VIE+W| World is my home

My name is Francesco Lozupone, I’m 25 years old and I come from Rutigliano, a little town near Bari, in Apulia region. I learned about the chance to intern for ICDET within the EU4EU platform and – thanks to my studies, my personal skills and my work experience I think I could carry out this experience at the best.

I graduated in Political Sciences at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro” in November 2018 and now I’m attending a master’s degree course in International Relations and European Union studies, again in Bari.

I spent six months in 2017 as Erasmus Student at the University of Picardie “Jules Verne”in Amiens (France).

I must thank this experience for having made me what I am today: an active, independent, open minded and cosmopolitan guy.

In 2020, I carried out an Erasmus Traineeship at the Economics and Finance’s International Relations office, at the University of Białystok in Poland. It has been one of the biggest challenge of my life. Indeed, due to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, all activities have switched to the Smart Working mode till the end. I decided to stay and finish my traineeship, despite all. I'm very focused on my goals.

In 2019, I’ve been a European volunteer for six months with the association “Info Front-Prilep” in the city of Prilep (North Macedonia). During this project, I organized workshops about European awareness and cultural diversity, promoted Erasmus+ programme and informes about opportunities in Europe.

Furthermore, I provided Italian free language lessons for youngsters with fewer opportunities.

In 2018, I’ve been a volunteer at the municipality of Cellamare (Italy) within the Italian National Civil Service. During this project, I’ve been faced with disadvantaged families. In particular, I worked with children: I helped them with their homeworks and played with them, supporting them to free their creative potential and energies.

I’m firmly convinced that this project could give me the chance to develop my personal, relational and linguistic skills and to improve my expertise as a man. I expect to increase my cultural background, to meet new friends and learn more and more about new cultures, social realities and different people. I’m really happy to live this experience in Sofia because it has always been on my European travel schedule and now I’m ready to discover everything about it and about Bulgaria.

I’ve been abroad many times and I’m used to live far from my home. World is my home: I love the unknown, the adventure of moving to other countries. In my opinion, living abroad is the best option for growing up as a person and as a citizen: that’s why I caught this opportunity and I think that international mobility is crucial, in this period of the European Union history.

---

Francesco Lozupone, intern@ICDET

USE+FUL | Think Before U Click - the European Cybersecurity Month 2020

The European Cybersecurity Month (ECSM) is the EU’s annual awareness campaign that takes place each October across Europe. The aim is to raise awareness of cybersecurity threats, promote cybersecurity among citizens and organizations; and provide resources to protect themselves online, through education and sharing of good practices.

The ECSM campaign is coordinated by the European Commission and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), and supported by EU Member States and hundreds of partners (governments, universities, think tanks, NGOs, professional associations, private sector business) from Europe, and beyond.

Every year, there are dozens of events and activities linked to this interntional campaign. 

The theme of ECSM 2020 are digital skills. 

We can only ensure digital security if we have experts with the right knowledge and skills, and there are currently not enough.

The pressing shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the EU is estimated at over 300,000 workers.

Cybersecurity skills fall under the Commission’s general agenda on Digital Skills. The Commission invests into cybersecurity skills among others through the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe. 

More information can be found at our new, revamped website on cybersecurity.

Follow our twitter account and read carefully the next newsletter to find out more about activities planned under the umbrella of ECSM 2020!

Read more here: Here

LIFE+ | Welcome on INTERNSHIP@ICDET, Andrea!

My name is Andrea and I am from Spain, specifically from Ourense which is a small city located in Galicia, in the northwest of the country. When I turned eighteen, I went to study Biology in Santiago de Compostela, but I soon realized that it was not what I expected so I decided to change to study Criminology in the same city.

Once I finished my degree and like all students I found myself lost and without knowing what the next step would be, but soon a new option opened up in front of me: The European Union. In this way, I did a Master's Degree specialized in it and began to prepare the entrance exams to work as a civil servant in one of its institutions.

I chose this option after my career since I am a person who loves to travel, especially traveling around Europe and getting to know the cultures of each and every one of the member countries closely and being able to enjoy the diversity that exists, as well as try to learn the different languages ​​of each of the countries (at least a few words) since I speak Spanish (and one of its co-official languages ​​which is Galician), English and during the lockdown I began to study German and still today I continue to study it.

This internship here at ICDET and in Sofia I consider it a great opportunity to grow both personally and professionally and to know the Bulgarian culture which is unknown to me.