I was excited to receive my acceptance letter for the Erasmus Mundus scholarship, but little did I know that I couldn't travel immediately to Europe because of travel restrictions due to COVID 19. So, for the whole first semester, I had to study online while staying back in China. Luckily, I successfully got my visa in February 2021 and flew to Salzburg, the place where my Erasmus journey began.
In July 2021, I started to travel around Europe, and I did it all from the southernmost point in Rome, Italy to the northernmost tip in Rovaniemi, Finland. My travel, however, was not all touristic as I also spent two weeks participating in a fully funded start-up Launchpad program hosted by the European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre, Denmark. I was the only participant from China, as well as the only student enrolled in an Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree.
After the summer trip, I started my new academic year in Olomouc, Czech Republic. I didn't slow down. I carried out some experiments, tried to publish some academic papers, and was rewarded for my toil. I won the best paper award at the GeoMundus conference in 2021, a conference hosted by the Erasmus Mundus Geotech program. With the prize money, I went to Lisbon and spent a nice weekend, enjoying scrumptious Portuguese meals by the sea.
There is no limit to the opportunities if you know how to find them.
Fast forward to today, I am a student at Z_GIS, University of Salzburg & Geoinformatics, Palacký University Olomouc and my research is about connecting European and Chinese Earth Observation and Geospatial business and technology. I have also served as an ambassador in XNode Startup & Corporate Accelerator, and am associated with 36Kr as a part-time journalist. 36Kr (NASDAQ: KRKR) is one of the largest tech media platforms in the world with more than 300 million readers and 800 million MPV. I have interviewed more than 30 CEO/founders in the Earth Observation and Geospatial industry and published more than 80 articles. Along with my team, I also participated at the ESA BIC Launchpad in Copenhagen as part of a project called “OctoGIS Earth Observation Platform '', and presented our ideas.
Erasmus Mundus has given me a lifetime opportunity to connect with a worldwide audience, to have a broader reach, and to grasp more innovative solutions. There is no end to the opportunities that Erasmus Mundus provides to its current students and alumni.
Read Ninhua's articles here https://geoawesomeness.com/author/nianhualiu/
Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonival/