Around the world in 27 fellows: Prof Dr Nancy Achieng Owuor Booker

Name: Prof Dr Nancy Achieng Owuor Booker

Home university: Aga Khan University, Kenya

Host faculty: Faculty of Cultural Sciences

Fellowship title: Building Bridges for Impact: A fellowship to deepen collaboration between TH Köln and AKUGSMC through joint teaching, research and special projects

Duration of stay: May 15 – July 18, 2026, January 04 – February 04, 2027

I was interested in the International Fellowship because…
I wanted to experience KISD from the inside, not as a visitor, but as a colleague. While partnerships today are often built through emails and Zoom calls, the strongest collaborations are built through shared experiences, conversations over a Kaffee, and a genuine understanding of each other's academic cultures. As Dean of the Graduate School of Media and Communications at Aga Khan University, I saw this fellowship as an opportunity to better understand KISD's philosophy, culture and approach to teaching so that we can create meaningful international experiences for students and faculty from both our institutions. My ambition was not simply to learn about KISD, but to begin imagining what a long-term partnership between our institutions could look like.

Specifically, during the fellowship I wanted to…
immerse myself in the life of KISD, engaging with faculty, staff and students, observing how learning happens inside and outside the classroom, and working alongside Prof. Philipp Heidkamp to explore what would make an international experience in Kenya truly transformative for students from Cologne. Having been Dean himself for close to 12 years, some mentorship was also quite useful during our informal conversations. Equally important was the opportunity to introduce AKU-GSMC beyond brochures and websites. Institutions are not buildings, programmes or plans. They are people and are about people. I wanted colleagues here to know who we are, what we care about, and the values that shape our work in East Africa.

During my time in Germany, I wanted to find out…
what makes KISD distinctive. I wanted to explore its interdisciplinary learning model, design culture, and collaborative pedagogy, and to reflect on which elements could enrich our own programmes. I was also curious about how design thinking can complement media and communication education, from curriculum development and community engagement to research, storytelling, innovation and problem-solving.

I think international exchange…
remains one of the most powerful forms of learning. It is one thing to collaborate over Zoom and quite another to share Currywurst, navigate public transport on the Trams and ICE Trains, celebrate traditions like the Grad Show, and discover how colleagues think, teach and solve problems. You experience the weather – extreme heat and rain all in under an hour! –, the culture – obeying traffic signals even when there is no car in sight! –, the everyday rhythms, and somewhere along the way, you discover whether you simply work together or whether you genuinely connect as partners and friends. The best collaborations begin long before the first research proposal is written and we are working on.

Something that is different at my home university than at TH Köln is…
the ease with which students engage with faculty. There is an openness and informality that encourages dialogue, curiosity and experimentation. I was equally impressed by the diversity of the student community and by spaces such as the Guten Stube. It reminded me that some of the most meaningful learning happens outside scheduled classes. Great ideas are often born over Kaffee or Tee, spontaneous conversations in the famous Room 11 at KISD, and shared curiosity before they ever make it into a classroom, a research paper or a boardroom.

What I take back to my home university is…
that student life should be enjoyable and rigorous at the same time. Academic excellence and joy are not mutually exclusive. Creative, welcoming and collaborative spaces create a sense of belonging, encourage testing of ideas and enrich learning. As we develop our own programmes, I will be thinking not only about what students learn, but also where they learn, how they connect, and how the university experience can inspire curiosity, creativity and community.

What I like about TH Köln is…
the people. From the moment I arrived, I was welcomed with warmth and openness. Whether in formal engagements, in the classrooms or casual conversations over lunch at the Mensa or elsewhere, colleagues were approachable and genuinely interested in exchanging ideas. It felt less like visiting another university and more like joining another academic family.

What I really wanted to experience in Cologne is…
the magnificence of Cologne Cathedral. I made several visits to the Dom as it is referred to, and every visit was surreal. Standing beneath the Dom reminded me that remarkable things are built patiently, collaboratively and over generations. In many ways, it reflects Cologne itself, a city that embraces history while remaining open to new people, new ideas and new possibilities and this is a lesson I will carry home. Strong international partnerships are not built overnight. They are built through openness, trust, shared purpose and the courage to imagine what we can create together that will benefit generations long after we are gone!

About PLan_CV

The International Fellows program is part of the project PLan_CV („Professur-Laufbahn an Hochschulen für angewandte Wissenschaften neu denken: Collaboration und Vernetzung“). Its goal: Finding excellent candidates for professorial careers at TH Köln and achieving greater permeability between the academic world and the business sector. The project’s budget of 12.4 million Euros is funded through the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space program “FH-Personal” (staff for universities of applied sciences).