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I have attended the Ecsite 2019 conference thanks to the Erasmus+. This was a great a great opportunity to share my passion for science communication with hundreds of people across Europe and other countries. Ecsite 2019 served as a platform for learning and sharing experiences within the science centre and museum community. We have attended sessions delivered by fellow professionals on several topics within the remit of science communication and engagement. Apart from being a great learning experience, Ecsite is also a social hub where one gets to meet people with the same interests and of course create new collaborations. I do encourage others to make use of Erasmus+ funding to attend such conferences as it really is an amazing experience. Des Cini – Programme Development Executive |
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Erasmus+ is a learning experience no matter what age you decide to go. It is an opportunity that takes you out your ‘comfort zone’, it makes you explore and get inspired to approach things differently, both at the place of work and life in general. The mobility experience to start with takes you to a different country, you get to experience another culture, savour flavours from other countries but most importantly you get to exchange different points of view from different European cultures participating in such experiences. It is funded, which is definitely a + and it is not just for students. The result of the training is so enriching as there is a great deal of attention, and activity towards a particular aim happening over a condensed period of time. This is a unique scenario you wouldn’t get otherwise. It brings you back home much more energised! I would recommend this experience to anyone as a must, once in a lifetime. Giselle Calleja – Senior Public Relations Executive |
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I’ve always been interested in taking part in the Ecsite conference and luckily got the opportunity to do so during the period of the 5th and 9th June in Experimentarium in Denmark. The conference was constructed upon different workshops, talks and group chats with the aim to familiarize myself with consumer behaviour in future detail. Workshops have helped me grasp a better knowledge of the science behind exhibitions and critically evaluate their delivery towards our visitors. Apart from conferences, I got the opportunity to get a taste of Denmark. I’ve attended Gala night and other evening events in order to get to know others better and to taste traditional nibbles and drinks that are nowhere to be found in Malta. I would highly recommend these opportunities. Thea Tabone – Explainer |
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During the month of September, I had the opportunity to participate in training as part of an Erasmus+ Project, in the Czech Republic. This training entitled ’New Ways of Learning developing Creativity, Motivation and Curiosity’ encompassed various activities such as a visit to a local school, as well as field trips in forests and in cities such as Kutna Hora, and other activities involving practical learning. From a young age, I have loved the outdoors as well as field trips. This training captured all this, whilst providing me with a chance to grow both on a personal level and boost my abilities on a professional level. During this training, I had the opportunity to meet other people having different cultures and also gained knowledge of their pedagogy. Moreover, this served as an opportunity to see that outdoor learning helps children to become motivated, whilst supporting students that find it difficult to learn in a traditional classroom setting. Kurt Demanuele – Science Communicator |
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The Erasmus+ mobility experience was an excellent way to further explore how the same work I do is done by different people in a different part of Europe. As a science communicator working at Malta’s interactive science centre Esplora, I applied and was chosen to form part of a team which was to observe and shadow their counterpart at Heureka, the interactive science centre in Vantaa, Finland. Since the team was made up of representatives of different departments, I took the opportunity to learn more about the different roles and duties that it takes to run a science centre. This added to my interest in pursuing a career in this line of work. The best aspect of the whole experience was that it was not a one-way learning experience. This meant that the Finnish and the Maltese counterparts all learned from each other how to improve their practices given the socio-culturally different contexts in which the two science centres operate. I believe that this is the best way to ensure that people in different member states can share knowledge and learn from each other’s best practices to improve the quality of the service or product being offered. For this reason, I highly recommend this kind of experience for anyone who stands to gain from networking with other people working in the same field to share practices and information.</> Ryan Ruggier – Science Communicator |
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Applying for an Erasmus+ Mobility experience is not something I would ever think twice about. Through this programme I have had the opportunity to meet so many different people from all sorts of countries and learn so much. This year I was able to go to the Czech Republic a country I had never been to before. There I was learning about Outdoor Education in a beautiful informal setting. We had many hands-on experiences and met teachers coming from Belgium that shared their own struggles and hopes in implementing such strategies in the classrooms. I learned new techniques that I look forward to using in my work. I also had the unique opportunity to visit Prague, a wonderful city with a lot of history, and visit Kutna Hora another old town in the Czech Republic. Learning about culture, food, and lifestyles in different countries is something I always enjoy and cherish from these experiences. Making new friends and network connections from different countries is also a big motivator for applying for an Erasmus+. It helps me build a network of like-minded people that can support each other on the same mission. Sarah Galea – Programme Development Executive |
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