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SINEWS

‘I knew that I would be fighting to come back to Sweden’

SI scholar Michał Zawadzki spent six months in Gothenburg in 2015 before returning to his native Poland. It didn't take long, however, until he found himself longing to return to the Nordics. Here, he tells his story and explains how Sweden stole his heart.

Published: 20 September 2018 16:27 CEST
'I knew that I would be fighting to come back to Sweden'
Photo: Michał Zawadzki

I was given a grant by the Swedish Institute through the Visby Programme scholarship and spent six months in 2015 in Gothenburg Research Institute working as a postdoctoral researcher.

Looking back, I see that time as an extremely important for my academic career development. I experienced democratic academic culture created by the fantastic scholars who gave me the possibility to express myself and who were truly curious about my research on workplace dignity in academia. I was really engaged in lunches and fika with my colleagues: events that made my personal connections with other academics stronger.

Photo: Michał Zawadzki with his daughter in Stockholm

I also enjoyed Swedish culture and society: people taking care of each other, ready to help out not only with issues connected with the academic job, but also with private ones. I remember exciting meetings in Professor Barbara Czarniawska's apartment, with a lot of fascinating discussions with people from all over the world. I remember the day we were celebrating Chalmers Cortége, observing fantastic machines built by the students, from the balcony.

When I came back to Poland after the scholarship had finished, I knew that I would be fighting to come back to Sweden. And here I am: after two and a half years of sending applications to Swedish universities and working hard to develop my academic CV, from January 2018 I started a job as a lecturer in Stockholm Business School. I treat it as the most important achievement in my career, but it wouldn’t be possible without my Gothenburg experience.  

I am lecturing on management and organisation studies courses, trying to use the teaching ideas I observed in GRI. The workplace environment here is amazing, including many established academics with international reputation. The most important thing is their friendly attitude and readiness to help me in adaptation to a new environment.

I was invited to take part in the celebration of the new academic year in Svartsjö – a beautiful, small city close to Stockholm – where I spent a lot of time in the sauna, talking about life with the other academics.

Photo: Michał with his band, New Public Cynics

What is also important for me, I have been invited – as a drummer – by Professor Tommy Jensen to start a new rock band: we are New Public Cynics, fresh and critical perspective on the contemporary society.

Moving from Krakow to Stockholm was an exciting journey not only for me, but also for my family: my wife and three-year-old daughter, who found Swedish society as a great place to live. My daughter attends kindergarten and she speaks better Swedish than I do! My wife is currently attending an intensive SFI course and looking for a job as a graphic designer.

Well, it seems that this time we will stay in Sweden for a little bit longer!

 

SINEWS

Lagom: The best way to achieve social health?

Ronoh Philip, who is studying for his masters degree in Infectious Disease Control at Södertörn University, explains why he thinks the Swedish concept of 'lagom' is the best way to achieve good social health.

Published: 23 December 2019 10:24 CET
Lagom: The best way to achieve social health?

During my one week orientation program on August 2019 at Södertörn University, we were presented with many aspects of Swedish culture and practices. One of the new aspects that I learnt was the “lagom culture”, As I quote one of the presenters about applying lagom to our studies, he said: ”Lagom will reduce your stressful burdens of hectic lecture schedules and ensure that you spend equal time of working and socializing in the university.”

So being a student with a background in public health and society, I got interested and searched for the deeper meaning of lagom, and how it can  apply to society and health. I found out that it is a Swedish way of life, it is a concept which means not too much and not too little, just enough. I learnt that it came from a Viking tradition laget om which means 'around the group' and was allegedly used to describe just how much mead or soup one should drink when passing the bowl around in the group.

If this concept is applied to achieve social health goals, it would really fit well. So, what is social health at first? Social health is how you interact with other people and adapt in different situations, it deals with how people in society deal with each other. It is important to note that there is a close link between good social health and improvement of the other aspects of human health, this can lead to the achievement of SDG goal of good health and wellbeing. It also leads to self-satisfaction and happiness; no wonder Sweden is ranked as one the happiest countries in the world. It is ranked 7th in 2019, according to world happiness report. I believe lagom has a big role in this achievement.

In the country where I come from, Kenya, one of the greatest challenges we face in our society, is the ability for people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds to interact and form positive and cohesive relationships with each other. From my perspective, when I finish my studies and return, lagom will be worth implementing in the workplace, the place where I live and the society as whole, as it is the best way of finding simple, attainable solutions to our everyday worries like stress, eating better, having downtime and achieving happiness. It’s a balance of work and life, so everything is in sustainable existence with each other.

My goal during my entire university studies at Södertörn, will be to learn more about the lagom principle and also be able to apply it on our SI NFGL Local Network platform, because it is surely one of the best ways to achieve a good  work-life balance, reaching consensus with my colleagues and adapting a team minded approach in dealing with issues in an organization and the society.