Yogyakarta, October 15th 2020—Global Engagement Office or GEO Fisipol UGM came back with Exposure Talks. Having previously managed to attract many participants with the theme of the LPDP Scholarship, in its seventh series, Exposure Talks brought a topic about “Chevening 101” by presenting two Chevening Scholarship awardees as the speakers, Retno Lestari Ningsih, M.Sc., dan Yasinta Ariesti, S.I.P. The GEO Fisipol UGM designed this Exposure Talks to be more productive, by providing essay writing workshops in the event. After it was opened at 01.05 p.m. by the short speech of the topic and the introduction of speakers by presenter and moderator. Retno as the first speaker was also invited to directly deliver the material. read more

Yogyakarta, October 15th 2020—The anniversary of Fisipol which is always celebrated lively, felt different this year. Because, in its 65th anniversary, it was celebrated in the middle of a pandemic era that is full of challenges. Because of that, Fisipol reflected the challenges that its faced through reflective discussion called “Social Sciences and Higher Education in a Pandemic Period” on YouTube Live on Thursday (15/10).

The reflective discussion was opened by the delivery of a speech titled as “Social Sciences and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Scientific Opportunities and Challenges in a Networked Society”, which was delivered by Haryanto as the Professor of the Department of Politics and Government. read more

Yogyakarta, October 14th 2020—Fisipol UGM Student Board is back with a Dean Hearing on Wednesday afternoon (14/10). In this event, the Dean hearing is created to accommodate university students’ academic and non-academic questions about the university process in the new normal. As always, in the hearing there was Prof. Dr. Erwan Agus Purwanto, M. Si as the dean, Dr. Wawan Masudi as the Vice Dean of Academics and Students Relations, as well as Ika Wulandari Widyaningrum, S.Pd., MBA as the Head of Students Relations. The event was held from 16.00 until 17.30 pm. read more

Yogyakarta, October 12th 2020—The 65th Fisipol UGM Dies Natalis celebration is more festive with the Politic and Government Student Corps (KOMAP) event called Politico Tour or better known as Poltour. As an annual program held by the Department of Government and Politics, Poltour that is usually done by visiting many government organizations is now changed into an online webinar event. Taking the theme of Indonesia’s social and political dynamics after the pandemic, Poltour is hoped to be a place to think critically together on the issue of the pandemic. This webinar series has three focuses; the state (12 october 2020), intermediary (13 october 2020), and society (14 october 2020). read more

Yogyakarta, October 9th 2020 – Organization of Humanity of FISIPOL UGM came back with another OH Online Edition of Visitation on Friday night (9/10). This Online Visitation via Google Meet raised the topic “The Story of COVID-19 Volunteers: Fighting for Humanity”. Sherry Anastasya (Nutritional Science of Faculty of Public Health of University of Indonesia 2017). a COVID-19 volunteer at Wisma Atlet, became the speaker this time. The event lasted from 07.00 p.m. to 08.30 p.m and was moderated by Felice, a student of Communication Science class 2019. read more

Yogyakarta, October 8th 2020—The International Relations Students Corps (KOMAHI) UGM held Diskors (Diskusi Olahraga Skuy!) on Thursday night (8/10). This sports discussion invited a speaker, an alumna of International Relations of UGM class 2016, Antakarana Tanugraha. In this event, they discussed Tanugraha’s thesis titled as Nation Branding in the Politics of Organizing International Sports Events in Developing Countries. This event started at 06.15 p.m. The background of choosing sports as a discussion material in his thesis was because sport has universal properties that make it attractive to most of the people in the world. The organization of sports events is eagerly awaited by people from all over the world to watch or even visit the venues directly. Becoming a host country for organizing international sporting events is a very dreamy thing because the arrival of tourists to watch matches provides an opportunity and become an economic boost, it makes developing countries compete to host sporting events. This event discussed the comparative study of developing countries that host the Olympics, such as China (2008), South Africa (2010), Greece (2004), and Brazil (2016). read more

Yogyakarta, October 8th 2020 – The Public Sector Risk Management by the Undergraduate Program of the Department of Public Policy and Management held an open lecture. By presenting Hanif Muhammad, M.Sc. as the guest lecturer, this open lecture discussed specifically about Risk Management and Business Agility in Facing COVID-19. Other than being held according to the course hours—at 07.30 a.m., the discussion session with the speaker was also guided by one of the lecturers in the Public Sector Risk Management course, Media Wahyudi Askar, S.I.P, M.Sc., Ph.D. As the CEO of Boogie Protective and Head of INDEF Center for Innovation and Digital Studies, Hanif combines existing theory with the experience he had had, both from a personal and corporate point of view. However, before entering into the presentation of the material from the guest lecturer, Media as the moderator read out the CV which Hanif responded directly to as a form of introduction to the participants. read more

