BIP ID: 2023-1-PT01-KA131-HED-000116521-1

14 - 18 July 2025 (Mobility week in Lisbon)

Students: For more information and to register for the course, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The BIP Learning and Becoming a Researcher in Intercultural Contexts aims to provide a concrete experience supported by theoretical discussion on the topic of learning in intercultural contexts on the path of becoming a researcher. The program assumes a culturalist approach of learning (Brunner, 1990) according to which culture provides humans the tools for organizing our view of the world, communicating it to our peers, creating new knowledge and understanding the other ways of living or thinking. Learning and thinking are therefore culturally situated processes.

Such an approach suggests that experiencing different cultures can contribute to future researchers and professors to enlarge their capacity to think in complex ways beyond their own cultures. A comprehensive approach of human learning that assumes an integration of external and internal conditions as necessary to a learning process (Illeris, 2008) will be applied in practical activities in order to provide the reflexive theoretical construction of knowledge.

For master students and doctoral candidates, being exposed to other cultures can enhance their cognitive capacities of thinking and analyzing, but especially can contribute to enriching their social and emotional capacities of empathy, respecting other cultures and living together. For researchers and staff teachers, intercultural competence is one of the highest demands in European higher education institutions nowadays, whether by the increasingly growing number of students from various cultures at national level, or by the equally growing number of international students, teachers and staff on mobility.

Who is the course aimed at?

This course will be of interest to master students, doctoral candidates as well as professors from Social Sciences who are studying or training to become a researcher. Participants have a good level of English - B2 levels.

BIP members

• Lusófona University, Portugal
• Tallinn University, Estonia
• Sevilla University, Spain

Course aims

• To strengthen the intercultural competence in research
• To provide participants with an introduction to various new developments in learning and teaching in intercultural contexts.
• To provide participants with opportunities to learn new research methods.
• To provide participants with an opportunity to increase the interpersonal skills

Course Objectives

• Participants will learn about key issues related to learning and becoming a researcher in intercultural contexts through online lectures, face-to-face interactions, practical workshops, and discussion of reading materials.
• Participants will engage in task-based discussions with master students, doctoral candidates, researchers, teachers and experts from various European countries around the theme of learning and becoming a researcher in intercultural contexts.
• Participants will have the opportunity to participate in an international event and present oral communication.

Main task

The main outcome of the BIP is an essay on the challenges and opportunities of becoming a researcher in intercultural contexts. Students are asked to critically discuss the main theories on learning as well as to identify the challenges in becoming a researcher nowadays. During the course, they should develop ideas to overcome one of the challenges they have identified. In the final essay, students will present their opportunities identified and share their views on what learning and intercultural contexts means to them.

Online period

June 2 - 15:00 - 18:00 (UTC) - Introduction to Post-qualitative Inquiry in inter/multicultural contexts(Part 1)

June 6 - 15:00 - 18:00 (UTC) - Introduction to Post-qualitative Inquiry in inter/multicultural contexts (Part 2)

June 9 - 15:00 - 17:00 (UTC) - Linguistic Landscape as a Method

June 16 - 15:00 - 17:00 (UTC) - Photovoice for Intercultural Experiences

June 2 and 6 - 15:00 - 18:00 (3 hour Zoom)

Introduction to Post-Qualitative Inquiry in inter/multicultural contexts is aimed at researchers in training who wish to reflect on the methodological aspects of qualitative research and the criteria of rigor and credibility in the current framework of social science research. This course proposes a new epistemological perspective on qualitative research to address the new theoretical, methodological and ethical challenges of the 21st century. The course consists of two sessions of three hours each and the aims are as follows:

A. To reflect on the criteria of rigor and credibility and the crisis of data in qualitative research in inter/multicultural contexts.

B. To examine non-representational research and the critical posthuman approach in inter/multicultural contexts.

C. To become familiar with the method of speculative and diffractive analysis applied to the social sciences.

D. To propose an ethics of research in inter/multicultural contexts based on post-qualitative inquiry.

June 9 - 15:00 - 17:00 (2 hour Zoom)

Linguistic Landscape as a Method

This session introduces linguistic landscape research as a methodological approach for analysing language use in public spaces. Participants will explore how written, spoken, and symbolic language in the environment reflects social, cultural, and political dynamics. The session will focus on practical applications of linguistic landscape research in intercultural studies, guiding students to critically observe, document, and interpret multilingual and multimodal signs in different settings. Through discussion and hands-on activities, participants will consider how linguistic landscapes shape identity, belonging, and intercultural interactions.

June 16 - 15:00 -17:00 (2-hour Zoom)

Photovoice for Intercultural Experiences

This session explores Photovoice as a research method for capturing and reflecting on intercultural experiences. Participants will learn how visual storytelling can serve as a powerful tool to document, share, and analyse diverse cultural perspectives. By engaging with real-world examples and interactive exercises, students will reflect on their own intercultural encounters and discuss how visual narratives can enhance understanding and empathy across cultures. The session will also cover ethical considerations and methodological strategies for using Photovoice in academic research.

Physical mobility period in Lisbon, Portugal: 14-18 July 2025 (5 days) (Funding for physical mobility should be requested from your home institution as part of Erasmus+ funding.)

Digital platforms: The BIP will use the Zoom platform for the online sessions.

Tasks & Timeline

Onsite Program (provisory)

14/07

14h00: Welcome, Opening session/ Ice breaking
Carla Galego, Lucimar Dantas

15h00: The theoretical basis of learning in intercultural contexts
Lucimar Dantas, João Filipe Matos & Carla Galego

19h30: Social dinner

15/07

11h00: Participatory workshop - Art-based research
Susana Oliveira & Felisberto Costa

13h00: Lunch

14h30 - 16h00: Participatory workshop - Art-based research

16/07

All day: Participation in the VI WCCES Symposium 2025

17/07

11h00 - 12h30: Thematic panel Learning in Intercultural Contexts: theoretical foundations and international experiences.
VI WCCES Symposium 2025

• Bridging Cultures in Learning: Insights from Activity Theory and Neuroscience
  Lucimar Dantas, Lusófona University, CeiED.
• Findings from the EUA Thematic Peer Group "Learning and teaching to empower students"
  Helene Peterbauer, Policy Analyst, European University Association (EUA)
• Seeing Learning Through a Different Lens: A PhotoVoice Exploration of Educators' Intercultural Experiences
  Merilyn Meristo, Associate Professor, Tallinn University
• Researching home multimodal literacy in multicultural contexts: Challenges of an ethico-onto-episthemologic inquiry in early childhood
  Alejandra Pacheco-Costa; Fernando Guzmán-Simón (Universidad de Sevilla)

14h00: Cultural visit - Sintra, Cascais

18/07

10h00 - 12h00: Fishbowl on equity, diversity and inclusion in intercultural contexts
Sónia Cardoso & Cristina Sin

12h15 - 13h00: Assessment & Closing Session