First of all, meeting all these people, specialists, freelancers, professors at universities was quite a nice experience. They come from all over the EU, some of them are currently working and living at such distant places as New York State in the US or the French island La Réunion in the Indian Ocean. In total, there were around 25 people coming by train, car or plane to Burg Rabenstein. They have totally different backgrounds in their studies and also work for different institutions like universities, research institutes or the United Nations.

It was fascinating to see how EU projects work. There were different topics researchers are working on: Some groups dealt with mountainous ecosystem services and how they could be assessed, others wanted to create a new type of databank, in another room, the members aimed to assess the services of Lake Ohrid in Macedonia. Also, the functioning of the group as a whole was interesting because so many different nationalities and cultures clashed during these intense workshops – it was noticeable in subtle ways like the different forms of approaches or varying opinions on the meaning of certain words. Some discussions took much more time than they were meant to, for reasons like a very long debate about how to use the term “ecosystem services” correctly. Despite all differences and discussions, it is remarkable that there was never a lack of respect and even though hands were thrown into the air and, during heavier discussions, loud sighs were made and sometimes eyes were rolled, there was an overall kindness and understanding for the others.

As the topics were widely ranged as mentioned above, the groups worked also with different approaches. Some groups would directly start off with brainstorming and writing their ideas down in a word document. Others made mind maps and drew graphs on paper, trying to get their topic from another angle. While a few groups only consisted of two or three people, in others there were more people involved. Not all members of Ecopotential could manage to come to Franconia to join their colleagues. So, there were quite a lot of Skype calls during the working sessions.

During these days of intense workshops, I had the chance to not only see the researchers as such, but also to look behind the facade. This is a very important fact that we often tend to forget: Researchers are also only human beings. This means they have a passion they live and work for but on the other side, this means that they also have “normal” interests besides their research like good food, music, books. They have families and other beloved ones they care for. And some of them are extremely funny – something that doesn’t really correlate with the stereotype of the serious researcher who appears to be from another planet.

It was an eye-opening time in Burg Rabenstein because in another context I would have gotten to know these professors and international specialists in another way. Maybe this is something, we should do more often: Read between the lines, look at things from other perspectives and to think outside our own very narrow box.

The post Ecopotential – Insights to an EU-funded project appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Giving youth a voice since 1945

The European Forum Alpbach is a think-tank and interdisciplinary platform for science, politics, business and culture established in 1945. Every year it addresses relevant socio-political questions of our time in a fun, interactive andopen way to inspire social debates.

This year’s EFA18: Diversity and resilience

In 2018, the EFA will be all about “Diversity and Resilience”: an extremely relevant topic that defines our age of rapid transformations. Now more than ever we hear from all possible sides how systems are changing and questions arise whether diversity in financial, technological, human and environmental terms is or not driving the change and whether or not it can provide resilience, prosperity and success for manifold human and environmental systems.

Participate as an scholarship-holder

As a scholarship-holder sponsored by the European Forum Alpbach you will have an unforgettable academic and social learning experience! You will witness how think-tanks can foster international dialogue and gather young agents of change to share their ideas, passion and motivation – Carla Madueño, EFA17 participant

Students willing to expand their bag of ideas are encouraged to apply, as topics range from sustainability issues to ethics in economics, grassroots politics and social movements, law, technology and development, education, finances and markets, and many more.

Don’t miss out the opportunity to meet fascinating people from all over the world and spread the momentum for change in the heart of the Austrian Alps.

What are you waiting for?

Apply until March 30, 2018 (11:59 noon CET). If not convinced yet, get inspired & watch the video here.

Application links

• European Forum Alpbach Homepage
• EFA Scholarship Program and Online application
• Testimonials by former scholarship-holders: Humans of Alpbach
• Participant Report EFA2017
• Contact Author for further details

The post Apply now for a scholarship to attend the European Forum Alpbach appeared first on Global Change Ecology.