CYPRUS CHAPTER: READY TO KICK OFF IN JULY 2018
Marinos Ioannides reveals some of the Cyprus Chapter’s plans in the run-up to its official launch in summer 2018.
The Cyprus Chapter was established in May 2017 as a voluntary initiative for five Marie SkłodowskaCurie Fellows at the Cyprus University of Technology. The main aim is to network with other MSCA Fellows in Cyprus and abroad and initiate activities that add value to the Alumni network while providing input for the general public.
The Cyprus Chapter has already attracted more than 15 members. We are trying to locate, attract, encourage and motivate all the Cypriot MSC Fellows on the island and abroad to join our Chapter and to be actively involved. Our main objective is to establish fruitful and beneficial relationships among the MSCA Fellows in Cyprus and among professional associations and the policy officials.
At the same time, the Chapter aims to promote the main mission of the MSCA initiative and to encourage different stakeholders to actively participate and become mobilised in Europe. Another important goal is to organise language courses for all the foreign Fellows in cooperation with the language centres of the state universities, as well as other workshops that help Fellows to develop transferable skills and broaden their career perspectives.
The kick-off meeting will take place on 4 July 2018 in Cyprus (memorial date of MSC). By that time, we hope to have more than 25-30 members so that we can establish a sustainable board.
We are planning to hold the kick-off meeting the presence of the Minister and other officials responsible for research, development and technology. In addition, we are planning to invite representatives from Cypriot industry and graduate students from all of Cyprus’ tertiary educational institutions (private and public).
Next year has been declared by the EU as the Year on Cultural Heritage and we would therefore like to focus on this thematic area and network with other professional associations, such as ICOMOS, ICOM, the associations of Archaeologists’, Architects, Civil Engineers, Europa Nostra, etc. and be actively involved in different events, such as the Museums Night, Cultural Heritage Day, the 2018 researchers’ night and a special event on Digital Heritage organised with the European Commission, the European Parliament and UNESCO, which will take place next year We will give more details of this special event very soon.
Moreover, we have very good relations and excellent cooperation with several foreign embassies in Cyprus. Some Ambassadors have welcomed our idea to co-organise some events in 2018 and to invite key professionals from their countries to give a special presentation on issues of importance to the public like climate change, public health, energy, finance, immigration and so on.
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