“A real springboard
for my career”

Nadia, to what extent did the ZUKOnnect Fellowship support you in your career and in your research?

My stay in Europe gave me direct access to institutions, including museums and archives, as well as to highly valuable bibliographic and documentary material. I also had the opportunity to visit ateliers to interview artists and gain an in-depth understanding of their creative processes on a technical, material and conceptual level. Being able to focus and dedicate myself full-time to research allowed me to make significant progress in a short period (in Argentina, alongside my responsibilities as a researcher, I also engage in teaching and cultural management activities, and due to budgetary constraints and the resulting lack of institutional infrastructure, researchers are obliged to take care of all the administrative aspects related to their work themselves). The workplace dynamics at the Zukunftskolleg were very inspiring and enabled me to connect with colleagues for potential future collaboration.

Furthermore, the workshops and courses established a first international bridge for a non-European researcher: they allowed me to understand the logics and parameters of an academic system very different from the Latin-American one. They showed me how to adjust my CV and grant/fellowship applications, among other things, to European criteria. I also gained access to many institutions, programmes and journals I was previously unfamiliar with, and I networked and engaged in a process of exchange with people from other countries.

It also made me realise that all individual determination and efforts are only effective in a context informed by material, institutional and human conditions. In this sense, I truly believe the fellowship was a real springboard for my career.

Eduardo, which benefits did you gain through the tandem partnership with Nadia?

Given that my project draws considerably from visual studies, and Nadia has extensive experience in contemporary visual arts and aesthetics, her critical reading of my project was very insightful. She helped me in envisioning additional directions regarding the visibility regimes of media infrastructures, which is one of the dimensions of my current research. Also, learning more about artists and art performances related to the topic I am researching is very important in terms of repertoire.

Moreover, our collaboration afforded me the opportunity to gain firsthand insights into the research landscape in Buenos Aires and identify potential institutions for future collaborations aligned with my research agenda. Additionally, reflecting on research groups, institutes and networks in Germany to share with Nadia prompted me to reassess previous contacts I’ve probed over the past few years.

Have you planned further projects/collaborations?

Nadia: We are now working on a paper together, to be submitted this semester to an Open Access international journal. There are also other ways we will keep collaborating, such as information exchange, bibliography, mutually assessing our projects, etc.

Eduardo: As the research objects we study differ substantially, and how they are approached methodologically by each of us differs as well, the paper is a great opportunity to discuss some of these lines of flight, while coordinating the affinities and channelling the differences in an epistemologically enriching way. This is the main planned collaboration, at least for the moment. But as we are still having biweekly meetings to discuss the paper, new ideas may pop up at any time...

Nadia, what did you enjoy most during your stay in Konstanz / at the Zukunftskolleg?

My experience was beautiful on all levels –including the human dimension. I really enjoyed the Zukunftskolleg’s interdisciplinary approach, which allowed me to engage in a dialogue with generous and inspiring professionals from other areas of study. That dynamic stimulated an exchange of very curious and lucid perspectives that would hardly emerge between people from the same discipline. But I also made an incredible group of friends with the ZUKOnnect and Herz Fellows: at all times, we accompany each other like a family far from home. 

Eduardo, what could be improved in relation to the ZUKOnnect Fellowship and/or the tandem partnership between a Research/Postdoctoral Fellow and a ZUKOnnect Fellow?

I think the ZUKOnnect Fellowship is a very good opportunity for early career researchers in Asia, Africa and Latin America to network with European peers, probe interinstitutional ties and enhance internationalisation more horizontally. Besides all the beneficial epistemological and cultural aspects, which the Q&A above captures well, as someone who graduated abroad, I cannot help but stress how important institutional ties are. For instance, as the University of Konstanz has agreements with several publishers for Open Access science, having an institutional affiliation for a year substantially enhances the chances for a researcher to publish in high-impact international journals. This is very valuable, especially if one considers how asymmetrical the cost for OA science is globally. This opportunity is a win-win situation for the incoming researchers and the academic system hosting them – let alone the development of science, a supranational endeavour per se, with more plural perspectives. In my view, this access to institutional resources could be further explored. One way to do it could be to slightly extend the non-salaried institutional association of the incoming ZUKOnnect Fellows beyond the digital affiliation. I’m thinking here of an additional framework, such as an alternative, limited-term Associate Fellowship, for which former ZUKOnnect Fellows could apply after their digital affiliation. I am not aware, though, whether there are any formal or legal barriers to that, but it looks like a framework that could be further discussed. Given that not every researcher is aware of the benefits that this institutional bond can bring, I would also explore it further while communicating about the fellowship, as this would help to attract candidates who aim to foster internationalisation. Any other ways of enhancing the bilateral collaboration between the University of Konstanz and the home programme of the fellows in this sense would also be beneficial.

As for the tandem partnership, I think the “Fellows Go Local” initiative to promote activities for social interaction in Konstanz is already a good idea to explore from the beginning with the next cohort. Even though I would still prioritise academic connections, there are very interesting organisations in Konstanz that, if engaged from the onset of the digital affiliation, could play a constructive role in such an initiative – ZebraKino, KulturLaden, Philharmonie Konstanz, Café Mondial, Neuwerk, to name just a few.