After teaching my course on The Rise of Populism remotely in Prague in November 2020 and online in Nordhausen in July 2021 (see my previous blog post), it was amazing to finally be able to meet students and a larger group of colleagues in person for the International Project Week (IPW) at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences in Thuringia in May 2022.
Although the number of participants was still considerably lower than before the start of the pandemic, there were a total of 23 projects with 30 guest lecturers from 15 countries, mainly in Europe, and around 250 students. Six projects were online or hybrid, with a few of the remote lecturers Zoomed in for the closing ceremony on Friday morning, including Nagwa from Egypt. I was the only representative of the Czech Republic this year since my colleagues from Olomouc, Michal and Jarmila, were busy with another project. As a new Czech citizen, I was delighted to be able to take part in the International Project Week as a member of the EU once more.
Along with my colleague from Portugal, Gonçalo Bandeira, I was working with a small group of university students on the subject of The Rise of Populism. Besides discussing infamous populists such as Trump, Bolsonaro and Le Pen, we also looked at the enigma of Zelensky, a different kind of populist. For their final poster presentation, the students opted for an interactive quiz where they cited well-known populists and students from other groups had to guess whose photo was behind the quote. They also presented Miloš Zeman, the populist president of the Czech Republic. The group did a great job and it was a pleasure to collaborate with them on this project.
Besides working diligently all week, we were also able to enjoy a wide range of social and cultural activities. This began with an excursion on the Sunday before the IPW to visit the Alternative Bärenpark Worbis where the bears and other animals are able to enjoy a natural habitat and then the Grenzlandsmuseum Eichsfeld at the former border between East and West Germany.


The schedule also included a Monday afternoon tour of the university campus after classes with a visit to the August-Kramer-Institut to observe the work on renewable energy systems carried out there and then to the sensory lab to test some new liqueurs produced by the local distillery in Nordhausen. Other trips on the programme were to a nearby goat farm, Sophienhof, and to Mittelbau Dora concentration camp, an important part of Nordhausen’s history.
Once more, I had a fabulous week of work and play in Nordhausen. It was wonderful to meet so many people in person again and also to have others join us online. It seems like hybrid events may be the way to go in the future. A big thank you to Jenny Ettrich, Thomas Hoffmann and Melissa Gürtler from the International Office at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences and, of course, to the fabulous IPW team for making all this possible. They took good care of us throughout the week.
