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EASP – European Association of Social Psychology

Travel Grant Report by Frederik Wermser

21.11.2018, by Tina Keil in grant report

University of Groningen, Netherlands; Research visit at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia

Frederick Wermser
Frederick Wermser

Supported by the EASP travel grant I visited professor Jolanda Jetten at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane, Australia this autumn (or rather Australian spring).

The main purpose of my two-month visit was to collaborate with professor Jetten in developing and writing the second paper of my dissertation. In this exciting study, we use an identity-content-based approach to determine the compatibility of pre-existing and new identities in the context of an organizational merger, and study how this compatibility affects employees’ motivation to collaborate with the merger partner.

Early on during my visit, I got the opportunity to present my PhD thesis research to Jolanda Jetten and her lab group (the Social Identity and Group Network). The feedback I received during the presentation and the many discussion that followed in the weeks after were invaluable for the progress of my research. I learned the necessary skills to code qualitative data, refined my understanding of longitudinal data analysis and, more generally, profited from the lab group’s extensive knowledge on and enthusiasm about the topic of (multiple) social identities.

Beyond the very rewarding work on my specific study, the time at the UQ was extremely inspiring and educational. This had everything to do with the many lab groups - Social Identity and Group Network, Social Change Lab, Center for Research in Social Psychology, Centre for Business and Organisational Psychology - which welcomed me in a most inviting manner. In particular, I would like to thank Winnifred Louis for inviting me to join the weekly meetings of her Social Change Lab and to present my master thesis work on activists, thereby rekindling my passion for research on collective action. Moreover, I was very lucky that the visits of multiple distinguished scholars and an open science conference coincided with my stay at UQ. This made a great visit even better.

I want to again thank EASP and Jolanda Jetten for making my visits at the UQ possible!