Good morning everyone, welcome to UR podcast of UNIGE radio, from the University of Genoa, the harbour of your voice. Here is Marta again, and I am happy to welcome you to the third episode of the “Rocket to #ESA2023” podcast. If you are here again today, I guess you got further curious about my experience and so I'll do my best to not disappoint you with my storytelling. Let’s begin then!
Today I am going to reveal which role I actually took up in the ESA 2023 and how I got involved in the UNIGE radio project, which has given me the precious opportunity of developing my own podcast that you are listening to now. You see, everything is connected and bound together in life, you just have to ride properly the wave you find yourself upon! This might seem an apparently irrelevant comment, but it is not: in my modest opinion, encouragement and positivity is always well needed and, sometimes, even necessary.
Back to us, you might remember from last week’s episode, that during Turin’s summit I personally came up with the idea of being a reporter and observer at the ESA on behalf of my own university and for Ulysseus. So, on that same date, I enthusiastically spoke to one of the coordinators of the Ulysseus project of UNIGE, who was there in Turin too, about my idea. Seeing how committed and hyped I was, as you may have already guessed, my proposal got profoundly approved. She appreciated my proposal and told me to contact her on the next day so that she could provide me with all the further contacts and information needed to develop my project.
So I did and that is how I got in contact with professor Paolo Piccardo, the rector delegate for the Web Radio, the promotion of cinema in the university community and, last but not least, main coordinator for the dissemination of the Ulysseus project. The most impressive fact about him is that he is actually a full time professor in chemistry and, nevertheless, he finds the time and is very deeply committed to the divulgation of UNIGE’s internal and international activities. It might sound irrelevant again, but it is not, because what professor Piccardo is bringing about is a suitable example that every idea and project can become reality if there is willingness, commitment and real interest behind it. This doesn’t mean that the path will be an easy one, but it means that, even if it looks tough and steep, if you really want to come across it, you just need to roll up your sleeves and push through.
Stepping out this philosophical mood again (sorry for it, I can't help motivating people), I was telling you about how I got in contact with professor Piccardo, who officially involved me in his UNIGE radio project, in particular assigning me the task of creating a personal podcast about my experience in Ulysseus and the ESA, including the difficulties I found on the way to this event. It goes without saying that I was extremely honoured about this opportunity and, even though it was not exactly what I firstly had in mind, I tried to be flexible and open to new experiences. In the end, the more you challenge yourself, the more skilful you become and the more transversally you can apply your knowledge, as professor Paolo Piccardo personally shows. So, after some initial hesitations, because I had never had any experience in interviewing and podcasting, I decided to embrace this new opportunity and adventure.
After some meetings with professor Piccardo, who showed me the recording studio of the web radio and all the devices and instruments, I got very fond of this completely new project, that, in order to be effective and successful, definitely needs more participants and visibility. And that’s exactly where I step in as a new member of the UNIGE divulgation team and as a profoundly engaged student in the international commitment of my university.
Having the unique opportunity of producing my own podcast and, in that way, actively contribute to improving the defective communication in my academic community was definitely the perspective I needed to further engage myself. As a tireless dreamer, the will of making somehow a difference for the better, starting from my community and my city, has always led me along my rollercoaster-way, and this project fitted 100% in my life vision.
So here I am now, hoping that my words will somehow push you to act for the change you want to see, because change doesn’t just happen, you have create it. I am here now, talking out loud, because I believe that our city, our university has a huge potential and offers great opportunities, which are nevertheless scarcely made known, and, therefore, rarely deployed. That is an unacceptable waste of human capital, it’ s just too big a shame to not do anything about it and look the other way.
As I am getting too emotional again I’ ll just cut short now and leave you (hopefully) with bright visions and curiosity, not only about my further steps, but especially about what UNIGE actually offers. So, if you want to know more, stay updated for the next podcasts episodes.
This is Rocket to #ESA2023 on UR podcast, the podcast platform of Unige Radio, the voice of the University of Genoa. To comment or contact us, write to
[email protected] , writing in the subject Rocket to #ESA2023. For more info, visit our website radio.unige.it
