WENNER-GREN FOUNDATIONS
Address: Sveavägen 166, 23rd floor, SE-113 46 Stockholm
Ph: +46-(0)8-736 98 15
www.swgc.org

It is our pleasure to invite you as a discussant and observer to the symposium "Internationalization and Academic Mobility in the 21st Century". An invitation to join at no cost.

The symposium "Interrnationalization and Academic Mobility in the 21st Century” will be June 1-4, 2022, at the Wenner-Gren Center (Sveavägen 166) in Stockholm, Sweden.

The meeting will start in the evening of June 1 with registration and an informal “Get-together” buffet dinner. The symposium will finish with lunch on Saturday, June 4. You are also welcome to a dinner boat trip through the Stockholm archipelago on June 2, and a guided tour and dinner at the “Vasa Museum” on June 3. We anticipate that all participants are fully vaccinate against covid 19.

The Wenner-Gren Foundations are committed to promoting scientific excellence through international exchange. Among other activities, the Wenner-Gren Foundations organize international symposia, aiming to bring together leading experts in selected fields of science. Almost 200 such symposia have been organized to date. This symposium is organized in collaboration with the Young Academy of Sweden.

Internationalization of academia and mobility of researchers and students have often been cited as important drivers of research excellence and a key ingredient for scientific progress. The aim of this symposium is to critically assess this assumption, exploring the goals of internationalization and academic mobility, identifying new opportunities and challenges, and re-examining old dilemmas of internationalization and academic mobility through the prism of ongoing changes in today’s society.

Bringing together researchers, representatives of funding agencies, associations and higher-education policy makers, this symposium investigates the benefits and costs of internationalization and academic mobility through a focus on recent developments such as climate change, globalization, the corona virus pandemic, digitalization, and artificial intelligence. We also re-examine long-standing dilemmas of internationalization and mobility from the perspective of societal change, e.g., how may internationalization impact academic freedom and gender equality, and do scholars from various socioeconomic backgrounds and different geopolitical contexts have the same possibilities to mobility?
The vivid debates around the relationship between academic mobility and research quality, and on the solutions developed to tackle existing impediments for internationalization, show that the subject of internationalization and academic mobility is a complex one, shaped by economic, social, political, and academic aspects, in diverse contexts across the world. By recognizing such complexity, this symposium seeks to obtain new insights into the internationalization of higher education and academic mobility in a global perspective and expand existing understandings of how internationalization and mobility may change as a result of societal changes.

Below you will find a Registration Form and the tentative program. Please note that some speakers and times in the program might change. Hoping that you will be able to accept the invitation, we look forward to your reply before noon on May 30, 2022. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Secretariat: maria.helgostam@swgc.org.

We ask you to complete and return the registration form by noon May 30 at the latest. 

There is no registration fee and no costs for meals and social program during the symposium, but you have to pay for and arrange your own travel and accommodation in Stockholm. Below you will therefore also find a list of a few hotels in the vicinity of “Wenner-Gren Center”. If you need help or have any questions, please contact the Secretariat; maria.helgostam@swgc.org.

We hope that you will find it interesting to take part in this symposium. 

Yours sincerely,
the Wenner-Gren Foundations and
the program committee; Mia Liinarson, Frida Bender, Ewa Machotka and Philippe Tassin (the Young Academy of Sweden)


Tentative Program

Wednesday, 1 June
18:00-21:00 Registration and welcome buffet dinner, 23rd floor
(Wenner-Gren Center, Sveavägen 166, Stockholm)

Thursday, June 2
Internationalization and mobility: Setting the terms

8:30-8:45      Registration
8:45-8:50       Prof. Britt-Marie Sjöberg, CEO of the Wenner-Gren Foundations
8:50-9:00       Opening remarks Young Academy of Sweden

Session 1: Defining internationalization and mobility: Trends and terminologies
Chair: Janina Seubert & Mia Liinason

9:00-9:30       New strategies for strengthened internationalization in higher education and research
                      Agneta Bladh, author of the white paper on internationalization (internationaliseringsutredningen) commissioned
                      by the Swedish Government

9:30-9:40       Questions

9:40-10:10    The effect of internationalization on higher education systems
                     Marijk van der Wende, distinguished professor of higher education, Utrecht University

10:10-10:30   Coffee break

10.30-11.00   Beyond Mobility: The Internationality of the Academic Profession
                     Lars Engwall, professor emeritus, business studies, Uppsala University

11.00-11:30   Q&A and discussion

11.30-11.40   Leg stretcher

Keynote presentation: Academic mobility and scientific excellence
Chair: Philippe Tassin & Ewa Machotka

11:40-12:20    International mobility, a persistent tool for enhancing young researchers' careers
                      Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, former President of the ERC

12:20-13:15   Lunch break (23rd floor)

Session 2: Perspectives on internationalization from stakeholders
Chair: Frida Bender & Philippe Tassin

13:15-13:45   Academe and the World: Decentering the Scientific Landscape
                      Mikael Adolphson, professor, University of Cambridge, SCAS 

13:45-14:15   Patterns of mobility
                      Stina Gerdes-Barriere, senior analyst, Swedish Research Council (VR)

14:15-14:25   Leg stretcher

14:25-14:55   Experiences of academic mobility in national and international contexts
                      Ellen Lust, professor of political science, University of Gothenburg

