Global Faculty Week 2025 | SHMMF
Lectures and Conferences
We invite members of the KTU community to participate in the events of “Global Faculty Week 2025”!
Meet the visiting scholars at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities:
Monday, 5 May
9:00–10:30 | Lecture “Academic and Professional Communication in English (C1 level)” | Gedimino St. 50
Marko Tikkanen, University of Eastern Finland
I am a university teacher who currently works in the University of Eastern Finland, Language Centre department. I teach subject specific English courses for various majors. I have an MA degree in English language and culture, and as my minor subjects I studied educational sciences (teacher training) and Finnish language. In my presentation I will discuss my experiences of Artificial intelligence in teaching Finnish university students. In particular, I want to focus on various effects it has had on teaching work and practices, as well as on students’ skills in general.
16:30–17:30 | Open online lecture “Episodic Storytelling: Representing violence and agency in Brazilian and Indian streaming content” | Zoom https://liedm.zoom.us/j/91684632433?pwd=JFlWKxg5PdHtKNiQmJl525v2TQeE1X.1
Gauri D. Chakraborty, Times School of Media, Bennett University, India
Prof. Clarice Greco Alves, University Paulista, Brazil
Clarice Greco Alves, University Paulista, Brazil
Clarice Greco Alves is Professor at the Post Graduation Program of University Paulista (UNIP) Brazil. Clarice has a PhD and master’s degree in communication sciences from the School of Communication and Arts at the University of Sao Paulo. She is the co-coordinator of the study group for the Analysis of Audiovisual Products (GRUPA) and of the Fan Studies Network Latin America (FSN-Latina). Her research interests are pop culture, fan studies, digital media and transmedia storytelling.
Dr. Gauri D. Chakraborty, Times School of Media, Bennett University, India
Dr. Gauri D. Chakraborty is a media educator, filmmaker, and Professor at the Times School of Media. A graduate of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), she has been active in the audio-visual industry since 1995 and has collaborated with institutions such as BBC World Service Trust on public awareness projects. With over two decades of teaching experience and leadership in media education and community radio, she is also the editor of Balancing the Wisdom Tree: An Anthology of FTII’s Women Alumni. Dr. Chakraborty is a 2024–25 Australia Award Fellow hosted by Western Sydney University. Her lecture will explore how episodic storytelling represents themes of violence and agency in Brazilian and Indian streaming content, examining both narrative structures and socio-cultural impact.
Tuesday, 6 May
11:00–12:00 | Lecture “Academic and Professional Communication in English (C1 level)” | Gedimino St. 50
Marko Tikkanen, University of Eastern Finland
I am a university teacher who currently works in the University of Eastern Finland, Language Centre department. I teach subject specific English courses for various majors. I have an MA degree in English language and culture, and as my minor subjects I studied educational sciences (teacher training) and Finnish language. In my presentation I will discuss my experiences of Artificial intelligence in teaching Finnish university students. In particular, I want to focus on various effects it has had on teaching work and practices, as well as on students’ skills in general.
15:00 | Conference “Language in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” | KTU Library Amphitheatre, Studentų St. 48
With guest speakers:
Stellah Lubinga, University of Pretoria, South Africa
– Topics: “Digitalisation in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities” and “Digital Governance and Service Delivery in Africa”
Dr. Stellah Lubinga is a Lecturer and PhD Coordinator in the School of Public Management and Administration at the University of Pretoria, where she teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Over the years, she has actively engaged in research, publishing and presenting at local and international conferences. Dr. Lubinga’s research interests primarily include governance, digital transformation, citizen participation, and service delivery.
I am eager to share insights from the South African perspective on the integration of AI in higher education. Additionally, I will be presenting at the conference with a paper titled “Machine-Generated Language and Democratic Governance in South Africa: Navigating Trust, Transparency, and Citizen Agency in the AI Era.”
Sono Lerato, University of Pretoria, South Africa
– Will present on the integration of AI in higher education and its impact on teaching, learning, and administrative processes
Lerato Sono is a Public Administration lecturer at the University of Pretoria and a PhD candidate exploring how leadership rooted in Ubuntu values can support innovation in the South African public service. She is passionate about making higher education more inclusive, both in practice and in how we think about global challenges like Artificial Intelligence. Her interests include leadership, innovation, and the future of education in Africa. Through her involvement in Global Faculty Week, Lerato hopes to help build a more inclusive understanding of how AI is affecting universities around the world, especially in African contexts. She believes that local experiences and voices should shape how we use AI in teaching and learning.
