Meet our associate professor in biomedicine
Lara Adnan Aqrawi, baking enthusiast and bird watcher, is an associate professor in biomedicine, while also being an immunologist and researcher on autoimmune diseases. In her spare time she enjoys cooking, baking, dancing, and engaging in philosophical discussions!
Please tell us about the various opportunities for personal- and career development you´ve experienced while being employed at Kristiania University College?
– Being employed at Kristiania University College has given me several possibilities for both personal and academic development and growth. Thanks to the fruitful and inspiring work environment present at Kristiania, I have managed to broaden my communication skills by acquiring new tools for structural thinking and pedagogical forwarding of knowledge.
We are a diverse group, with several academic backgrounds, nationalities and expertise.
The exchange of personal work-related experiences and challenges with other colleagues has been very helpful and inspiring.
What do you consider to be the most important qualities of someone wanting to join our Kristiania-family?
– One needs to be open to personal development, enhancing already acquired tools and skills, and also making an effort in attaining new techniques and learning new practices academically. This is to ensure that we at Kristiania University College can continue to offer our students an education of the highest quality, with the upmost pedagogical implementation, which is also up to date with recent advances in technology and research.
The composition of our Kristiania family is built on mutual respect, tolerance, open-mindedness and understanding, where diversity and uniqueness is welcomed and encouraged.
How do you find the work-life balance?
– After starting my position at Kristiania University College I have managed to gain a healthier balance between my work and personal life. By having a more structured workday, where my seniors and colleagues are always very approachable, positive, helpful, and reachable has helped me become familiar with new routines and practices rather quickly and efficiently. I am able to accomplish a great deal during my work hours, which allows me to relax and enjoy my evenings and weekends and recharge for the following workday/week.
We aim to nurture an active international research environment. How is this goal reflected in your day-to-day work?
– One of the most attractive privileges with my position at Kristiania, is that I have more liberties regarding the institution(s) and research group(s) I wish to collaborate with, and how to organize and invest my time when fulfilling my research obligations at Kristiania.
We currently have several ongoing cutting-edge research projects, in order to extend our experimentation and recruitment of PhD candidates to our thriving research environment. I hope that these efforts will contribute positively to us achieving our goal of becoming a university in the near future.
Open to new opportunities?