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Meet our Student Assistant(s) at the Centre for Gender and Diversity

Starting on the 1st of February, the Centre for Gender and Diversity (CGD) is happy to welcome a new student assistant. In the following post, we will meet our new student assistant Emma Jespersen, and look back to what our previous student assistant, Rahel Koch, has accomplished.

 

 

Emma Jespersen, Current Student Assistant

My name is Emma, I am currently doing my master's degree in Contemporary Literature and Art with a focus on Cultural Interventions and Social Justice. I am excited to be taking over the student assistant position for the CGD.

I have lived in Maastricht for the last 4 years, where I have completed my bachelor's in Arts and Culture with a minor in Gender and Diversity studies. Throughout my studies I have broadly focused on Danish colonialism in Greenland, looking into the creation of history and ‘the other’. In doing so I have investigated colonial tropes in Scandinavia from an intersectional perspective, specifically narratives of innocence and their prominence in contemporary media discourses. My upcoming master's thesis will explore ‘Non-monogamy in the field of Queer and Age studies’ - an exciting and somewhat intimidating project.

Outside of my studies, I have gotten to work with The Innbetween, where I have organised workshops and events around the theme of Growth - cultivating a safe and loving community of self-reflective, socially responsible, and creative people in Maastricht.

CGD Emma Jespersen

Taking over from Rahel, I will be working on organising the 25th-anniversary symposium for the CGD in September and expanding our social media presence.

Rahel Koch, Student Assistant September 2022 - February 2023

Up until my graduation from University College Maastricht with a BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences in February 2023, I have served as a student assistant to the CGD under the supervision of director Eliza Steinbock. When Eliza first took over the position of the new director, the CGD website was in dire need of an upgrade, as it featured too few of the many diverse research projects conducted by the members of the CGD!Accordingly, my task at the CGD was first and foremost to re-configure our online presence with a focus on making the website easily accessible and exciting for all kinds of different visitors. In the process of this, I had the pleasure of meeting and learning more about the interests, the research, and the knowledge valorisation of our many members.

Rahel Koch

What inspired me most was their unanimous stance towards the “aim to use our research as a vector of change - to not only describe and explain social issues but engage stakeholders and intervene for the sake of social justice”. Hoping to one day embark on an academic career myself, I’m sure to remember this lesson!

As a visitor to this website, I hope you enjoy the online presence I have helped create for the CGD during my time as a student assistant! And be sure to check the website for any upcoming events - an area the new student assistant, Emma Jespersen, will - now that the general content of the website has been updated - dedicate much more time to. I know that I for one will certainly do my best to still join these extraordinary events, even if my time at the CGD officially has come to an end. 

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