MELB/SBG – AUS/AUT – Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stöckl

When Sonja MOLNAR, my former PhD-student, moved to Australia to take up a position at the University of Melbourne, I wouldn’t have dreamt of teaming up with her to organize a joint symposium. This is exactly what happened last week on 16 and 17 March 2023, bringing together colleagues from the Media and Communications program (Melbourne) and the Department of English and American Studies (Salzburg).

The online symposium invites scholarly discussion and reflection on innovative teaching pedagogies, diverse research approaches and critical theories for analysing media texts, such as advertising, news, travel writing, and social media. The presentations and discussions seek to engage with the fast-changing role of media and media platforms in contemporary forms of public communication.
Blog post Uni Melbourne >> https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/mediatexttravel/

Indeed, the event turned out to be a real eye-opener for both sides, conveying first ideas about locations, cultural heritage, uni facilities, showing how the departments are structured and run, but, most importantly, showcasing some of the ongoing research work.

I am grateful not only to Sonja for developing the idea but also to Mark DAVIS for supporting the venture. In January, both faculties, the Faculty of Arts (Melbourne) and the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (Salzburg) signed a memorandum of understanding for future collaboration. I am curious to see which forms this cooperation will take and where it’ll take us.

Thanks also to my colleagues Julia HARTINGER, Christopher HERZOG, Martin KALTENBACHER and Rebekah WEGENER for contributing great presentations.