Yogyakarta, October 5th 2020—Center Digital for Society held the 35th Digital Discussion on Monday night. The event titled Virtual Photoshoot: Stay Creative at Home” was held through the Whatsapp Group platform. Gandung Adi Wibowo, a photographer, was the speaker in the event. The event started at 7 pm and was moderated by Devia Putri Maharani, an event assistant at CfDS As always, before starting the discussion, the moderator talked about the rules of the discussion and introduced the speaker. In this session, Gandung aimed to talk all about virtual photoshoot. While we #stayathome, our social media is filled with a new photography trend that is called virtual photoshoot. The moderator then showed some examples of virtual photoshoot and asked about the concept of the photo to the audience. Most of the audience are still not sure about the virtual photoshoot concept in social media. Actually, virtual photoshoot is used as a solution for photographers during quarantine which makes it almost impossible for them to take photos outside. This trend is booming when a lot of public figures do it too. Gandung said that the concept used by the models to do a virtual photoshoot is by having a video call with the photographer, hold a pose, then take a screenshot. For the equipment, photographers often use SLR, DSLR, Mirrorless & Pocket. The preparations are the same with a normal photoshoot which is by checking the location and property. For example, the day before the photoshoot, photographers need to video call the model to see in which area of the house can the photoshoot be done by seeing which spot has a good light and which spot is unique. Other than that, the internet connection in the spot needs to be paid attention to. “The internet quality is the key. No matter how expensive, how good, how sophisticated the equipment is, it won’t mean a thing if the internet is slow,” Gandung said. The screen is also important. Every media screen has their plus-minus in terms of the pixel, color gamut, or other aspect that determines the quality of the photo. “If you’ve seen a virtual photo that is too pixelated, it’s because of the screen. But the latest tech usually has good screens,” Gadung said. Additionally, the hour of the photoshoot also needs to be paid attention to because it determines the amount of light in the photo. Actually, through our handphone we can already set the ISO, the sensor sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive it is to light. If the photo location is dim, then the handphone will automatically raise the ISO. The risk of a high ISO is the noise, it can be seen through the pixelated picture and unsharp picture. After this elaboration, Gandung shows some pictures with high and low ISO. On the end of the elaboration, Gandung has a little tips to direct the model. The tip is to hold on to the principle “give compliments, not critics”. Gadung said “If you want the model to smile, make them smile. Don’t say ‘come on, smile!’” he said. The discussion is then followed by a question and answer session. The event ended at 9.pm.

Yogyakarta, October 2nd 2020—In the opening of Magister of International Relations, the Graduate Program of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada cooperated with Institute of International Studies to welcome their new students in the public lecture called Critical Review of International Relations Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. This public lecture presented four speakers and generally talked about the importance of internal relations science in responding to changes at the global level caused by the pandemic.             The public lecture was opened at 08.30 a.m. by the MC that explained about rules, terms and conditions, and the event’s schedule. After praying, the MC left the process of discussion to the moderator. The moderator, Dr. Siti Muti’ah Setiawati, M.A., which is the Head of Magister of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada, explained briefly about the reasons why this public lecture was held, before she let the keynote speaker deliver the material.             The keynote speaker of this public lecture was Dr. Arifi Salman, General Consulate in New York. He talked about Diplomation in the Pandemic Time. Arifi explained much about the condition of relations between countries during the current pandemic and Indonesia’s position in these relations, both at the international, multilateral, as well as bilateral levels.             Talked about the relations between countries, the next speaker, Muhadi Sugiono, M.A., a lecturer of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada, generally explained more about theories. With his presentation called COVID-19 and the Theorizing Change in International Relations, Muhadi explained about four big theories’ spectrums in international relations science, its characteristics, and the point of views in responding to the ongoing pandemic.             The explanation of Muhadi then continued by the next speaker, Dr. Dafri Agus Salim, M.A., another lecturer of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada. His materi called International Responses about Pandemic: The Rise of Political Realism? was brought by Safri to examine the response of each country to the COVID-19 pandemic which turns out to be in line with the point of view of realism theory, which was one of four big theories’ spectrums that was explained earlier by Muhtadi.             In contrast to Muhadi and Dafri, the next speaker, Dr. Maharani Hapsari, who is also the lecturer of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada, offered new things in her explanation. Her presentation called Pandemic: Opportunity to Drive Planetary Citizenship, Maharani talked about how pandemic has a relation with global extrativism crisis, even after we enter the new normal period. Then, Maharani also explained about planetary citizenship which is widely referred to as new politics of the commons.             As the closing speaker, Dr. Riza Noer Arfani, M.A., also a lecturer of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada, talked about Deglobalize, Deurbanize: The Context of International Relations in Pandemic Time which was also his research proposal. Before he explained about the topic, Riza explained about the international political-economic review and deglobalization and deurbanization in general. In his research proposal, Riza Riza showed possible theoretical and practical scenarios to use.             Periodically, during each change of speakers, the moderator updates the number of participants who are members of this general lecture session. The public lecture was continued by question and answer sessions that were done in two terms. In the first term, the moderator and the presenter select three questions specifically for the keynote speaker, Dr. Arifi Salman. In the second term, three further questions were selected for the other speakers. The speakers also complement each other’s answers. Due to time constraints, after expressing special thanks from the Department of International Relations for Dr. Arifi Salman for taking the time to join and share material, the moderator closed the public lecture at 11.37 a.m.

