EU TalentOn

Leiden, a city where it rains periodically all day; where an old large mill stands; where the canals and bridges are wonderful especially at night. A city that gave birth or hosted dozens and dozens of scientists and artists (including Lorentz, Huygens, Einstein, and Rembrandt), and that in the last week has also welcomed a hundred young researchers for EU TalentOn, as well as teenage students for EUCYS, both organized and funded by European Commission.

Congratulations to all the winners of EU TalentOn! Have a look at their innovative ideas for the five EU missions. Notice also that the female representation (both in terms of applicants and selected participants) was really high: 65%!

My team didn’t win, but it was already a victory for me being among the 104 participants over 730+ applicants, having the chance to be in Leiden from September 14 to 18. I became more familiar with the relevant topics of EU missions. I definitely got the opportunity to train and improve my skills, especially teamwork, time management, project writing, pitching and communicating both to researchers in other fields than #orms and laypeople. And I met a lot of people from all around Europe and beyond, starting from my teammates Giovanni Canarecci, Hanna Gaweł, and Mariya Pantusheva.

A big thanks to the project manager Vivian Toemen, Lucien Geelhoed, Maria Mecenero, Henrik Scheel and all others who contributed to create and organize such event, European City of Science Leiden2022, Meta Knol, all staff at PLNT. Last but not least, thanks to our mission manager Fleur van Eeden and our buddy Karolina Miłkowska for the huge support in these intense days.

In the cobbled and romantic streets of European City of Science of 2022, there was a lot of curiosity, enthusiasm, imagination, and passion for science. Tot ziens, Leiden.