Catalin Vrabie, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania
– During the Language in the age of artificial intelligence conference (8-9 May, 2025), Catalin Vrabie will deliver a presentation entitled Citizen Participation & Administrative Efficiency in the Era of E-Gov 3.0 – based on a previous published article on Public Policy and Administration / Viešoji politika ir administravimas Journal of KTU (more info here).
Cătălin Vrabie is associate professor in E-Governance and ITC and Director of the SMART Edu-Hub Advanced Research center in SNSPA. He holds a PhD in public administration with a thesis on transparency and innovation in e-government systems and is a graduate of MIT executive education program, specialized in Artificial Intelligence. He is lead editor for the internationally peer-reviewed “Smart Cities and Regional Development Journal and is chair of the first scientific conference dedicated to Smart Cities in Romania. He has contributed to numerous city-development projects in Romania Prof. Vrabie is also authoring university books related to his courses and seminars like: “IT fundamentals for Public Administration” or “Smart cities from idea to implementation”. He is coordinating volumes on Smart Cities topic. Cătălin Vrabie’s full resume can be found on SNSPA Web page.
17:30 | Online lecture “Leadership” (for Education students)
Gunārs Strods, Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Latvia
Gunārs Strods, an associate Professor of Education at Riga Technical University and Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Latvia. His research focuses on career education and self-directed learning, with a particular interest in how interdisciplinary approaches can enhance educational practices. During Global Faculty Week, he will offer a class on integrating design, technology, and economics into career education. The course will explore practical strategies for fostering interdisciplinarity in educational settings.
Wednesday, 7 May
11:00–12:30 | Lecture “Sustainable Human Development” | Mickevičiaus St. 37, room 1020
João Mendonça, Maieutica Cooperativa De Ensino Superior, Portugal
João Pedro Figueira de Almeida Urbano de Mendonça – Graduate and Master in Geography from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto (Portugal), PhD in Regional Geographic Analysis with mention of European Doctorate from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Since 2010, he has been an Assistant Professor at the University of Maia, on the Tourism and Renewable Energy courses. Having participated in and organized numerous scientific meetings, been a rapporteur on European projects, a guest at national and international congresses, he also collaborates in several specialized journals, as an author and reviewer (PASOS). Main subjects of research: social development, territorial development, cultural tourism, climatology, climate change processes. The contribution for the GFW event will be a social development study case organized by a youth institution located in the Cinfães municipality (Douro Region) – “Casa D`Abóbora”. Besides a theoretical review around the subject, it will be demonstrated that their initiatives are clearly important to the population fixation and the local development processes.
17:30 | Lecture “The dialogue of normalization of Kosovo-Serbia relations” | EDU_Lab
Prof. Bardhok Bashota, University of Prishtina, Kosovo
Since 2009, Bardhok Bashota has been lecturing on key topics such as the Theory of European Integration, European Foreign Policy, and the Policy and Institutions of the European Union at the Faculty of International Relations and Diplomacy at Iliria College in Pristina. During the 2014–2015 academic year, she served as Vice-Dean at the same faculty. Since 2015, he has been a lecturer at the University of Pristina’s Faculty of Philosophy, where he teaches courses on the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, as well as Institutions and Decision-making within the EU, in the Department of Political Science.
A guest invited for training purposes and to develop inter-institutional and scientific cooperation
Asst. Prof. Dr. Rozafa Basha is the Vice-Rector for Internationalization and Academic Exchange at the University of Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo. She holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Prishtina (2002), a Master’s in Sustainable Urban Design from Lund University (2010), and a Ph.D. from the Polytechnic University of Tirana (2019). Her academic and research work centers on inclusive design, particularly the relationship between persons with disabilities and the built environment. She has published widely, including scientific articles, a monograph, and numerous technical reports.
Since 2003, Asst. Prof. Dr. Basha has been a faculty member at the University of Prishtina, where she currently teaches residential building design. She has served multiple terms as coordinator for academic development and has held visiting lectures in Italy, Poland, and Germany. Additionally, she has co-led international workshops in collaboration with institutions such as METU (Ankara), Politecnico di Milano, and Mediadesign Hochschule from Dresden. She is a member of the international scientific committee for the MUST (Master in Temporary Uses) program at Politecnico di Milano and has been actively involved in several Tempus and Erasmus+ projects.
For more information, please contact: gintare.baranauskaite@ktu.lt
