Marilù is a PhD researcher within the Marie Curie network "PersonalizeAF", science communicator and founder of the community "PhDISAGIO". Her goal is to break those barriers in research that prevent science from being open, gender-balanced & queer and to create a more inclusive scientific world. 

Thanks to social media she brings science into the everyday life of her community and sends the message that “Science is for everyone”. As she says: "Nobody should be afraid of taking part in this process, you can help to make this change happen". 
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I hope that the future has changed the consumption pattern of today's generation. This will result in less demand for consumer goods, fewer working hours for the individual worker, and thus more time for family, friends and hobbies. At the same time, it will result in less pollution of our planet.

I know that this also means a rebellion with the current division of labor and industry. Instead, I hope that the future will reward the social sector and social work better and also recognize all the work that takes place in the home - which is often done by women.

I hope that the future dares to act on the many danger signals that stand as flashpoints around the world. Whether it is wars, discrimination, injustice, undignified working conditions or psychological problems in young and old. Everything has one underlying crisis: the climate crisis. It must be acted upon based on various measures, where the world's decision-makers must dare to act. I hope that will have happened in 2040.

Feeling

When I think about the future, I am hopeful, but aware that the challenges and crises require action now.

Influence

In the big picture, decision-makers and powerful people are required to use the time for the important issues. As a European citizen, the first step is to start the dialogue with those closest to you at the local level, and as a young individual, use the available platforms, whether it is the local newspaper or your social media.
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I would like that all people are fair and equally treated.  And I would like to keep enjoying plants and trees and animals, and to have a not too baldy polluted planet. We all will need to not just travel for unnecessary reasons, and avoid to use polluting transportation. I would invent something like combinable transport modules that can transport a variable number of person and be used together, so that not each and every car or truck goes on the road with an own motor polluting the air.

Feeling

I don’t know how to feel about everything that is going on. 

Influence

In my free time I learn as a junior firefighter how to handle emergencies and the required technical things, I would like to develop more solutions to help humans to adapt to the climate and take care of the planet, such as fighting fires, save water and energy. Also I help people and friends in South Africa cleaning very polluted rivers, so that they can swim there again. And I tell people about things that I see and what we can do.
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My volunteering year felt like many lives were put into one. I've dreamed of living in Austria and here we go. My name is Maria, I'm from Ukraine from a lovely city Chernihiv that is now 70% damaged by russian bombs. I was lucky enough to start my volunteering before the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine and to be surrounded by people who were willing to support and listen.

The start of my ESC volunteering happened during a lockdown and I didn't know what to expect we all were learning how to balance our lives and go back to normal, whatever normal is. I had to face many emotional difficulties along the way, starting in times of one lockdown, seeing life happening after, for a while, another lockdown, and then the full scare war escalation in my home country that started while I was still here. But at the same time, I learned a lot, about how to keep going with your life when all the stable constants of your life are torn apart and you have to find ones within yourself.

My case was unprecedented, because of the russian full-scale invasion I was lucky to have the chance to stay 3 more months longer. I've started my year as a Project Management and Communications Specialist at Verein Europa und Bildung. But thanks to my coordinating organization LOGO had an opportunity to stay longer at LOGO-jugendmanagement as a part of the PR department. I'm grateful for my journey and all the people who made it unforgettable.

There are not enough words to express my gratitude to Austria and all the people who support me and Ukraine. I met so many wonderful souls during my time in Austria that brought so much light into my path. I've discovered so much about myself during my time here and it's just the beginning. ESC is something that you should really go for, because it may open doors to paths, that you never knew existed before :)

All the challenges apart, it was a wonderful volunteering year, which ended up being a bit longer. I had my firsts, like visiting France for the first time ever, trying cross-country skiing, and starting all over. Austria has so much to offer, every region is incredibly wonderful (of course I'm forever in love with Styria), the people are so nice and the traditions are fascinating. I feel really lucky to be here and I recommend everyone to be open to their new wonderful experiences with the help of the European Solidarity Corps. :)

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Andréa was born and raised in Aix-en-Provence, a small city in the South of France where she started in 2012 studying Foreign Languages, Literature and Real Estate.

In 2019, she decided to challenge herself and to move alone to Paris because of the professional opportunities and the multicultural aspect the city offers. During the Covid crisis, she decided to go back to her hometown and reflect on her next career path. After several years in the Real Estate field, she found her way towards her new current profession in the field of Human Resources. She loves to help and assist people in a completely new way. Her current role allows her to work in an international organisation as an HR Administrative Assistant and allows her to improve her language skills and work with people from different backgrounds and cultures.

This experience allows her to grow on so many levels and, most of all, she has learned that when you feel the need and see an opportunity for change, you must rise to the challenge. Often what you find is even better than expected. The best is always yet to come.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Gabriele Marija studied law and alternative dispute resolution in the UK. Her research interests lie in conflict resolution, animal law, sustainability, and public health. She is a former Project Manager at Create Lithuania - a unique program for professional development and applicability of best foreign practices to Lithuania's public sector. Together with her colleagues, she has developed a framework for assessing zoo animal welfare and is currently working on implementing the Easy-to-Read project in Lithuania.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Willemijn works as a grass roots sports club coach in Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Part of her job is about creating a positive sport climate where everyone can participate, and where the environment is safe for everyone. One of the club's projects is about supporting trainers and coaches of sport teams by teaching them mainly four techniques:

1. How to motivate and stimulate the sporters;
2. how to give individual attention to everyone in the team;
3. how to use structures to give the training and let the sporters choose what they want to learn, and  
4. how to play. 

