University visits

One of my favorite parts of conference travel is not always the conference itself: it is the opportunity to visit colleagues at other universities.

Recently, I attended a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference organizers had arranged technical tours, and honestly, they looked very interesting. As an engineer, I always enjoy seeing projects in practice and learning from well-organized site visits. I would have loved to visit the bridge construction site.

Still, this time I made a different choice. Instead of joining the technical tour, I booked an early flight to Aalborg and spent the day visiting colleagues at Aalborg University before continuing on to Schiphol Airport in the evening (and head out to Ecuador again next early morning – ouch).

It turned out to be a wonderful decision.

At Aalborg, I had the chance to see an experiment they were running, visit the laboratory spaces, see the offices, and spend time talking with colleagues in their own academic environment about our collaborative efforts and next directions.

These visits always remind me that collaboration is not only about papers, meetings, and emails. It is also about understanding how people work, where they work, and what shapes their daily academic life.

Whenever I travel for a conference, I try to include at least one university visit if possible. Sometimes it is a quick coffee on campus, sometimes a full day visit. I do it because I genuinely value my colleagues and enjoy seeing them, but also because I am endlessly curious about universities themselves. They are, after all, little microcosmoses of academic life.

I love seeing how different campuses are designed and how these choices influence the academic atmosphere. Some universities have students and faculty clearly separated: offices in one building, laboratories somewhere else, classrooms in another part of town. Other universities integrate everything closely, with students working right next to laboratories and faculty offices. That physical closeness often creates a very different dynamic: more informal conversations, quicker problem-solving, and a stronger sense of shared academic life.

Walking through another university also helps me understand my colleagues better. When I see their laboratory setup, their office layout, the equipment they have access to, and even how their students interact with them, I better understand their daily rhythms. Context matters. It helps explain why certain research moves quickly, why some collaborations take more time, or why some teams have a particular workflow.

And, of course, I simply enjoy seeing all the interesting things people have in their labs. Engineers are probably especially guilty of this—we all love looking at equipment, setups, testing rigs, and experimental facilities. There is always something inspiring in seeing how another group approaches a problem.

These visits leave me energized. They remind me that academia is much bigger than my own office, my own lab, or my own university. They spark ideas, strengthen collaborations, and often lead to new perspectives on my own work.

It is always worth taking that early flight or long train ride to visit a colleague and spending the day exploring another academic home.