BLOG: Internship at the University of Lapland

My name is Titta Myllyniemi and I have been working as an intern at the University of Lapland for the past three months, from March till June 2021. I have been working with the two networks the University of Lapland is leading: the UArctic Network on Teacher Education focusing on Arctic issues as well as global UNESCO/UNITWIN Network. My study field is Intercultural Teacher Education, with focus on ethics, diversity and sustainability, and in the future, I will be graduating as primary school teacher. The thematic of the networks, Social Justice and Diversity, was the reason to apply for this internship, because they are very closely related to my studies. I wanted to discover how various levels of education related workplaces function and better understand my future work possibilities.

The tasks I have been doing during my internship are related to project management. The networks are currently working with six different projects, and it has been an inspiring experience to learn a great deal about a new working field, working remotely and switching from hectic chef's work to office life!

It has been eye-opening to learn about project management: to follow the process and development of differently functioning, funded and administrated projects for three months. In most cases, I have seen a fraction of long-term projects, but also being able to start shorter projects, like podcast on Sámi Presense in Educational Settings study module and an Arctic Five video on the course I was also able to take part in called Arctic Inclusive Education.

The work has mostly been managing projects and working with creating platforms for researchers to do their work. Planning and hosting events, such as the IPED projects workshop: "Árran (heart, fireplace) - The achievements, advancement and recognition of Sámi education". Attending to international meetings has become a natural part of my everyday internship workdays. I have been updating the network website and planning a new Internet site and so on. In addition, we have started an Instagram account and started creating social media content.

The current COVID-situation is challenging our working life, and I was able to do the internship fully remotely from Oulu. I was lucky to got to travel to Rovaniemi three times to meet Janette, my supervisor and attend a Development day combined with meeting and a hot tub and tasty food at Hostel Café Koti!

I have learned about the whole new work environment and seen the ways of working at the university, learned to coordinate projects and seen what kinds of steps funding processes require. The experience has been extremely helpful for all kinds of future challenges to come, for example to have much more courage to interact in international settings, to try new things and put myself out there!

Thank you for University of Lapland and both networks for this opportunity and see you! Keep up the good work you're doing every day!

Best regards,
Titta Myllyniemi