Besides her work, Willemijn is a hockey player in Ladies 1 at a Hockey club where she also trains girls under 14. Over the years she trained many girls' teams, and she realised it is one of her biggest passions in life. Since a couple of months, she's also an ambassador of the European Week of Sport 2022. She wants to inspire young women in the sports world to do what they love and hopes her journey will inspire others to follow her example. 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Now, writing these words down during the winter Estonia, it seems a bit weird that I spent two months of my life in Italy and that I ended up there by fate.

It all started in September, when I went to LGBTQ+ training in Andalusia, Spain with the Erasmus+ program. After a long, long time, I managed to escape abroad for a while, and since it was really such a refreshing, warm and sunny experience, I thought that maybe I should go somewhere for a longer time....

And that fantasy turned into one of the most intense adventures of my life so far. That Saturday afternoon at the airport in Seville, I talked about the travel plan with my very good friend from university, who naturally immediately sent me a link where I could apply to volunteer in an organization operating in Italy, where she was also at that moment with the same purpose. A few days later, I talked with my future boss, Sara, and pretty soon it was confirmed that Teele was going to Italy.

Since the air connections are very bad, after 24 hours of travel, two bus rides and a flight and an overnight stay on the airport floor, I finally reached Lecce, a beautiful baroque town in the Salento region of Puglia, exhausted. I remember it so well, despite the fact that I was barely awake when I arrived. The weather was so-so warm, the sun was shining and the palm trees were swaying in the warm wind - an idyll. Gathering the last bits of energy, I headed to the third floor of a small apartment building next to the main road, where I was greeted by my lovely girls – Stella from Greece, Silvia from Spain and Melissa from Germany. Our group of four was full of girl power, and despite the fact that we literally spent every waking moment together, we got along very well, and today we have even bought plane tickets to visit each other. If you spend time together so intensively, there are two possibilities - tensions grow over your head or people become very close, luckily the last one happened with us.

The organization Vulcanicamente, which coordinated our activities, is mainly engaged in community work. Our project was entitled "Connecting the community" and therefore we also practiced our community work in its most literal sense - we planned and carried out three workshops at a local primary school, participated in a cyclist protest, interviewed locals and created content for social media, participated in a global clean-up day and at the end of the volunteer service we moved to a nearby village and helped the organization administer Erasmus+ training. It is important to note here that our office was located seven kilometers from our hometown, where we traveled every weekday morning on yellow retro bikes specially tuned for us. Cycling became very close to our hearts, which is why we quickly learned that traffic is a struggle and a brave wolf's chest is full of bullets - in order to survive on a bicycle in the temperamental Italian traffic, you had to assert yourself and from time to time accept a few losses in the form of falls (overturned). but the helmet always saved the day.

Since our group was full of initiative, in addition to working hard, we also got to have fun and see around a lot. A four-day quick tour of Rome and a hardcore sightseeing trip to Naples, where we also explored the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, were included in this extremely great two months. In our free time, we got to know the surrounding towns in Salento, and of course, as a matter of course, we visited an insane amount of churches and cathedrals - I lost count in the first week, but I believe we entered nearly twenty different ones. Of course, getting to know and adapting to the culture was accompanied by excessive consumption of cappuccino, excessive use of wheat flour products, and blushing. Apart from you, we had Italian time, a phenomenon specific to southern Italy, and we had to learn the most beautiful language in the world with the help of Duolingo, we enjoyed the changeable, but rather warm weather typical of the Mediterranean, and we consumed five liters of olive oil in fifty-two days.

I dare to say that the experience of voluntary work enriched my life and developed my character, helped me to better understand myself and gave me many beautiful, funny and nice memories. In addition to everything mentioned above, I also consider it an added value that I can now casually mention during the conversation that, oh by the way, I lived in Italy for two months (most of the time irrelevant information, but that's about it). There are many opportunities to see the outside world, and I dare to recommend all young people to use these opportunities, if you have a little initiative and desire, then everything is possible. For me, after years of studying and working at university, it was refreshing to go away for a while, explore the world a little and see life from a different angle. And of course, I recommend everyone to visit Italy at least once in their life - I will definitely go back there many more times.

Ciao!

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I took part in the Erasmus+ exchange program and spent a semester studying in Italy this spring. I’d been wanting to do it ever since I got into university, since it was highly recommended to us by the academic community. I am glad I made that choice – it was a memorable experience that helped me grow not only as a student, but also generally as a person.

First of all, having to spend months in a foreign country and study there is challenging, especially in the beginning. It takes a while to get used to the new places, new classmates, new lecturers, new education system and so on. Personally, the biggest challenge for me as a student was getting used to the differences in the education system, especially the prevalence of oral exams in Italian schools and universities. I was only used to taking written exams, so the experience of taking oral exams was relatively new to me and made me quite anxious at first. However, it ended up becoming a chance to evaluate and improve my skills, particularly my public speaking skills. These skills will continue to be necessary throughout my life and career, which is why I feel grateful for the opportunity to work on them. Moreover, even though getting used to living in a different city and a different country was stressful to some extent, the people around me at the time were kind, friendly and helpful, therefore it did not take a long while for me to start feeling comfortable. Lastly, getting to study with people from different backgrounds, different countries, different cultures was one of the best parts about the whole experience, because it was enriching to hear all the different points of view during class discussions.

Participation in the Erasmus+ exchange program definitely made me step out of my comfort zone, and as a result I became a more independent, skilled, and culturally enriched person. Overall, I would say that cultural enrichment – learning to see the world from a different point of view – is the main thing that makes these programs so unique and worth participating in.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026