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Philipp Köhn
PhD student and research assistant at the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Family Business of the University of Siegen
Host university: Niccolò Cusano University
Period of stay: 1 - 30 September 2022
Application
I applied for a research stay at the Niccolò Cusano University in Rome, since this institution appeared to be suitable to my research interests. The support at my home university was very good. I got quick replies to my emails, and we had a gathering with all ATHENA candidates before our stays in order to get the most important information about our stay and all inherent issues.
The stay
The main goal of my stay was to get new international contacts and to establish an international cooperation for future research projects and teaching exchanges. For me, the most interesting moment was to see how other institutions work and especially how a private university in Italy works. I would recommend visiting the Niccolò Cusano University as it is a quite familial environment. The campus is not that big so that you can get in contact with others quite easily. I also appreciated that I could organise my daily working routine how I wanted it. This was really good for me, as I had the time to work on my dissertation project. Another highlight was the canteen. Every day, they offered a selection of fresh Italian food for very fair prices. Last but not least, for all sport enthusiastic persons, there is a really well-equipped gym on the campus, which is open from Monday to Friday and freely accessible for Cusano members and associates. Since I do a lot of sport, this was perfect for me. After a day of working on my dissertation, I regularly trained and could clear my head.
Conclusion
I wanted to approach this stay very open-minded. However, of course I expected Rome to be magnificent and that I make new contacts with my colleagues at the Niccolò Cusano University. After my experience, I can say that Rome is magnificent and definitely worth-visiting. In terms of new contacts, I made a few. We have remained in such a way that we will try to establish a kind of a summer school for master students and that I can send my data set to them, so that they can look if we can do a joint research project in the future.
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