COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES FINALLY RESUME IN PERSON! – STYLIANI (STELLA) ROUFOU
In the past year, there was a big change in our lives. Regular face-to-face work, short chats and meetings have been replaced by virtual events and remote work. Fortunately, it has been a few months since some sense of normality has resumed in Malta. We returned to our workspace and our meetings, always concerned about the restrictions. While the face to face activities began to increase, I received some emails about outdoor communication activities, which could help us spread our knowledge and passion.
The first email came three months ago with two different communication activities. The first activity, called HERstory Makers 2021, is about inspiring the next generation and giving outstanding female-identifying role models a stage to thrive on. There is no gender within the research! Eight female early-career researchers, including myself, had 2 minutes to pitch our research and ourselves in a video. The videos were presented at different Scottish primary schools and on social media. Furthermore, there was a European competition in which people had to vote for the best European-inspired video.
In addition, the second activity was Science in the City 2021, intending to attract people through science and the arts, educate, inspire creativity and passion for knowledge for people of all ages across the country. In this event, I participated in a game called The Game of Talents, and the audience had to guess my field. Later, I presented my research to them and replied to their questions.
My final communication activity is an interview that I had for a Maltese magazine called THINK. It was my pleasure to meet the guys from the magazine and have this interesting talk; the final article came out very nice!
In conclusion, after one year of postponing our secondments or doing them virtually, we can now have them in person. Lydia travelled to Malta, and we collaborated in the lab. Now, it is my time to move to Belgium, explore the new country and interact with other researchers. I am looking forward to new experiences and knowledge transfer!
