Hi everyone! I am Emma, a 23-year-old International Relations student from Venice, Italy. Currently, I am volunteering as an IVY Reporter for the Interreg Italy-Croatia Programme, also based in my home city.

 Unlike IVY Project Partners, who collaborate on a single project, being an IVY Reporter means working with the entire Programme. Our role is dedicated to disseminating its efforts and results, including those of its funded projects, while raising awareness of Interreg as a whole. This position has allowed me to see the bigger picture of how an Interreg Programme functions, from the initial drafting of a Call for Proposals to the final capitalisation of results.

 Working with the Communication Unit has been the best opportunity to see how the Programme’s five priorities are actually put into practice. I quickly realised that learning the titles of these priorities was just scratching the surface. The more I helped share projects’ activities, the more I learned about incredibly diverse topics: from AI in the Blue Economy and firefighting practices to age-old cheese-making traditions. I found myself surrounded by environmental engineers, young movie directors, biologists – all people from worlds I never would have guessed could intersect with my International Relations background.

 One of my tasks over the past few months was contributing to the joint communication campaign, Insights from Standard Projects. This consisted of 13 publications across social media, spotlighting articles produced by the Programme’s 1st Call for Proposals Standard Projects. Born out of a desire to showcase their achievements, the campaign focused on turning complex and technical concepts into engaging stories.

 The variety of the work was remarkable: from research findings, such as studies on consumer perceptions of aquaculture and climate risk assessments in the Adriatic, to initiatives with great social impact, like the redistribution of surplus school meals to vulnerable populations, to technical innovation, including insights on hydrophone sound analysis and the integration of cycling routes with public transport.

 What struck me most was that every single publication sparked significant interest, regardless of the distance between topics. I wondered: how could matters such as, for instance, biodiversity and accessible tourism resonate with the same audience?

 Eventually, I realised that the success of the campaign proved that these seemingly disparate themes matter deeply to the same people because of a common concern: the preservation of our shared territory. I learned that our environment needs to be cared for in numerous ways and saw the concrete, human results of this cooperation.

 Being an IVY Reporter has not only meant meeting fascinating people and learning about their specific fields of action. Before this experience, I struggled to see how I could cooperate with them to help my territory without being a scientist or an engineer myself. Now, I understand that everyone can make a difference from their own niche, as cooperation is only truly effective when it tackles a wide range of issues simultaneously.