Meet Simone representing KI in student network with South Africa
In the beginning of June the Student Network of the South Africa – Sweden University Forum (SASUF) had a meeting in Uppsala. KI's representative, assigned by the Medical Student's Association (MF) Simone Storey, attended the meeting.
Who are you and how did you become a student representative for SASUF?
I am a master’s student in the Public Health Sciences programme at Karolinska Institutet (KI) and have just finished my first year. When I first arrived, I was eager to get involved in the academic community and discovered the South Africa – Sweden University Forum, fondly known as SASUF by those in the network.
Coming from South Africa myself and having just moved to Sweden, I thought it would be the perfect organisation to join. I became a student representative for SASUF at KI and became part of the SASUF network.
At the beginning of June, you attended a conference in Uppsala within the SASUF student network, what is the network and what was the meeting about?
The SASUF network strives to connect students, researchers, and administrators from universities across South Africa and Sweden to develop and achieve research goals between these two countries.
The recent conference in Uppsala was attended by all the student representatives from universities in Sweden, gathering students from across the country as far as Umeå and all the way to Lund. It was an opportunity to connect in person and plan for future SASUF projects, including the upcoming SASUF Goes Digital event on 19-23 September 2022 as well as the Research and Innovation Week in South Africa during 27-31 March 2023.
We were also able to connect for a hybrid session via with the South African student representatives who gathered in Cape Town. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know each other as people and to share our hopes and ambitions for the network’s future.
What opportunities are there for students within the SASUF collaboration?
There are various ways for students to get involved within the SASUF collaboration, especially through the network of student representatives and working with researchers on SASUF-connected projects.
Anyone interested in being part of the work with SASUF student network is welcome to contact me at simone.storey@stud.ki.se.
Call for workshops/sessions for conference in September
The South Africa – Sweden University Forum (SASUF) is hosting its 4th Research and Innovation Week which takes place virtually on 19-23 September 2022. Call for Workshops /sessions for SASUF Goes Digital 2022 is open until 21 August.
More information on how to send in a submission and how to register for the conference.
SASUF 2030 is a transformative project uniting 38 universities from across Sweden and South Africa. Bringing together leading researchers, teachers, students, university leaders and other stakeholders, the project will develop joint solutions to the challenges posed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2030.