Join old friends and make new friends in Nymble
Would you like to get to know more of your colleagues? Relocation is now launching After Work Evenings in the students’ union building on the KTH Campus. The aim is to encourage new connections and more integration between foreign and Swedish employees at KTH in an enjoyable and relaxing way.
Lotta Rosenfeldt of KTH Relocation is responsible for these AW evenings. The first meeting is scheduled for 16 January and then fortnightly throughout the spring.
- The AW meets are intended to be a relaxing and fun affair. The aim is to offer all employees opportunities to socialise and network and get to know each other that bit better.
- We want to create an enjoyable ambiance without any specific agenda or alcohol. Guests will be offered vegetarian soup and bread at cost price.
Each year, up to 1,000 doctoral students, post docs and researchers arrive at KTH. They live in Stockholm and can be based here from a few months to several years. These AW evenings are just one of a number of activities that Relocation organises to help them get to know more about KTH, Stockholm and life in Sweden in general.
- Many newly arrived researchers say that they feel as though they are living in a bubble with a sense of not really being here for real. They find it difficult to become part of the community. Not only in terms of their work but also from a broader perspective - of actually living in Sweden,” Lotta Rosenfeldt says.
The hope is that these AW evenings will break the ice and speed the onboarding process, namely to help newly arrived foreign employees gain an understanding of the organisational culture here and feel an affinity with KTH. She and her colleagues do all they can to make this period as short as possible for each new arrival.
- We’re pretty sure our international colleagues will attend these AW evenings. They are really keen. As a general rule, there is a huge demand amongst them for our various activities. We usually attract 50 to 90 people per event and occasion,” Rosenfeldt adds.
Lotta Rosenfeldt hopes many Swedish colleagues at KTH will also join in. She draws a parallel with the popular study-buddy concept where foreign employees have lunch with a Swedish friend.
- That initiative resulted in many fascinating conversations between Swedish and international KTH colleagues. These lunch meetings also help forge inter-generational friendship ties,” she says.
Text: Marianne Norén