but I made a lot of, uh, how should I say, mistakes, which I knew, but I, because of the effect of the wine and the Jack Daniels, I think I just powered it through and I did not pay more attention.

00:02:36: Debabrata Chakraborty: So you were nervous? Uh, nervousness was eased down by a lot.

00:02:42: Qusai: By a big margin. But

00:02:44: Music: you, uh,

00:02:46: Qusai: but I mean, people enjoyed it, so. How was it? It was good.

00:02:51: Stephan Hanf: So, how was it for you? First time

00:02:53: Qusai: as a band, live. Well, uh, It was great because we had a limited amount of band rehearsals as a whole band. We totally met around maybe five or six times all together.

00:03:07: Qusai: So we managed with what we could. We still have a lot to learn but I guess this was great for our first I mean, I'll leave it up to you guys. so much. Yeah, so have a nice evening. Thank you, thank you. Thanks,

00:03:18: Music: thanks.

00:03:25: Music: We're

00:03:54: Music: outside

00:03:54: Qusai: the library. It's a warm but breezy summer night.

00:04:00: Music: You can hear people

00:04:02: Qusai: on the other side of the Spoi Canal, having fun, enjoying the Friday. Our

00:04:07: Stephan Hanf: senior correspondent Harry will sneak into the Rhein Wahl University Library and he will immerse himself into an event called the Long Night of the Library where he will meet a couple of international relations students where knowledge and night owls meet.

00:04:23: Stephan Hanf: And around

00:04:24: Qusai: this there are some students exiting the library. Yeah, the voices you're hearing are not students. They're the people on the other side of Shiboi, because the students around here are probably studying.

00:04:33: Debabrata Chakraborty: I'm Leah. I'm studying International Relations. I'm in my fourth semester, and I'm from Germany.

00:04:39: Qusai: I'm Kusoi. I'm studying International Relations, and I'm in my fourth semester of IR, yeah. Okay, so both of you are in the same class, basically. Yes, we are. Alright, and where are we right now? Where are we? We're in Next to the library, between the library and the Mensa, like in the open space. Yeah, so you're outside.

00:05:00: Qusai: Outside, yeah. Today there is the long night in the library. The library closes at one, specifically for students to have their exams. So why did you choose to sit outside the library and not inside?

00:05:10: Debabrata Chakraborty: Did you

00:05:11: Deepal Kumar: see the weather today?

00:05:12: Debabrata Chakraborty: It's amazing weather and inside it's just really crammed. You just need some space and it's really nice sitting outside, studying outside.

00:05:22: Debabrata Chakraborty: You can

00:05:22: Qusai: play music. Yeah, a bit of fresh air. And it's like it's another environment. I can play loud music at the same time, not worry about other students hearing me and also inside at a certain point became Because it's a cramped space, so you actually feel everything that's happening. So, yeah, going outside, fresh air, it's nice.

00:05:44: Qusai: Ambience, yeah, it's nice. And you can also have your snacks without talking about it. No one talking to me about it. Okay, and at what time did you guys get here to start studying?

00:05:54: Debabrata Chakraborty: I 7, but then 2 hours later, we went outside to go study outside.

00:06:02: I

00:06:02: Qusai: arrived at 4, 5. Yeah. Uh, I was, when I texted you, that's yeah, that's it.

00:06:12: Qusai: Wow. And your plan was to stay at the library initially until it closes at one. Yeah. That's a long night. Yeah. I want to just be done with all of the chapters of some of the things that I'm doing at least so I can get it out of the way as summaries. Yeah. Not necessarily memorize it.

00:06:31: Debabrata Chakraborty: Yeah. Yeah. Through the week there was also a lot of stuff happening here at the uni.

00:06:35: Debabrata Chakraborty: So, there was a lot I couldn't do. Now is the time to catch up.

00:06:40: Qusai: Okay, and when is the exam that you're studying for? Three weeks. Okay. Fourth and sixth of July. Yes. Twelve. Okay, that's a decent amount of time.

00:06:52: Stephan Hanf: Yeah, more or less.

00:06:56: Qusai: Let's just say, so your initial plan was to study in there. Yeah. So if there was something you could change that would make you actually stay in there and not come out here for maybe the next long night, what would it be?

