Internationalisation

This page is an information source for the staff of the Department of Sociology, the sociology and social anthropology units. It should answer many of your questions related to the internationalization functions of the department, ie how to invite a researcher or guest researcher and how to do a teaching/research stay abroad. Or how to support a student's fieldwork abroad.

How to invite a researcher or guest researcher

Inviting guest researchers is an excellent way for us to build our relationships with scholars from outside of Lund and outside of Sweden. This can lead to research collaborations, co-authorships, awareness of one another’s work, and general intellectual and institutional innovation.

For a guest to join our department (this may be anywhere between a few days and a maximum of one year), they need a local host. The host must be someone employed with the department and takes academic and social responsibility for the guest during the visit.

The guest researcher must have research interest(s) that overlap with members of the department. In the ideal case, the guest will have overlapping interests with both the host and at least one of our research environments or ongoing research projects.

The steps for formally inviting a guest

Please send an e-mail with details of the proposed guest and the duration of the stay to the internationalisation officer magnus [dot] ring [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se (Magnus Ring) and the caretaker (rose [dot] marie [dot] olsson [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se), with a copy to the head of department (magnus [dot] karlsson [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se). Attach the guest's CV.
- Rose-Marie confirms if office space is available during the proposed period of stay.
- The internationalisation officer and/or the Head of Department will confirm that the stay is authorized
The internationalisation officer will prepare an invitation letter for each international guest.
The internationalisation officer will inform administrator Christian Landgren (christian [dot] landgren [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se) about the guest’s stay so that a Lucat ID, a university id card, and an email address can be prepared.
The host is responsible for assisting the guest with accommodation. The host should inquire about the guest’s accommodation preferences.
- Private: the if the guest requires it, the host should assist with this.
- Options through the university, for which the guest pays, and the host arranges this:
  - short term through the university: University Guest House (minimum 1 night, maximum 3 months):
    - the host collects needed information and emails it to the university guest house to check for availability
    - the guest always pays themselves (but the department has to guarantee in the case that the guest would fail to pay).
  - longer term (maximum of one year!): LU Accommodation. For between 2 and 12 months, for full month periods (1st of the month to the last day of the month).
The host arranges to meet the guest upon arrival and pick up the keys to their office.
Upon arrival, the host gathers also ’next of kin’ contact information from the guest and submits the information to the department HR officer.
Upon arrival, the host is responsible for the guest's academic and social integration.

Social responsibilities of the host

The social responsibilities of the host include welcoming the guest to Lund and ensuring that they are integrated into daily life both within and outside of the department. In terms of departmental integration, the host should ensure that the guest is integrated into the wider department. Specifically:

The host should introduce the guest via email to the department, mentioning who they are, which office they are staying in, the duration of their stay, their research interests, and when they may be presenting their work.
The host should ensure that the guest joins one of the research environments or one of the actively meeting research projects.
The host should also ensure that the guest presents their work at least once to a wider group during their stay (within a research environment, FpG, potentially the department seminar series, or an independently organized and advertised seminar).
The host should ensure the guest is aware of ongoing departmental events. If the guest has an email address, they should receive these notices, but they may need help to understand which events are relevant and interesting for them.

Holding a guest lecture

If the guest is at a post-doctoral level or higher, they may be invited to present their work as a guest lecturer, within a panel, or in other departmental teaching activities. To arrange this, the host should send the guest's CV six months in advance to the director(s) of studies.

How to do a teaching or research stay abroad

Are you interested in having a stay abroad for teaching or research? There are many ways in which you can do this.

International collaborations

As an employee of the Department of Sociology, you can make use of the University's many established networks and contacts to develop new international collaborations. The extensive opportunities for research and development through international collaborations are collected on the Staff Pages.

Funding collaborations

As an employee of Lund University, you have many opportunities to receive funding from a programme if you work, or plan to work, abroad.

Here you will find brief descriptions of established programmes that offer various forms of project funding.

Short-term teaching exchanges

Short-term teaching exchanges. There are many agreements with other universities for short-term (usually one week) teaching exchanges. These usually involve a number of hours in the classroom, funding for travel and daily funding for meals and other expenses. We have many such exchanges (one of the most active is with the University of Sarajevo). Contact the internationalization officer to express your interest and find out about opportunities!
Short-term non-teaching exchanges (for planning and/or administrative exchange). We have a few agreements to exchange staff for academic-administrative planning with other universities, usually for the duration of one week. Contact the internationalization officer to express your interest

Short-term writing retreats

Short-term writing retreats include e.g. The Swedish Institute house in Kavala, Greece.

Longer-term sabbaticals

STINT: 2-5 month funded teaching sabbaticals

Wenner-Gren: 3-12 months funded sabbatical

RJ Sabbatical: 6-12 months funded writing sabbatical

Informal department sabbatical: It is also possible to take time off from teaching by ’saving’ excess teaching hours that you have accumulated from one year to the next. If you wish to use these excess hours in order to buy yourself out of teaching and thus have an informal sabbatical, you should coordinate this with both the Head of Department and Director(s) of Studies at least 15 months in advance.

Funding mobility for all employees

Information on different forms of mobility including funding.

Teachers

Researchers

Staff

Includes teachers, doctoral students, researchers and administrative staff.

International student mobility

The Student Experience and Mobility Department deals with international student mobility matters. If you are interested in the process or would like to inform students about how it works, the page "Service and support for outbound students" is available on the Staff Pages.

To the page Service and support for outbound students

Grants and scholarships for studies and traineeships abroad

There are a number of different grants available to you as a student at Lund University that you can apply for if you are travelling abroad for exchange studies or a traineeship. Here you can see which grants might be relevant for you.

Information about traineeship abroad

Travel scholarships for Bachelor's and Master's students