Exactly one year ago…

by Alexandra den Heijer

One year ago – on Friday March 4, 2011 – I defended my PhD research and launched my book… When people asked me then: what’s next? I would reply “something international” or “European knowledge network”, but frankly… I did not have a plan. After March 4 I just started to send copies of my book to academic friends and professional colleagues abroad. And that must have worked given the number of invitation I received to publish and speak (see DOWNLOADS and TOUR). My European network is actually a fact after a year.

My ‘tour schedule’ (see TOUR) also protected me from the overload of educational activities in the past year. Of course I understand that education is an important part of my job – and I love it – but organising education for 210 students (fall semester) and 320 students (spring semester) also tends to keep you from concentrating on research. Travelling forced me to focus on (the next step in) my research: the European campus. Three months after my defence I was invited to speak at the annual conference of the European University Association (EUA), which is in three weeks: March 23, 2012. In the past year my preliminary conclusions about ‘opportunities and threats of the European campus’ have been confirmed by campus managers, directors of estate and representatives of ministries of Education & Science. Check out ‘TOUR’ to see which countries I visited (or who visited me in Delft/Rotterdam/Utrecht) in the past year.

In the next 6 weeks I am looking at 5 more lectures for international audiences and 2 at national events, which sometimes makes me think that I am overdoing it a little… even though I am enjoying every lecture. Next to me on the photo of the PhD defence is one of two paranimphs Flavia Curvelo Magdaniel. She helped me with the graphic design of the book (see BOOK DESIGN) and is now working at TU Delft as a PhD candidate herself. Her research subject is closely related to mine: the knowledge city. With her and with my European network I will take my research to the next phase in the next year, and keep you informed about the results.

P.S. Coincidentally – today March 4, 2012 – the ebook and the second edition of the physical book are nr. 1+2 in my publisher’s top seller top 5 again! It is interesting that my book is still referred to as ‘new’… because it is the recently published second edition.