00:07:06: Qusai: Cultivation.

00:07:08: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: Yes, AC.

00:07:10: Music: Absolutely.

00:07:11: Stephan Hanf: If they put an AC in there,

00:07:13: Qusai: I will not leave the library.

00:07:15: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: And maybe

00:07:15: Debabrata Chakraborty: allow some dry snacks, that would be really nice to be able to eat while you're studying.

00:07:19: Qusai: That was what the long night was before Corona, so there was, Asta had a table of snacks for free

00:07:27: Debabrata Chakraborty: for everyone. If they would put that up again, I'd stay inside for seven hours straight.

00:07:31: Debabrata Chakraborty: We could

00:07:31: Qusai: get the message across to Asta to actually do that again. Yeah, all right. I think that's all for me. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you very much. Of course. Thank you I'm outside the window right now, and I look right inside I see three or four students just having a break having some late night coffee to fuel their study session, and we are probably going to Go bother them.

00:07:54: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: Okay, my name

00:07:55: Michelle: is Michelle, and I'm an 8th semester student for International Relations. And, uh, yeah, I'm German, but ethnicity wise, I'm Vietnamese.

00:08:07: Debabrata Chakraborty: Okay, and why are you here tonight?

00:08:10: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: To study.

00:08:11: Michelle: Honestly, I've postponed it for way too long and I can study a lot better at night. So, I thought this was a great opportunity to not get distracted by anything at home, so that I could really focus on

00:08:24: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: doing my stuff.

00:08:26: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: And then what time did you get in here today?

00:08:28: Michelle: At 9. 20 or something. At night?

00:08:31: Music: Yeah.

00:08:32: Debabrata Chakraborty: Okay. No, I didn't study the entire day. And until when do you plan to stay here? Until it closes? Yeah, probably. So that would

00:08:38: Qusai: be

00:08:39: Debabrata Chakraborty: What time? 1 a. m. 1 a. m.? Yeah. And now when are the exams?

00:08:44: Michelle: They start, uh, in the beginning of July, I think my first one is like the second or third of July.

00:08:51: Michelle: Yeah. Alright,

00:08:52: Debabrata Chakraborty: it's starting

00:08:53: Music: pretty early. No.

00:08:55: Michelle: That is so late. If you look at the content that I have to learn, it's way too much. It's insane. I'm.

00:09:02: Debabrata Chakraborty: Is it

00:09:04: Stephan Hanf: normal that people

00:09:05: Qusai: usually start studying, like, a month or less before the exams? For

00:09:10: Debabrata Chakraborty: sure, for sure.

00:09:11: Michelle: For me, it's always been the case. I am more like of a person that studies better when under pressure.

00:09:19: Michelle: And even if I have the time where I remind myself, let's say, two months, three months before, and I tell myself I should do a schedule, I should organize myself better, but I never Get into the mindset and motivate myself enough to do it. It always feels like in the last couple weeks that I actually actively learned for 10 hours straight.

00:09:39: Music: It

00:09:39: Qusai: sounds like a classic student problem. For sure. Yeah. Do you think it's helpful the libraries

00:09:45: Stephan Hanf: stay open as well?

00:09:46: Debabrata Chakraborty: I think

00:09:46: Michelle: so. For me, it's perfect because I like studying at night and It's making me focus more than when I'm at home, as I said before. So for me, it's perfect, and I see that there's a lot of other students that really like it.

00:09:59: Michelle: Yeah, for

00:10:00: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: sure.

00:10:00: Qusai: Okay,

00:10:01: Stephan Hanf: and you're, I'm guessing, fueling yourself with caffeine and

00:10:04: Qusai: snacks throughout

00:10:04: Stephan Hanf: the night?

00:10:05: Irina Pohilco: I

00:10:05: Michelle: try not to, because, first of all, I used to drink coffee like crazy, but it's not that good, especially when you're tired and stuff, so I I tend to avoid coffee and energy drinks, so when I'm tired, I don't know, I just take a short nap and then I wake up and

00:10:20: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: study again.

00:10:22: Debabrata Chakraborty: Yeah, but

00:10:23: Michelle: snacks are usually there,

00:10:25: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: or I eat dinner before or

00:10:26: Debabrata Chakraborty: whatever. Could you both introduce yourselves and tell me what

00:10:29: Qusai: you're studying, where you're from?

