Well done Veronica!

During these troubling times, we welcome good news from our team in the DHSE. Below, Dr Veronica Mitchell who supports Greg Doyle in the E-Learning department (and also works as a facilitator in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) shares news about her recent publication and forthcoming Swiss residency opportunity.

Working together with Dr Abdullah Bayat from the Business Studies Department at the University of the Western Cape, she celebrates the publication of their paper on affective attunement in pedagogical practices now available in the June online issue of Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning (CriSTaL). What makes this paper extra special is that it crosses disciplinary boundaries - demonstrating collaborative work by entangling theoretical concepts through two very different professional fields. The paper draws on their earlier involvement and experiences in a larger NRF funded project on Socially Just Pedagogies. A short explanatory video is included in the journal issue.

Veronica has been accepted for a one month residency at the Brocher Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland. Let’s hope COVID-19 allows this to happen in April 2021. Through a connection made (by Veronica’s then PhD supervisor, Prof Vivienne Bozalek) at the Care Ethics Research Consortium Conference in Portland, Oregon in 2018, Veronica has begun working with Dutch colleagues engaging with theoretical issues that can offer a contribution to global efforts in promoting respectful maternity care in Obstetrics.

At times we question the value of attending workshops and conferences which are costly in terms of funding and time away from Faculty. However, the potential for networking and making and strengthening connections are immeasurable.