
Overall Reflection on the Happy Project from the Perspective of the Partner: From Classrooms to People and Society – and Back
Throughout my academic career, I have participated in a variety of projects—research, applied, and engaged, often supporting social and cultural activities at the grassroots level. However, the HAPPY project was truly unique. It provided an exciting opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences, experiment with both conventional and unconventional teaching and learning approaches and contribute to something meaningful for everyone involved. Central to the project was its promotion of qualitative methodology, which places people—and the world—at the center.
During the COVID-19 restrictions, we had to rely on online platforms to connect with one another and begin our initial teaching and learning activities. Over time, mutual trust developed, and the results of early research efforts in Bhutan were impressive. While not all team members were directly involved in this phase of the project, everyone was kept informed and eagerly awaited the chance to contribute. Due to limited time for planning, no one from the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Ljubljana, was able to attend the initial in-person meeting with Bhutanese colleagues in October 2022. It wasn’t until January and February 2023 that the full team was able to meet in Europe.
I was honoured to coordinate the activities organized by the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Ljubljana, alongside its Institute of Innovation and Development. Together, we explored a variety of theoretical and practical approaches to qualitative methodology. The local team contributed expertise in general ethnographic methodology (Rajko Muršič, Boštjan Kravanja), sensory-oriented methodology (Sandi Abram), and data writing and analysis (Ana Svetel).
In preparing activities for training Bhutanese teachers, we focused on the experiential aspect of qualitative research—emphasizing the practical application of qualitative methods in the humanities and social sciences within society. We also highlighted the importance of documentation, especially the specificities of archiving qualitatively gathered data, and explored the analytical potential of textual and other (visual) data.




To ground these ideas in real-world practice, we began with general presentations and broad discussions of academic culture, curriculum design, and the roles of seminar work and mentoring at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, which hosted the main academic part of the program. One of the most exciting moments was the presentation of departmental archives by documentarian Andraž Magajna, who introduced the electronic archive Ethnological Information Laboratory (EtnoInfoLab). Alongside Jaka Repič and Ana Svetel, we also presented the international curricula within the joint-degree program Creole and the trans-university collaboration project Eutopia.
To illustrate the practical application of qualitative, people-cantered approaches, we organized an excursion to two locations where our colleagues apply qualitative methods in local communities, particularly in local development and tourism. In Postojna, Martina Erjavec from the municipal development agency shared her experiences in development projects. In Škocjan, Darja Kranjc provided an engaging presentation about her work with the local municipality, focused on the UNESCO-listed Škocjan Caves. During this visit, we employed sensory methodology, touring the caves and the underground canyon with guidance from Borut Peric.
Sandi Abram later guided a sensory walk through Ljubljana, ending at Metelkova Mesto. PhD student Maja Dolinar presented the use of drawings in qualitative research, while Sandi Abram continued by exploring multimodal approaches, particularly sensory studies methods.
As the training continued, Ajda Pretnar Žagar demonstrated the use of the AI-based program Orange, developed as an open-source tool at the Faculty of Computer Science and Informatics, University of Ljubljana. Using Orange, participants analysed a selection of photos taken during their journey from Bhutan to Slovenia. The program demonstrated remarkable reliability in sorting hundreds of images. To conclude the workshop, I spoke about the importance of storytelling in writing reports based on qualitative research findings.
The institute team members—Klemen Pečnik, Andrej Kos, Jure Trilar, and Dan Podjed—introduced the multimedia lab, various projects, and approaches to digitalization, exploring the intersection of technology, people-cantered development, and interdisciplinary learning. We were also fortunate to hear from Matevž Lenarčič, a well-known activist, writer, pilot, and explorer, who presented his global environmental project on the spread of black carbon in the air. This served as an introduction to the sustainability conference held in Ljubljana that same week, where Bhutanese guests contributed a reflection on the “index of happiness.”
The possibilities for using qualitative approaches are virtually limitless. These methods, grounded in the experience of everyday life, have the power to connect real people’s realities with profound knowledge of societies and the world we inhabit—ultimately helping us improve life for everyone. This was our guiding intention as we organized the teacher training in Ljubljana.
In October 2023, I had the opportunity to attend activities in Bhutan. At the Royal Thimphu College, Lorraine Nencel and I conducted a writing retreat focused on scholarly paper and research proposal writing. This retreat allowed us to share our expertise on the various kinds and contexts of writing, as writing remains a primary method for communicating qualitatively acquired data.
However, once data is collected and expands beyond what can be manually analysed, technological tools are essential. This is why, in July 2024, Sandi Abram conducted a workshop on using the qualitative research program NVivo.
The final project meeting took place in November 2024 at the RTC College, offering an opportunity to assess the results of our nearly four years of collaboration—both at a distance and in person. My final impression is that the seeds of the Happy project were sown in fertile soil, particularly in the development of research proposals and scientific writing, which we experienced once again with Lorraine Nencel.


The small team from the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Ljubljana, is deeply grateful for the opportunity to work with our colleagues from the Netherlands and Bhutan. Not only did we have the chance to share our knowledge and teaching, but we also learned a great deal from our Bhutanese counterparts. We hope this collaboration will lead to longer-lasting partnerships, both formal and informal, starting with CLCS and RTC.