00:10:31: Irina Pohilco: My name is Glenda

00:10:32: Michelle: Reeves, I'm from France, and I'm studying international relations in my second

00:10:37: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: semester.

00:10:38: Debabrata Chakraborty: My name is Mabel Fofana, I'm from Krefeld, Germany.

00:10:42: Debabrata Chakraborty: I was born and raised here, but I have a migrant background of Sierra Leone, and I'm also studying international relations in the second semester.

00:10:50: Qusai: All right, so what are you guys doing here

00:10:51: Music: tonight?

00:10:54: Debabrata Chakraborty: We're studying. Yeah, we have an assignment here that is in two weeks, but because we have exam week, we wanted to prepare early for it so that we wouldn't have too much stress.

00:11:03: Debabrata Chakraborty: Yes.

00:11:04: Music: And you're both

00:11:05: Qusai: working on it together? Yeah,

00:11:07: Zonta Award Speaker: like we're working, yeah, yeah, we are.

00:11:10: Debabrata Chakraborty: Okay.

00:11:10: Qusai: Why here? In this building.

00:11:15: Zonta Award Speaker: Because today

00:11:15: Michelle: it's open longer and actually her Wi Fi is not working at home. Yeah. And I just study better when I'm in the library. Because I'm not as distracted as a,

00:11:26: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: as, I'm not as distracted as at home.

00:11:29: Debabrata Chakraborty: Okay. Yeah. And when are

00:11:30: Qusai: the

00:11:31: Debabrata Chakraborty: exams? When they are, the first one is on the 3rd. Yeah, the 3rd of July. Yeah, and then it goes up until the 13th of July. Okay. So then we have another assignment that is due like the 20th of July. So then after exam season we still have a bit of work to do. Okay. Yeah. Okay,

00:11:48: Qusai: yeah, I know what that's

00:11:48: Debabrata Chakraborty: like.

00:11:49: Debabrata Chakraborty: What time did you guys come in here today? 10. 30? Yeah, 10. 30. We were looking for a room, but most of them were occupied, so we ended up coming in here. Okay, and are you going to stay until it closes? Yeah. So all the way until 1am? Yeah.

00:12:04: Qusai: Okay, so do you find it useful,

00:12:06: Debabrata Chakraborty: this long night? Yeah, I think they should do it more often because most students can concentrate better in the night time.

00:12:12: Debabrata Chakraborty: Like in the day time I can concentrate. So if the library times would be up till 1am or 12, I would come here more often.

00:12:21: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: Um, I

00:12:22: Music: mean there

00:12:22: Michelle: are like several rooms, but I feel like it would be more useful if there would be more because I feel like in general in this library, it's very like open

00:12:30: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: spaces and you have to sit

00:12:32: Michelle: where there was a lot of people.

00:12:34: Michelle: Sometimes

00:12:35: Irina Pohilco: that deconcentrates me.

00:12:36: Debabrata Chakraborty: Yeah, and you have to be very quiet. Here we could take breaks, eat, and stuff like that. You feel more comfortable. Oh, you brought food into the library. No, this is not food! We go out and then we

00:12:47: Doris Gerland: eat, obviously. Yeah, we go

00:12:49: Debabrata Chakraborty: outside. I've never done that.

00:12:55: Stephan Hanf: very much.

00:12:55: Music: A

00:13:16: Moderator: very warm welcome also to all the students here at the university. I know that around about 60 percent of you are from different countries from all over the world. Nice to see you in Kleve. It's not Munich, not Berlin, not Hamburg, but it's maybe the place to be for young people in Germany. We have so many pubs and clubs and cultured hotspots.

00:13:41: Moderator: So, I hope you enjoy your stay and your study. Every one of you is an enrichment for Cliff, that

00:13:49: Music: I can tell you.

00:13:55: Music: So,

00:13:55: Stephan Hanf: while Harry was in the library, I was at the prestigious academic year celebration with Research and Transfer Day and tried to spotlight a few stories that came out of that, especially from Students who had a very special evening.

00:14:14: Zonta Award Speaker: Zonta International is a leading global organization of professionals empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy.

