Surviving Academia: conversations on our well-being

On March 30th, Sophia’s Junior Network is organising another event! ‘Surviving Academia: conversations on our well-being’ will be an afternoon get-together for Master’s and PhD students with the focus on sharing experiences of navigating the academic world. We will explore the impact that academic culture can have on our (mental) well-being as young scholars and reflect on ways to cope within this high-pressure, competitive environment. By sharing our lived experiences, we might find recognition and inspiration in each other’s stories and hopefully make meaningful connections.

During this day we will provide a brave space to think about new ways of relating to ourselves and each other within the broader structures of academia. How can we be more present, connected and embodied while facing academic expectations? In what ways can we take care of ourselves and others? And what changes could we make in our own personal environments in order to create a space in which we can thrive? Also, more broadly: How can we find ways to collectively address and transform toxic structures within academia? What alternatives might there be to the dominant, neoliberal model of knowledge production and distribution?

Have such questions been on your mind as well? Or would you just like to expand your network within the field of gender studies? Please feel free to join us by registering here.

Also, in case you are not a member of the Junior Network yet, and you would like to be, you can find more information about it here. 

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SPEAKERS

Josefien Cornette (they/she)

Josefien, writer-artist, has a multi-disciplinary practice with a background in art-history, feminism, queer studies and disability studies.

Josefien focuses on narrativity and witnessing as art objects. Much of their artistic practices combine methodologies throughout academic and artistic fields, inventing new strategies of researching, archiving, writing and reporting. Their work can be seen as a hybrid reaction to contemporary societal issues addressing themes like frailty, melancholy, impairment and feminism.

In 2021 Josefien won the DiverGent Scriptieprijs with their thesis ‘A House Called Pain’, a poetic auto-ethnographic work on bereavement, grief and impairment which will soon be out as a novel.

Cis Coudenys (he/him)

Cis works as a social worker and trainer in restorative practices for the Belgian NPO Oranjehuis. With a background in orthopedagogy, Cis has worked with families, teachers, youth care supervisors, staff in refugee centers and more in handling challenging situations and conflicts in a restorative way.

With restorative practices, the focus lies on restoring relationships by reconnecting to our authentic longings, needs and boundaries and by finding ways to express these to each other in a nonviolent way.

In his personal journey from trauma to healing, Cis is especially interested in moving beyond language; in letting go of repetitive narratives, stubborn thoughts and negative self-beliefs by using embodiment practices such as meditation, body-work, yoga, family constellations and dancing.

Jesse Kempkes (they/them)

Jesse is a student of the Gender and Diversity Master and has a background in philosophy. Currently, they are doing an internship at Sophia and writing their thesis.

Their thesis will be an auto-theoretical work on healing from trauma and moving towards (queer) joy, weaving together theory on trauma and somatic psychology with intersectional feminist and queer insights.

Specifically, they are interested in what ways the proces of queering can be seen as a movement towards authenticity and healing, as a way of questioning and liberating the self from internalized narratives and shame.

They will share their personal experience with healing  from burn out, depression, anxiety, imposter syndrome and perfectionism, with a focus on how these experiences relate to their identity, our culture and academia.

Date: March 30, 2023
Time: 14:00 – 17:00
Location: Amazone, Brussels

The event is free. Please fill in the registration form if you would like to attend.

The event will be in English.