Having Andrea as part of our team for three months has been an enriching experience, both culturally and academically.
Sam Ahmad, research and teaching assistant in the chEERS Lab
In 2023, UniDistance Suisse warmly welcomed its first exchange doctoral student. Andrea de Carlos Buján from the Abat Oliba CEU University (Barcelona, Spain), obtained funding from her home country to embark on a three-month research stay at the chEERS Lab under the supervision of Andrea Samson, associate professor in the Faculty of Psychology.
Andrea de Carlos Buján is doing her doctorate on the fascinating topic of "Humour and resilience in primary school students". She is involved in an extensive study involving 12 schools, 576 students and 23 teachers in Spain. The goal of the study is to better understand the relationship between resilience and sense of humor, specifically in pupils in the last years of Primary Education. In other words, it aims to explore the potential of a sense of humour as a defence weapon, a coping strategy, a protective factor, and a resilience-boosting mechanism. She contacted Andrea Samson, an expert in the field of humour, because she wanted to expand her theoretical and methodological knowledge during her research stay. Together they worked intensively on the analysis and interpretation of a part of her doctoral thesis project and they are currently working on a joint publication. In addition, they have submitted an abstract for an international conference of the Society for Affective Sciences, which will take place next year in New Orleans, USA.
The exchange proved to be extremely enriching not only for Andrea de Carlos, but Andrea Samson's team also greatly appreciated her visit. Sam Ahmad, research and teaching assistant in the chEERS Lab, commented: «Having Andrea as part of our team for three months has been an enriching experience, both culturally and academically. Our discussions on research ideas have provided valuable insights into each other's work, and the collaborative feedback exchange for her thesis and ours has been mutually beneficial. », «Andrea de Carlos was very present and involved in all the discussions and research projects within our team. It was a very nice and rich experience to have her by our side and it's a pity she couldn't stay longer with us» Commented Anouk Papon, also a research and teaching assistant working with the team.
chEERS Lab thank you all for this opportunity. I couldn’t have asked for more
Andrea de Carlos Buján
The idea of a research exchange at a distance learning university may seem paradoxical at first, especially when most of the teaching takes place online. Nevertheless, the research groups meet regularly at the university campus in Brig to work together. Andrea de Carlos was warmly welcomed there and given her own workstation. She commented: «chEERS Lab thank you all for this opportunity. I couldn’t have asked for more (and this even though there were days when we had lunch between 11:30 and 12:00, almost impossible in Spain). Thank you very much for all the help, ideas, and suggestions you have given to me, especially in the selection of the instrument to measure the level of sense of humor and in the proper analysis and processing of the quantitative data. Thank you for sharing from the first moment all your projects and papers with me (and for recommending Ovomaltine). Also, for inviting me to all your events. It has been so nice meeting you all and learning from you. I will always be grateful, and I will always wait for you in Spain.»
The chEERS Lab (Swiss Emotion Experience, Emotion Regulation and Support Laboratory) at UniDistance Suisse and the University of Fribourg is a team of researchers who studies affective processes and their impact on our mental health and well-being.
