Research Activity - August 2018

Nursing Science Institute opens at Webster University Geneva

Françoise Maillard Strüby, director of the Health Care Management Program at Webster University Geneva has received a grant, which has lead to the creation of a Nursing Science Institute which will be hosted at the university.

The Nursing Science Institute will have the following goals:
• Endeavour and develop academic investigations in Nursing science
• Fortify the evolution of nursing science
• Contribute to academic education with teaching-learning activities
• Distribute scientific knowledge in the Nursing Science field
• Organize conferences, and webinars in Nursing Science
• Publish rigorous studies and investigations
• Favour evolution of science and art related to living quality
• Cooperate to the global health nursing at the national and international realms with scholars embedded with a human science-based approach.

The first conference held by the institute will take place on October 11th and 12th at Webster University Geneva.

Glaveanu Presents at Southern Oregon University

Dr. Vlad Glaveanu, Head of the Psychology and Counseling Department, gave an invited lecture at the Creativity Conference organized at the Southern Oregon University, USA, between 3-6 of August. His talk was titled “Creativity in perspective” and it introduced a new, sociocultural theory of creativity known as the perspectival model. This theoretical approach describes the creative process in terms of repositioning, dialogues, perspective-taking and reflexivity and has a series of methodological and practical applications. Key among them is the fact that the act of creating needs to be studied and cultivated in a situated and contextual manner. Dr. Glaveanu argued for a view of creativity that takes us beyond individualistic and intra-psychological dimensions accounts and towards a more comprehensive, socio- cultural, material and psychological understanding of this phenomenon.

Grosso Presents at the European Association of Social Anthropologists in Stockholm

Dr Sarah Grosso, researcher and adjunct professor in the Media Communications Department, presented the 15th biennial conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists in Stockholm on 14th August. Dr Grosso participated in a panel on the theme of law and emotion organised by LAWNET, EASA’s network for the anthropology of law, rights and governance. Her paper explored how emotional responses to the law relate to perceptions of justice and the legitimacy of the law. This international conference gathered together around 1,500 anthropologists from around the world to discuss the theme of Staying – Moving – Settling.

Polic Presents at MISTI in Cape Town

Dr. Viktor Polic gave two talks on the 13th Annual Audit, Risk and Governance Africa conference organized by MISTI in Cape Town on 29 and 30 August. The first presentation was about implementing continuous monitoring of IT asset management to complement periodic audits and improve assurance. (Presentation slides with notes and references are available here). The second talk was about cybersecurity incident response in case of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors from the perspective of public sector organizations. The slides can be seen here):

Glaveanu Gives Berlyne Address at San Francisco Convention

Dr. Vlad Glaveanu, Head of the Psychology and Counseling Department was invited to give the Berlyne address at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention held in San Francisco, USA, between 9 and 12 of August. He had received the Berlyne Award from the Division 10 of the APA earlier in the year for outstanding contributions made by an early career scholar to the psychology of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts. His talk, titled “Creativity: A culture-inclusive, socially-engaged agenda” called for a new understanding of this phenomenon that takes into account its cultural expression and societal role. In this lecture, Dr. Glaveanu argued for the interdependence between creativity and culture and for the role played by creative processes, both individual and collective, in social change, social movements and activism. His “new agenda” for creativity research encourages psychologists to study both the social dimensions of creative expression as well as their societal and cultural impact. Dr. Glaveanu also took part in the symposium “Crossroads: Theoretical Approaches to Creativity Studies”, co-chaired by Prof. Roni Reiter-Palmon and Prof. Giovanni Corazza.