EWHA Womans University in Seoul, South Korea

Dr Fiona Cuthill had a very successful visit to EWHA Womans University in Seoul, South Korea from 15th June - 18th July 2015, thanks to a British Council Researcher Links Travel Grant.

Initially she met with the whole nursing faculty and then was able to meet individually with faculty staff to discuss mutual research interests. She was able to identify several joint research projects in relation to resilience, gender roles, nursing and migrant health. This work is continuing and Dr Cuthill is working with EWHA colleagues to secure funding for future joint research projects. In addition, Fiona also led and ran a day conference on qualitative research for researchers across all of the Universities in Seoul. This was a great opportunity to discuss contemporary issues in qualitative research and to explore cultural synergies and differences.  

The visit strengthened the existing research links between the School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh and EWHA. It also benefited Fiona’s  research in several different ways. It gave her a new perspective on the changing role of women in a rapidly developing economy. This expanded her research on ‘gender’ to focus more specifically on the changing relationship between gender and nursing in an Asian context. In addition, the visit gave her the time and space to be able to develop some new research ‘threads’ that have global interest, particularly in relation to migrant health. Finally, the visit enabled her to meet some amazing people, experience fantastic Korean cuisine and to enjoy the delights of the beautiful city of Seoul.