Aleyna Salman - 4th-Year Psychology (English) Student
I completed my Erasmus internship at the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic's České Budějovice province. My advisor during this period was Mgr. Jakub Staněk, Ph.D. I am very interested in cyberpsychology and focus on reading and research in this area. My advisor in Czechia was an expert in cyberpsychology, and this was the main reason I chose to do my internship with him. My thesis was on a topic within the field of cyberpsychology, and my advisor was very helpful, offering insights and suggesting that I could conduct my research using my university's virtual reality laboratory. I used this psychology department laboratory to continue my research with additional participants. Furthermore, during my Erasmus internship, I observed experiments conducted by other undergraduate and graduate psychology students in their theses, offered insights into their research methods, and assisted in the literature review of some studies. I taught Social Psychology and Game and Computer Addiction courses in English under the supervision of my advisor. Additionally, I received an offer from the academics I met at the University of South Bohemia and from my advisor to pursue a master's degree there, and I applied for a psychology master's degree. My advisor suggested that I could be supportive and provide guidance in my future studies in cyberpsychology. I spent two months partially assisting my advisor and working on my thesis in a laboratory setting.
Dilbeste Erdoğan (4th-Year Psychology (English) Student)
Hello! I'm Dilbeste. I'm one of the first students in the English-medium Psychology Department at Ankara Science University. I completed the first half of my four-month internship, which was supposed to be in the 2023-2024 spring semester, in the Czech Republic as part of the Erasmus+ internship mobility. I completed my two-month internship at the Psychology Research Institute of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Masaryk University in Brno. It was an unforgettable experience for me. Taking part in the Erasmus program had always been on my mind, so I prepared myself psychologically for this process. I believe that the academic and social experiences I gained during my internship helped me develop myself. Working at a research institute gave me new ideas about what I wanted to do after graduation, even though I was feeling very confused about my future plans. I also found answers to questions I'd been wondering about: what a psychology department in a completely different country and university is like, how does the research process work, and what the differences are between Turkey and Turkey. During my internship, my supervisor and I designed a scientific study from scratch, giving me a taste of what it means to work in academia with a research team of psychologists. I think dedicating the final semester of our school to an internship is a great opportunity to experience our profession in different areas. I think interning at different places before graduation is especially beneficial for students like me who aren't sure what they want to do in the future.