Research stay in Lithuania: ESD for 2030 project
2023-11-16 Interview with Emma Hoinkis about her research stay in Klaipeda/Gargzdai, Lithuania, in October 2023.
1. Hey, thanks for providing us your time. Let's start with a little introduction; who are you and what is your connection to the ISDL?
Hello, I'm Emma Hoinkis and I'm studying environmental sciences and education at Leuphana University Lüneburg. While looking for a project for my Bachelor's thesis, I came across the ISDL and the "ESD for 2030" project and was immediately interested.
2. Interesting! What is the topic of your bachelor thesis?
My preliminary working title is: “Youth participation in a transdisciplinary research setting of a real-world laboratory. Insights into the experiment: Urban Gardening for Everyone in Gargzdai/Klaipeda, Lithuania”.
3. That means you travelled to Lithuania for your research?
Yes, I traveled to Klaipeda and Gargzdai in Lithuania from 17.10.-27.10.2023 to do my research stay there.
4. Would you like to tell us what exactly you did there and how you liked it?
On site, I visited the Real-world experiment "Urban Gardening for Everyone" and exchanged ideas with many of the project partners. I also conducted interviews for my research and, together with Jolanta, a teacher at the UNESCO Progymnasium in Gargzdai, I interviewed the school students involved in the project. Overall, I got a good impression of the project, the cities and the project cooperation and I am very happy with my research stay.
5. Now that you are back in Germany, how is your research going and what will happen with the data you collected during your research stay?
The first step is to transcribe and analyze the interviews and the questionnaire. I will analyze the collected data as part of my bachelor's thesis and hopefully be able to answer my research question(s).
6. What role does your research play in the ESD for 2030 project?
As the "Urban Gardening for Everyone" Real-world experiment is part of the "ESD for 2030" project, I hope that my research findings will also be informative on a larger scale. My research could contribute to learning about the effectiveness of Real-world laboratories and their potential for youth participation. Furthermore, the insights gained, may contribute to the effectiveness of future projects with a similar focus.
Thank you very much! That was very informative.