We did really great! However, we perhaps included too many actions during the proposal phase, which must be, of course, realized during the project time. Despite this, we achieved all that was promised. This was basically because of the hard work and careful planning by our coordinator, Heikki Bauert. Of course, all key members contributed to the planning and cooperated very smoothly. It was great to be part of the core team.
Is there anything / any event that you would like to especially point out as a very good example or happening?Besides very good coordination, what has impressed me a lot is the excellent work that has been done in the work package 5 - Dissemination, communication & exploitation - led by Kairi Põldsaar. Very seldom in EU projects do you find such interesting project websites with regular short news of the project activities. It is nice to read, and the headlines tempt you to continue with the reading!
I also want to bring up our progress meeting in Edinburgh. For me, it was the first time in Scotland, and I surely was not disappointed! The excursion to the geologist´s holy site, Siccar Point, was great, although I didn´t climb to see Siccar Point rocks as close as others did. But next time! First, I just need to improve my fitness a lot!
EGT-TWINN participated as a co-organiser in the EU SuperCluster Lapland Geoconference, which was organised in Rovaniemi, Finland, in October 2023. This big event provided a good platform for the dissemination of EGT-TWINN to a larger scientific audience.
Are there any concerns? What could we do better in this and next year?We should really attend more scientific conferences, especially in Europe! One of the aims of any twinning project is to enlarge the research networks of the twinning partner. For me, it is obvious that attending means that the EGT´s researchers do not necessarily need to have a project presentation or even a poster! If the event or conference is important, your researchers must be there! Networking is not done just by giving presentations; it is real work that is done during breaks and, in the corridors, during excursions.
Sometimes, networking is underrated work. It should not be so at all! It is most important for any organisation to spread knowledge of organisation and to map new project possibilities. Without this work, and particularly at the researcher level, many new changes will be lost, unfortunately.
Any other comments of your own ...We finalised the proposal in less than one month, and during the proposal preparation, it very soon became evident that we have a good consortium and that people are committed to the EGT-TWINN objectives. During the first year, this feeling only got stronger!
I enjoy working in this consortium very much; it is also a new network for me! It is also a good chance to learn more about Estonia and its geology and to meet new researchers from Estonia, Finland, the United Kingdom and Denmark. I would have been very disappointed if our proposal would have failed! I eagerly awaited the start of this project with our dear Estonian colleagues!