“At the moment, I am involved in both teaching and research. I'm a lecturer for three courses and for one of them I also serve as course coordinator."
Besides teaching in the undergraduate, master, and PhD programmes, Joyanto also spends a lot of time doing research. The research is primarily focused on three subjects - climate change, water issues, and security related to developing countries in Africa and Asia.
Joyanto doesn't work on these projects all by himself. At the moment, two master's students are writing their thesis with him, one is on the topic of water contamination in India and Bangladesh. Personally, Joyanto likes how topics like these and the can have a major impact for the people living in these places. Involving international students is important to him.
''I strongly believe in the value of student exchange; that's why I assist in finding places for LiU students to go abroad and vice versa. Students from Asia and Africa that come here for a short period to study and do research tell me that even though LiU is geographically far away from the developing countries and their issues, the university is very relevant in our research."
One of the major strengths of the programme, Joyanto points out, is that there is a large variety of nationalities and academic backgrounds. He and his colleagues attempt to change the course material every year according to the background of the students. This way, the courses stay challenging for everyone and students can decide for themselves whether they want to focus more on the social or on the natural science aspects.According to Joyanto, this multi-disciplinary nature enables students to develop themselves in the way they prefer and helps them to pursue a career in, for example, NGO’s, government agencies, or academics.