00:14:24: Zonta Award Speaker: Zonta connects around 28, 000 women and some men in nearly 1, 100 Zonta clubs in 63 countries.

00:14:36: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: In 2019,

00:14:38: Zonta Award Speaker: we celebrated

00:14:39: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: our 100th

00:14:41: Zonta Award Speaker: anniversary and the milestone that made us the organization we are today. Sontag International is proud to partner with organizations and coalitions who share Sontag International's vision, a world in which women's rights are recognized as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential.

00:15:09: Zonta Award Speaker: In such a world, women have access to all resources and are represented in decision making positions on an equal basis with men. In such a world, no woman lives in fear or violence. By partnering with like minded organizations, Zonta International extends its reach and impact to empower more women to realize their rights.

00:15:39: Zonta Award Speaker: At local level, Zonta Clubs partner with NGOs

00:15:42: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: that shares this vision.

00:15:44: Zonta Award Speaker: Zonta International's partners include UNFPA UNICEF USA, UN Women's Girl Not Brides, Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Girls Globally, and Women's Empowerment Principles. With our Zonta Club Niederrhein area, 2023 Student Award, we recognize young women for demonstrating leadership skills and commitment to public service.

00:16:14: Zonta Award Speaker: In this case, Deepal Kumar. We would like to thank you for your efforts. Zonta Club Niederrhein area is proud to have Dipal Kumar as winner of the Zonta Award der Hochschule Rheinwald this year. Congratulations! Herzlichen

00:16:36: Doris Gerland: Glückwunsch! Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I will also talk in English so that the awardee can properly follow my speech.

00:16:45: Doris Gerland: Um, I have the honor to be here on behalf of my colleague, Professor Dr. Lili Chambers. We already heard about her, um, who nominated Deepal Kumar. She is a student of our Bachelor Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. And nominated for the Zonta Award. Uh, Professor Chambers and I are the Equal Opportunities Team of the Faculty of Technology and Bionics.

00:17:09: Doris Gerland: And we both got to know Ms. Kumar last year when we thought about how to revive a club at our faculty called the Tech Women. If you haven't heard about the tech women yet, the club was founded some years ago. And by the way, the founder also got the Zonta award by female students at our faculty to support each other to build a network and to have a kind of mentoring system between freshers and experienced students and overall to support female students in the STEM field because we don't have that many of them.

00:17:41: Doris Gerland: The Equal Opportunity team of the faculty always supports the tech women with a little money for events, but the students organize and carry out all projects on their own. And, as it is most of the times with students projects, they heavily depend on the students involved. And that is why Deepal Kumar's commitment and work for the tech women is really outstanding.

00:18:03: Doris Gerland: Um, after most of the previous club members had left the university because they have a job, the tech women had fallen dormant. Deepak Kumar revived the club completely on her own and with a lot of great ideas and positive energy. She created a social media campaign to find new members successfully. She designed flyers and posters.

00:18:25: Doris Gerland: She came up with a lot of ideas for networking events and also for how to involve the female staff members of our faculty. She inspired not only students from our faculty to be part of the Tech Women, but also, and I guess that's for the first time, from other faculties. She is very much aware of the diversity of the new TechWomen members and always tries to include everyone.

00:18:48: Doris Gerland: She organizes meetings, the club, she manages the club's social media, she responds to inquiries from members and students and provides information, and that all to support women in STEM fields to achieve their goals and to thrive. At the same time, Deepal Kumar is very modest and friendly. You should talk to her later and you will see.

00:19:11: Doris Gerland: Which together with her determination and energy she has for the tech women, makes her an inspiring person. Not only for her fellow students, but also personally for us. We are very grateful for the Sonntag Club Niederrhein area. That was very danglish. For providing this unique platform and opportunity to support and encourage our early career woman.

00:19:32: Doris Gerland: Professor Chambers nominated Deepal Kumar for this award and we are very happy that she is the winner of the award. She deserves this and is definitely a worthy awardee. Congratulations, Deepal. Herzlichen

00:19:44: Music: Glückwunsch,

00:19:58: Moderator: Deepal Kumar. Dein

00:20:02: Music: Applaus.

00:20:11: Moderator: May I ask you something? You're not the only student in this Electrical and Electronics Engineering, or? There's some more female students, are there?