14:55-15:25   Internationalization, Academic Mobility, and Learning Organizations
                      Heiko Droste, professor of history, Stockholm University

15:25-15:50 Coffee break

15:50-16:30 Q&A and discussion

Session 3: The benefits of international collaboration and mobility
Chair: Sofia Lodén & Mia Liinason

16:30-17:00   Does mobility in science raise scientific productivity?
                      Vincent Larivière, professor of information science, Université de Montréal

17:00-17:15 Q&A and discussion

17:30             Departure for dinner boat trip

Friday, June 3
New challenges and old dilemmas of mobility

Session 4: Internationalization and mobility as possibility and dilemma
Chair: Janina Seubert & Linda Andersson Burnett

9:00-9:30       TBA
                      Helena Pettersson, associate professor, Umeå University

9:30-10:00   Why U.S. Immigration Matters for the Global Advancement of Science
                    Ina Ganguli, associated professor, University of Massachusetts Amhurst

10:00-10:30   Coffee break

10:30-11:00   Mobility, collaboration and scientific production among PhD graduates supported by
                      Swedish development aid in Africa
                      Måns Fellesson, researcher, Nordic Africa Institute

11:00-11:45   Q&A and discussion

11:45-13:00   Lunch break (23rd floor)

Session 5: Sustainability, ethics, and academic mobility in times of crisis and risk
Chair: Lucie Delemotte & Linda Andersson Burnett

13:00-13:30   The Unsustainability of Academic Mobilities
                      Debbie Hopkins, Associate professor in human geography, Oxford University

13:30-14:00 Internationalization and Academic Mobility in the 21st Century. The Latin American perspective
                    José Antonio Quinteiro Goris, program coordinator, UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in
                     Latin America and the Caribbean

14:00-14:15 Leg stretcher

14:15-14:45 Responsible internationalization in a turbulent world
                    Tommy Shih, Associate professor, Lund University

14:45-15:30 Q&A and discussion

15:30-16:00 Coffee break

Panel discussion: Internationalization and mobility in higher education and research
Moderator: Philippe Tassin

16:00-17:00   Panel discussion

The purpose of this panel discussion is to discuss mobility and internationalization. How is mobility assessed?
How do we evaluate the impact of mobility? What are the benefits of mobility—and the costs?
Should we require more or less mobility?

Panel members: Debbie Hopkins, Vincent Lariviere and TBA

17:00-18.30  Mingle

18:30             Bus departure for the Vasa Museum


Saturday, June 4
The future of mobility and internationalization

Session 6: Internationalization of science and digitalization – gains, losses, and challenges
Chair: Ewa Machotka & Marie-José van Tol

9:30-10:00     The Impact of the Pandemic and Digitalization on International Higher     Education and Research
                      Fernando Léon-Garcia, president, CETYS University

10:00-10:30   Reason: Academic(s’) arguments on mobility goal conflicts
                      Nina Wormbs, professor in technical history, Royal Institute of Technology

10:30-10:50 Coffee break

10:50-11:20    Language matters in internatinalization and mobility
                       Marianne Gullberg, professor of psycholinguistics, Lund University

Panel discussion: Internationalization and mobility in the 21st Century
Moderaor: Marianne Gullberg

11.20-12.20   Panel discussion

This panel discussion will connect the different aspects of the three days. Is some mobility more beneficial than other mobility? What is the future of academic mobility? Do long stays provide more benefits than short stays? Should we minimize travel? Can we keep what is beneficial and drop what is not? Can we avoid problems identified during the workshop or can we compensate for obstacles, e.g., socio-economic background? A discussion of the pros and cons, focusing on solutions and the way forward—for science.

Panel members: Fernando Léon-Garcia, Tommy Shih and Nina Wormbs

12:20-13:15   Lunch (Ground floor)

List of Hotels (walking distance from the Wenner-Gren Center)

Best Western Plus Time Hotel**** (5-10 min. walk) This is where the speakers are staying
Vanadisvägen 12, SE-113 46 Stockholm
ph: +46 (0)8 545 473 00
email: info@timehotel.se                          www.timehotel.se

Elite Palace Hotel**** (10 min. walk)
St. Eriksgatan 115, SE-100 31 Stockholm
ph: +46 (0)8 5662 1700                                  
email: info.palace@elite.se                       www.elite.se

Birger Jarl Hotel****(15 min. walk)
Tulegatan 8, SE-104 32 Stockholm
ph: +46 (0)8 674 1800                                    
email: info@birgerjarl.se                           www.birgerjarl.se

Stallmästaregården Hotel ****  (5-10 min. walk)         

Norrtull, SE-113 47 Stockholm
ph: +46 (0)8 6101 300                                    
email: info@stallmastaregarden.se           www.stallmastaregarden.se

Tegnérlunden Hotel *** (15 min. walk)
Tegnérlunden 8, SE-113 59 Stockholm
ph: +46 (0)8 545 455 50
email: info@hoteltegnerlunden.se             www.hoteltegnerlunden.se

Hostel Bed & Breakfast  (15 min. walk)

Rehnsgatn 21, SE-113 57 Stockholm
ph: +46 (0)8 152 838
e-mail. info@hostelbedandbreakfast.com   www.hostelbedandbreakfast.com

Stockholm Tourist Information website: 
www.visitstockholm.com/en/

If you want to search for other hotels in the area, try these websites:
www.booking.com             
www.hotels.com 
www.expedia.com