Yogyakarta, October 1st 2020—Anyone can experience mental disorders, including students. Realizing the need for lecturers support for the mental health of students, Career Development Centre (CDC) Fisipol UGM, held a Mental Health Workshop on The Role of Lecturers in Supporting Mental Health in the FISIPOL UGM Environment. A lecturer of the Faculty of Psychology of UGM, Muhana Sofiati Utami, became the speaker, meanwhile the psychologist of CDC FISIPOL UGM, Dina Wahida, became the moderator in this event that was joined by dozens of FISIPOL UGM teaching staff.             “Students usually experience mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, procrastination, and dependence,” Muhana said. According to her, enough levels of anxiety could motivate a person. But, if it became too much, anxiety could cause insecurity for someone and thought that something bad would happen to them. Moreover, students can be depressed, from mood disorder to suicide attempt. Depression can be caused by feelings of someone who feels very belittled, worthless, very guilty, to the point of feeling very lost.            Then, Muhana said, students also often procrastinate in doing assignments. She also admitted that sometimes the lecturers also did it. The reality is that many people procrastinate because they are too focused on doing other things. Other than that, she said that many students experience internet dependence. When making a survey in her class, Muhana received many answers from students that they could spend hours in front of gadgets. “There are those who watch Korean dramas, play games, and open the internet for hours so they can’t do anything else,” Muhana said.  She added that the more extreme dependency of the youth is in cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs.             Muhana explained that the characteristics of a mentally healthy individual are being able to build positive relationships with others, enjoy helping and being helped by others, and being responsible. Other than that, a healthy individual can respect themselves and not compare themselves to other people, also they do work based on their capabilities and talents. She said that there are students who force themselves to do things that are not suitable with their abilities, because they compare their achievements with others. In fact, added Muhana, everyone has their own talents. “If we can do the jobs based on our competencies, then we can get good results,” she explained.             “Fisipol students are already aware about mental health issues, but many of them are self-diagnosed themselves,” Dina Wahida said. This psychologist of CDC said that the existence of CDC helps the students to be aware about the importance of mental health issues. But, on the other hand, many students came to the psychologist service of CDC to fulfill their academic purposes. Responding to this, Muhana said that she had also met the same thing at Gadjah Mada Medical Center. She explained, there were students who diagnosed themselves and it turned out to be true, but many also turned out to be wrong. Muhana said, CDC psychologists and FISIPOL lecturers need to understand the condition of students who claim to have mental disorders. She suggested that the CDC Fisipol psychologist determine whether the student really had a mental disorder or was just pretending.             Continuing the question from Dina, Lisa Lindawati, the lecturer at the Department of Communication Sciences (Dikom), also asked how the lecturer faced students who claimed to have mental disorders. Muhana suggested that the lecturers should listen to the students’ stories first. However, she continued, it does not mean that lecturers will solve problems from students. Muhana said, lecturers who are willing to listen to problems‒that affect academics‒of students have actually helped to ease the burden of these students. This is because students feel they are heard and it allows them to determine the next steps to solve their problems. “If the lecturer is unable, the lecturer can refer the student to someone who has more authority, for example a CDC psychologist,” Muhana explained.             “When working on a thesis, students look very competitive. Some are motivated, but others feel depressed,” Jusuf Wahyuono said. The teaching staff at Dikom, who was once a thesis tutor, asked about how to be a good thesis tutor in accompanying students in these conditions so that students remain enthusiastic. According to Muhana, a lecturer or thesis tutor needs to make a conducive condition, it means that students can support and help each other. She added that lecturers or thesis tutors could also encourage the friends of students who felt down to encourage them. However, lecturers or thesis tutors must also understand that everyone has a different personality type, so they can treat students appropriately.