00:20:21: Deepal Kumar: Yes, but very, very few. Uh, it's very shocking, but in our faculty there are about 13 percent of female students only. And it's very, very low in comparison to other faculties.

00:20:34: Deepal Kumar: Therefore, I really believe that this club could really bring a change and, uh, offer, uh, the female students a sense of belongings that sometimes they might not, uh, get due, uh, during everyday classes and, like, um, labs and so on. Therefore, I hope this club really brings everything that a female student needs in TNB.

00:20:55: Moderator: And what are your plan? What are your plans? What, what, what will you do after the

00:20:59: Debabrata Chakraborty: study?

00:21:00: Deepal Kumar: Uh, After the study, my degree, I'm planning to, of course, work and put all the knowledge that I gained into a job. So I get some practical knowledge as well. And then I really hope that I could continue to do some work for the women in tech.

00:21:21: Deepal Kumar: It doesn't have to end it here for me. I wanted to pursue it in

00:21:26: Debabrata Chakraborty: future as well.

00:21:29: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: My name is Ropa Fadzo Juliana Matuzula. Um, I'm studying industrial engineering at the moment. And, um, in my fifth semester. And, and I'm part of the Tech Women Club. As a vice, I'm currently serving as the vice president. And the president right now is Dipal

00:21:45: Stephan Hanf: Kumar.

00:21:46: Stephan Hanf: And, and how does it work? Like, how does it actually, do you meet? How do you meet?

00:21:51: Music: How is it structured?

00:21:52: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: In the beginning, they did have round tables where they would just meet up. Have snacks and then just talk about life, talk about different things. And then now as it's been, as it has been evolving, we basically meet up for workshops and also support groups.

00:22:08: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: The last event we even had, we had some professors who came, female professors who came and we had a nice chat in the houseboat. We're just talking about expectations. After you finish grad, after you grad, because they're already in the industry, so they understand it a little bit better what they go through as women in STEM, and also giving us advice about, okay, what should we also do if we're experiencing certain things, and also just sharing, it sounds like a rant club, like we're just ranting, but it's not really like that, it's like just If you have a problem, then this person, Oh yeah, I've gone through that.

00:22:41: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: Okay, mate, this is how I dealt with it. Like literally that was basically what it was like, okay, no, this is how you deal with it, this is how you deal with it. And yeah, and it was really inspiring to see a lot of first semester students who came to that event as well, because you could see that, okay, at least they're lucky if you're already starting with.

00:22:59: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: The tools are ready to prepare them for what's coming, because sometimes you won't, maybe they're experiencing it now, but sometimes you're not really prepared for that because maybe you came from a school where the structure was totally different, but now you're the only girl in your class. I think for some, even up to now, they might be the only, especially who study electrical engineering.

00:23:19: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: usually still quite male dominated. I feel like industrial, I do see a lot of girls, but in terms of electrical and some of the these courses still really male dominated. So basically our structure is like we meet up, we have different workshops or We have sessions where we just set a date where everyone is available, obviously.

00:23:39: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: And then we also do have a WhatsApp group also. So if you have issues on that WhatsApp group, you just text and someone can help you. And we also do have network of alumni as well, who also try and come in to help us as well when we have issues. So that's like a big network now from when it started in 2017 till now, which is really good.

00:23:58: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: And even if you have problems, even with internships or whatnot, you can always, like, text in the group or find an alumni who can just help you with that, which is really good. Yeah. I think the club is mainly, like, a support system, a place where you feel like you belong somewhere. Because I think maybe in class you might feel like you, yeah, you're not really belonging there.

00:24:19: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: It's like maybe you are, you're trying your best to belong. Like you have to put an extra effort to belong to show that, okay, I'm smart enough to be here. But here it's like It's like your own group, like people who also know it, like somewhere where you belong as well. But you don't have to feel like you have to overdo things, overprove something, to prove something.

00:24:37: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: Overprove, I think, sorry. But yeah, but to prove something, yeah, that's why the club is here. And just having people who are going through the same thing you're going through. That's the essential part. It's like a support system, which I think that's the message we're trying to put across. It's a support system for women instead.

