SLD Intros: Mona O’Brien

Tell us a bit about you and your background! 

Hello there, my name is Mona. I’m from Ireland and I arrived in Scotland around ten years ago to study my master’s degree, since then I’ve fallen in love with this beautiful country, its wonderful people, and fantastic universities. I’ve also spent time in Germany as a PhD candidate and postdoctoral researcher and really enjoyed this experience, especially exploring some wonderful archives, developing my language skills, and sampling all the amazing German baking! I have a PhD in History from the University of Glasgow, my research as a historian focuses on medical, legal, and social responses to epidemics and illness in Germany and Europe from 1495 to 1700.  

What is your job and what does it involve? 

I’m one of the Effective Learning Advisers for all international undergraduate and taught postgraduate students. We support our international students in all four colleges in transitioning to the academic context at the University of Glasgow. Academia and being a student, for example the ways we communicate and the expectations of students, vary a lot between different places and universities; we’re here to explain what it’s like at Glasgow and to support students in developing academic skills to succeed in their studies, such as effective academic reading and criticality. We deliver this support in a lot of different ways, including through classes and workshops, individual appointments, and collaborations with our colleagues in SLD and the colleges. If you’re a student, please do check out our website to see our resources. 

What are your favourite aspects of your job and your biggest passion project? 

The best thing about my job is getting to work with folks from all over the world, I’m constantly gaining new perspectives and learning new things! This is part of what has motivated my current biggest passion project researching international students’ experiences, particularly their academic experiences and how they transition between different academic cultures. I’m doing this research with Dr Julia Bohlmann (Academic and Digital Development), and our aim is to develop a resource that provides all students and staff at the University of Glasgow with insights into the experiences of international students and provides advice for overcoming challenges identified by our research as well as resources on teaching methods that are inclusive and supportive for our diverse student community. We also hope to publish some articles on this research so folks in other universities can use our findings to support their international communities too.  

Outwith work, what are your favourite things to do? 

Outside of work, I love spending time in nature. I live in the countryside and I’m happiest when I’m out walking or running and admiring Scotland’s beautiful scenery and wildlife. When I’m not outside, I like to try to draw and paint the things I’ve seen on my walks; you won’t be finding any of my work in a gallery any time soon (to say the least!), but I find it really relaxing. I also love to be snug with a good book or playing video games – anything from Star Wars (yes, I am another SLD sci-fi nerd) to Animal Crossing.  

Before you go, what’s your one tip for succeeding in study/university/research/the workplace? 

One of the best pieces of academic advice that I ever received (thank you Prof Warwick!) is to put the draft of your work away for a little while (a few hours or a day or two). Taking a break from a piece of work helps to identify areas where we can improve, for example places where we need to do more research, areas of the assessment brief that we’re not doing to the fullest extent, or sentences that need an edit. This advice works at any stage of academic study and throughout an academic career, if you’ve not done this before, consider trying it when you are working on your next assessment or project. 

Written by Dr Mona O’Brien, ELA for International Students