"Since my undergraduate studies in Psychology, I have been trying to connect psychology with topics such as sustainability, work, health, and even mental health and madness. It is a challenging intersection, but one that fascinates me. I rarely meet people from my field in these spaces, and realizing how much there is still to explore makes me even more eager to continue looking for these connections."
"That is why being selected for the Summer School “Circular Economy and the City: Theory and Practice” at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam was so meaningful to me.
During two weeks in July, I had the opportunity to learn alongside an international community through lectures, workshops, excursions, and conversations with researchers, professionals, community initiatives, and people who are already experimenting with different ways of organizing urban life, including one of the professors, who is also a psychologist working with sustainability. What a comfort it was to cross paths with someone like that!
Beyond the academic quality of the course, I experienced interdisciplinary discussions, met people from different countries, and gained a deeper understanding of how different cultural perspectives contribute to developing solutions to social and environmental challenges. For me, one of the most valuable aspects of the program was precisely this exchange between different cultures. In our small class, everyone had the opportunity to share experiences from their own countries. This created an open environment in which discussions became richer, more personal, and deeper than they probably would have been in a larger group.
Another highlight was the critical perspective encouraged by both the professors and the participants. The course invited us to take part in a highly participatory learning process, in which knowledge was built collectively, not only among ourselves, but also together with local organizations and the communities we visited. We had the opportunity to connect theory and practice by seeing real sustainability initiatives firsthand, as well as learning with and within nature. Visiting natural spaces, observing them, touching them, and experiencing them with all our senses transformed knowledge from something that was simply taught to us into something that was lived.
Through this, we learned to value participatory and creative approaches even more as ways of engaging people with environmental issues, reinforcing the idea that dialogue, cooperation, and shared responsibility are essential for creating meaningful change.
The experience also went far beyond the classroom. The program included cultural activities, such as guided museum visits, as well as social events designed to help participants get to know one another better. These moments made it easier to build connections with people from different parts of the world and from other summer schools. I continue to be amazed by how quickly people can connect. How we can care about one another after only a few days and transform temporary encounters into relationships and references that remain long after the experience is over. I had and took with me some beautiful encounters.
The accommodation also exceeded my expectations. In addition to providing a comfortable place to stay, it encouraged interaction among participants and local students, making the entire experience even more immersive. It was truly a comprehensive program that combined academic excellence, cultural exchange, and community in a unique way.
Amsterdam, once again, left me with an enormous desire to return. The city has a wonderful atmosphere, welcoming people, and so many examples of different ways of living and organizing urban life. I left with new ideas about circularity, cities, and sustainability, but also with new questions about how my own field can contribute to these discussions. More than answers, I brought back connections between disciplines, people, places, and possibilities."
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