00:24:55: Stephan Hanf: Do you have the feeling that from the male students, their perspective changed a little bit? Thanks to the club or thanks to what you as a club give the female students in your faculty?

00:25:08: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: Yeah, I mean we've had situations where we do advertise an event and then guys would be like, oh, why is this only for women?

00:25:18: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: Why is it only for women? I think the fact that Because they, actually when it started, they did get an award by BDI. Of which that kind of put them on the map, the school map. So actually people do know a little bit about tech women. And we've had situations where even some guys come in. They also want to contribute, but it's okay.

00:25:40: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: We will find some time for you. And even some male professors even try to find ways to even collaborate with us for some workshops. Like they're really open to that, which is amazing to see like the allies or the support from men. It's like you, you see us, which is, yeah, it sounds. Yeah. But it's important to also feel seen because we are humans.

00:26:01: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: We have feelings and. Yeah, to have that support system is really good and I think it's helping to have this club. It's really, yeah, because a lot of people now know about it because from when it started, it's been a long journey, but people are starting to recognize and know about it as well, especially in the TNB faculty.

00:26:22: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: Yeah.

00:26:22: Stephan Hanf: So it's not only So it's not only that you actually can help female students, but also just raising awareness of the fact it's already helping.

00:26:30: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: Yeah, and I think some

00:26:32: Stephan Hanf: even And it's not really, I think that's something that we have to distinguish. It's not a study group, right? That's not what it is.

00:26:38: Stephan Hanf: No, it's not a study group. Because some people maybe think that It sounds like a study group, but it's actually not the idea behind

00:26:45: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: it. No, that's not the idea behind it. You can find a study group in the, yeah, but the main thing is a support system for people, for women studying STEM, because it's just us, a collective, just going through the same thing and just trying to help each other out.

00:27:00: Ropafadzo Juliana Matuzula: That's mainly the idea of women in STEM.

00:27:11: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: This DAD prize, this, this, uh, award is more than just saying it's a perfect student, it's a brilliant student. It's about It's, it's about social engagement. It's about doing more than you have to. It's about engaging in a society and giving something for the society. It's not easy to be awarded this prize because, um, aside of starting, you have to like, get to know this academic world and all this stuff and all engage yourself in a society, it's, it's so crazy thing to do.

00:27:45: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: There are two people who are needed to get this prize. Your professor who looked at you, who knows you, who knows what you did, and you, who are A brilliant student we want to award here and look at this room. All these people are here to celebrate you and What a framework so please two of you come here.

00:28:19: Moderator: Do you still have contact with the students

00:28:20: Irina Pohilco: from Ukraine? Yes, I do speak sometimes and also So recently I got in contact with some of the professors, uh, regarding some of the projects, uh, some of the work we have done before. And yes, sometimes we are communicated, uh, communicating and trying to get to know what's actually happening and are they good or not.

00:28:41: Irina Pohilco: And what do you

00:28:42: Moderator: know about them? How do they feel at the

00:28:43: Irina Pohilco: moment? Uh, yeah, they are at the moment safe. Um, most of them, uh, some of the students, uh, I am, I am not in contact way for, uh, I couldn't reach them unfortunately, but, um, from a professor is saying, uh, they are all good. So I hope it's still like this.

00:29:01: Irina Pohilco: Hello. I

00:29:03: Stephan Hanf: am

00:29:04: Music: Irina Pohilko,

00:29:07: Irina Pohilco: a bioengineering student. Oh, why, why are we here today? Well, I won the award of the earliest student of the day. So, I'm here today to get the prize and see, meet other people.

00:29:22: Stephan Hanf: Yeah, how, how did you find out that you received the

00:29:25: Irina Pohilco: prize today? I received an email, but Professor Festerlin informed me first of all, and we met, met, and um

00:29:36: Stephan Hanf: How do you know the professor?

00:29:37: Stephan Hanf: From where?

00:29:38: Irina Pohilco: He's my professor of microbiology. Yeah. And I have taken his courses. That's where we first met. But he's has been my mentor for a social project from DAD where I participated and could have bring any positive impact to the community. So that's where he has been my guide and mentor as well.

00:30:01: Irina Pohilco: Yeah. He,

00:30:01: Stephan Hanf: he told the anecdote that, that you, uh, during the lecture, you raised your hand and said the integral was wrong.

