TCELT Research seminar - October 2024

This presentation outlines how time and temporalities are inherently intertwined with understandings and interpretations of transitions. In doing so, differentiations are made between time (i.e., measurable clock time) and temporalities (i.e. one’s social experiences with time) to provide some conceptual nuance in how time is approached in research designs. The connection between time and transitions is made through two framings: 

1. time as transitions, and 
2. transitions as time

Time as transitions, on the one hand, reflects how transitions between different contexts often lead to new understandings of time and temporalities. 

Transitions as time, on the other hand, recognises that transitions must be understood through the lens of time. Throughout the presentation, the situations of international students are used as an illustrative example, given the time-limited nature of their study experiences and geographic mobility across time zones. Altogether, the presentation highlights time as a significant dimension of transitions research, ending with practical considerations for embedding a temporal disposition into research designs.

Dr Jenna Mittelmeier is Senior Lecturer in International Education at the University of Manchester. Her research expertise focuses broadly on the internationalisation of higher education and more specifically on the experiences and treatment of international students. She is the lead co-editor of the recently published book Research with International Students: Critical Conceptual and Methodological Considerations and is a founding co-leader of both the Research with International Students network and the Internationalisation Practitioners Network.