RESEARCH DAYS BREAKING BOUNDARIES
These are only three of in all 25 events under the Research Days at Volda University College (VUC) this year. The Research Days is a nationwide, annual festival held for the 22nd time in 2016. In the last few years, the festival has seen more than 1,000 events across Norway.
Karen Brænne (left), Janne Heggvoll and Åshild Sævik from a Pecha Kucha event under the Research Days in 2014.
DIVERSITY
Each year the Research Days has an overarching theme, and this year’s theme of "boundaries".
- There is a great breadth of events this year. We wish to show the diversity of the research activity we have at VUC. There will be events suitable for children, adolescents, adults and students, says program coordinator for the Research Days in Volda, Geir Tangen.
SEE THE PROGRAMME FOR THE RESEARCH DAYS HERE (IN NORWEGIAN)
LECTURE ON TRUMP
Do you know which images you legally are allowed to post on Facebook or other social media? This will be one of the questions answered by associate professor Ellen Lexerød Hovlid from the VUC Faculty of Media and Journalism in her presentation at the Research Days.
Donald Trump has with great showmanship set his mark on the US presidential election this year. Associate Professor Alf Tomas Tønnessen has been widely used as an expert commentator in the Norwegian media in connection with the US elections. Tønnesen comes to the Research Days directly from a research stay in Mississippi and will discuss the tough battle between Trump and Hillary Clinton few days after the presidential candidates go head-to-head in their first debate. Tønnessen will also take time to explain the US election system and compare this year’s election with the controversial presidential election of 2000.
ANIMATION VOLDA
The Research Days will this year collaborate with the Animation Volda Festival which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2016. This year the animation festival has secured a popular special guest in the newly appointed professor at VUC, the Oscar nominated animator Peter Lord. The world renowned animator will hold an open, illustrated appointment lecture at the VUC campus, an event which other animation schools around the world probably would envy.
DIFFERENT FORMS OF EXPRESSION
In addition to all the above-mentioned events, there will be a chance to test put one’s physical boundaries to the test through a session on interval training with university lecturer Elisabeth Innselset. She will first introduce the latest research on interval training before participants can put theory into practice.
Keeping up with traditions, it will also this year be possible to join in on the making, tasting and learning about local food at the outdoor museum in Volda. Students from VUC will prepare traditional food for spectators to watch and taste.
At the student house Rokken there will also be a Pecha Kucha event, where 7 faculty members from VUC will hold individual short presentations on their main research area. Pecha Kucha is a Japanese presentation concept where the presenters each get 7 minutes and a set number of slides to talk about their subject.
- The events in this year’s Research Days represent a great variety in terms of communication and expression. There will be regular lectures, exhibitions, animation films, documentary screening, radio documentaries, various musical performances, a church mass and a spinning class. So there should be something for any taste, says the enthusiastic coordinator for the Research Days, Geir Tangen.