00:30:08: Irina Pohilco: Yeah, that was. That's true. That happened. And like, we were always laughing about that,

00:30:15: Music: but But that's not the reason why you get the prize, right?

00:30:17: Irina Pohilco: No, of course not. Um, that's the reason how I got into the project as well, and how I got observed.

00:30:25: Irina Pohilco: And, uh, yeah, we just, um, saw that there's a tandem, uh, in the work, and we can cooperate and work together in that project. Yeah.

00:30:35: Stephan Hanf: Was it the first time you received a

00:30:36: Irina Pohilco: prize like that? Uh, yeah, it is the first time I received a prize. So how was

00:30:40: Stephan Hanf: it for you staying on the stage, getting a

00:30:41: Music: reward? Oh,

00:30:42: Irina Pohilco: it was emotional, I would say.

00:30:44: Irina Pohilco: Um, yeah, I, um, of course I had, uh, sweating, uh, hands, but, uh, yeah, I found it. Uh. I found it very different, different and interesting to be on the scene and be awarded and get the recognition from all the others, professors, students and everyone in the, in the audio max. Yeah.

00:31:10: Stephan Hanf: So, um, the project is still, still,

00:31:13: Irina Pohilco: still going on?

00:31:14: Irina Pohilco: Uh, the project, uh, still is going on, but, um, I, I'm not participating anymore. Uh, there are other students who. To, I mean, who took the initiative to participate at the moment. Um, I have been for the beginning of this, uh, of the project, uh, for one semester. And that's the time when it started, when it, uh, has been initialized and how it first have been organized.

00:31:41: Stephan Hanf: Um, you, you said on stage that you're still in contact with people who were involved in the

00:31:45: Irina Pohilco: project? Yeah, I'm still in contact with professors and some of the students. Um, Some of the students, I couldn't reach the last weeks of, uh, the semester. So, um, by professors, uh, words, I know that they are in safe and in good conditions at their homes.

00:32:06: Irina Pohilco: Um, lately, these days, I haven't discussed with all the professors, but I know that they are, they are

00:32:12: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: all

00:32:15: Irina Pohilco: okay, I'd say.

00:32:20: Irina Pohilco: Some of the students are still currently in Ukraine and are at the risk. Of course, but some of them, uh, migrated to Europe, so I can certainly say that they are, some of them are

00:32:35: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: insane. Um, I'm Tatiana Semenkova, I'm vice president for internationalization and diversity and a professor in faculty of society and economics.

00:32:43: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: So, uh,

00:32:43: Stephan Hanf: what can you tell me about the D. R. D. prize that was, uh,

00:32:48: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: The DAD award is a award which is given to international students who, um, who incorporate both brilliance, excellent student achievements, but also some achievements above. So like social achievements or engagement in some social sphere, or what Irina did, a special initiative with respect to Ukrainian colleagues, yeah.

00:33:12: Stephan Hanf: Yeah. What was special about

00:33:13: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: this year's award? Uh, well, basically what happens is the professors look at students and see, okay, do I have brilliant students, but who are more than just starting, but doing more than that. And Professor Jofensteller said he got to know Irina. She was also his student assistant, but she was integrated into his Ukrainian project and she did much above, much more than what could be expected from a student assistant.

00:33:36: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: So she really coordinated. The communication with Ukrainian colleagues, which was very difficult because of the situation in our partner universities in Kharkiv, where like, because of the Russian invasion. Bombs are falling, people are in insecure situation, people are in insecure internet, so Organizing, teaching basically in this situation is very difficult, and she was the cutting edge to these people Because she comes from Moldavia, and she speaks Russian, so Joe Fensterly, and Kharkiv is eastern part of Ukraine So a lot of people do speak Russian at least if if they want to and in this situation It was very good to have somebody Who could communicate to students and to professors in Russian and she did it all the way through.

00:34:19: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: So she was a connecting dot to Ukrainian colleagues.

00:34:23: Music: So what do you think

00:34:24: Stephan Hanf: are the upcoming challenges for for this university in the international?

00:34:30: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: Well, I believe we have, we have two challenges in Europe, in this university, but also in the world. And we also president, uh, professor Loka Grutyan said, we have capacity building and we have science diplomacy.

