What is your role in the Circle U. Alliance?
I’m currently the lead of the student-led sustainable innovation team at Université Paris Cité. Simply put, our mission is to empower our students while they’re on their way of becoming active professionals in European society. More concretely, this consists in creating innovative, learning-while-doing, interdisciplinary programs centred around sustainable development goals such as hackathons, challenges and online entrepreneurial programs that spark the creativity of our students, provide them with concrete professional skills, an understanding of the real-life challenges of 21st century Europe and the willingness to become active stakeholders in society. The latter has an extraordinarily strategic value for our universities as we create our programs in collaboration with non-academic stakeholders, such as hospitals, townhalls etc. Another important initiative that I’m particularly proud of is our Female Founders Network that aims at empowering young female scientists, innovators and entre/intrapreneurs which was launched at our Paris Female Founders Retreat.
What do you particularly like about your work at Circle U.?
There are perhaps two facets of my work within Circle U. that I value the most. One of them is the infinite possibility offered by the new European educational and research space to create new values, to champion contemporary challenges and most importantly, to push long-existing boundaries. There is nothing more rewarding for a researcher / educator than being a pioneer and hence shaping the future of Europe!
The other extremely valuable facet of my work would be the particularly rich and enriching, multicultural and multilingual human encounters made possible by Circle U. whether it be with students, researchers, university leadership or non-academic stakeholders. I can only hope that an ever-growing number of students and researchers will be able to experience the joy of rediscovering and redefining themselves while discovering the diversity of Europe!
What sight in your city would you show a visiting colleague?
Paris, ‘the City of Lights’ is internationally renowned for the beauty of its historic monuments, its tradition, its effervescent cultural life, and its lavish cuisine. However, I’d invite my colleagues to the romantic, cobblestoned alleyways of the ‘Village Didot’ in the 14th district where the evergreen decoration, the community life and the presence of hidden artistic gems makes you feel you’re indeed in a village in the South of France!
Have you had an Erasmus/exchange experience abroad, as a student or in your profession?
My first university exchange experience dates back to my years as a medical student: I spent a month-long internship in Italy. And then, I ended up living in Paris after having spent a year here as an Erasmus student when I was studying contemporary literature at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle.
If you had a sabbatical year, what would you do?
If I had a sabbatical year, I’d probably spend it in our Circle U. universities mapping best practices, educational structures, programs, and cultural approaches to higher education – just to be able to draw on that experience and to provide an analysis and comprehensive data on how we could strengthen our collaboration!