How we deal with situations characterised by crisis, whether as individuals, as a society, or even as an organisation, depends on numerous factors—and, above all, on our resilience. In the present issue’s Special, we explore the significance of this increasingly popular term, point out how the mdw demonstrated its own resilience as a university in handling the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, and explain the ways in which psychosocial counselling helped students during this crisis. Furthermore, students and teachers tell us about how the sudden pandemic-era changes impacted their personal lives.
In this issue of mdw Magazine, we also report on the magnificent finale of the new mdw Great Talent Award competition, introduce to you the important work of the influential women’s studies and gender studies researcher Evelyn Torton Beck, who received an honorary doctorate from the mdw this September, and look back upon a successful initial year of the mdw’s new Buddy Programme. We are also particularly proud of the Global Conservatoire, which was launched early in October. This is a shared space of digital teaching and learning for which the mdw has teamed up with three other renowned institutions: the Manhattan School of Music (New York), the Royal College of Music (London), and the Royal Danish Academy of Music (Copenhagen). The Global Conservatoire offers music students from its four partner institutions an innovative compliment of synchronous and asynchronous online courses and content.
We also hear from students of Film Academy Vienna, who provide us with some glimpses into the both challenging and extremely satisfying work on their first feature-length films. And with the Gender Studies programme’s new event series “Facing Ethnic Drag”, the mdw is opening up an exciting discourse concerning intersectional perspectives in the cultural industry and in public space.
I wish you an interesting read!