00:34:42: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: So on the one side we have, uh, we have cooperation partners who we cannot communicate to anymore because they support some regimes we cannot support. At the same time, we have students and colleagues fleeing authoritarian regimes, fleeing the war. Uh, but also being in a situation then they desperately needs.

00:35:03: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: Connections to European scientists just to stay alive, but also to continue the research which cannot be cut. Yeah, we have global challenges, so we have to work on them together. At the same time, we have global problems which we cannot ignore. And this is the point of um, science diplomacy. And it's capacity building.

00:35:21: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: Capacity building used to be for quite a long of time. Like, okay, we do something for people in regions of the world where infrastructure is lacking and so on. And now we have and we still do that. But we now have a part of the world where infrastructure is being destroyed in the middle of Europe. So together with Ukrainian colleagues, we are thinking of what can we do to educate Ukrainian students to be the people who restore the country after the war finished.

00:35:47: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: And so we have kind of. We have a need of capacity building expertise within Europe, and it is a very tragic situation, but it brings the world together. So we see it's not like us Europeans helping them, whoever they are, which is not a good idea, but using the expertise of people in places, no matter where they are.

00:36:06: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: Places in Africa where people are much more experts in climate change because they live in there. But also people in Ukraine who are much more experts in just in living and existing in this destructed structures so so to say to work together to for a better world if you wish but Actually to restore the world and to make it a better place for everyone.

00:36:26: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: Yeah, but

00:36:27: Stephan Hanf: in general about the event So that was I think the first time in four or

00:36:32: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: five years. Yes I don't believe it. It's a fifth time in the existence of this university. So, since I am on the executive board, we did not have this one. And I'm there since four years, yeah.

00:36:45: Stephan Hanf: Yeah, yeah. Do you have a feeling that something came back, more or less?

00:36:51: Stephan Hanf: Yes. That something

00:36:52: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: was missing? Yes, it's a good feeling to meet people from university, but also people from outside in this kind of events. You meet people from companies supporting us from politics and so on. You probably heard the Minister of Agriculture was speaking for about 40 minutes about but it was very very interesting talk and So it brings us together.

00:37:14: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: It helps us to network but coming back to the awards We had some other students who also got the awards It is a great forum, it is a great space to get awarded as a young person, as a young student, to stand in front of all these people, to stand in front of the minister, you know, and to get a prize, to get an award.

00:37:34: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: So the university tells you, we see you, we see what you, what you achieve. And I believe this is, uh, this is very important for students, but for all of us, it's just important to be here and to, to interact with each other now. In, in, in real life and have some drinks and some vegan food.

00:37:49: Music: Laughter.

00:37:50: Stephan Hanf: Perfect.

00:37:51: Stephan Hanf: One last question. What are you planning to do now after it's more or less over? Do you have any plans for tonight? For tonight?

00:38:00: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: Uh, yeah. Well, I, I still have to hope, uh, hope to have some, some drinks with some people I didn't know for ages. I didn't see for ages. And, um, tomorrow in the morning, I have office hour, office hours for my students.

00:38:13: Prof Dr Tatiana Zimenkova: But basically, yes, uh, my wife visits me today in, in Cleveland. She's already here. So after I'm done with that, I have a glass of wine with her.

00:38:20: Moderator: very much,

00:38:21: Stephan Hanf: Irina.

00:38:22: Music: Congratulations. very much, too, from Simenkova. And all

00:38:28: Moderator: the

00:38:32: Moderator: best to you for the rest of the race.

00:38:47: Stephan Hanf: Thank you for listening to the House of Uschula podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show and feel free to follow us and recommend us to your friends. If you have any thoughts or suggestions or just want to let us know how you liked the episode, please don't hesitate. Take courage and do reach out to us at podcast at hsrw.

00:39:05: Stephan Hanf: eu. Thanks so much to the people who worked on this podcast, everyone of the iSquare project, Michael Kaufmann, Jos Gleuters, Todesneger, Sabrina Oeser, and especially Anja Peters. Thanks so much to make this podcast a reality. So this concludes our first season of How to Wochschule. I'm Stefan Hanf and it's been an honor to bring these stories to life.

00:39:28: Stephan Hanf: Thanks so much. Tschüss!