The KiNESIS Experience

Erasmus students

 

 

Oliver Karolyi - Stichting Hanzehogeschool Groningen (NL)

Oliver spent 5 years studying Spanish literature, history, and culture.  His marketing study at HUAS shaped his creativity and research skills during many projects such as designing a completely new product. He included KiNESIS into his path, through a graduation project that gave him the opportunity to develop his skills further and build upon his previously collected experience. It was a great kick-starter for his marketing career enabling him to put everything he learned into this last journey of his bachelor studies. 

Oliver spent three months in Navarra (March-May 2022) and carried out an internship titled  The Camino de Santiago: Mapping the impact of the Aragonese route in Navarra. Here you can find his testimony about his KiNESIS experience. A video of his interview is also available. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Luca Scavuzzo Gauna -  University of Navarra (E)

Luca Scavuzzo (21-years-old) is a student of Applied Management at the University of Navarra, and he is currently doing his internship  (June - August 2022) in Frigento, Italy in the Agrifood sector.  Luca with other students from the University of Navarra and the University of Wageningen is cooperating with Agri-food companies from the Terre Dell’Ufita (some villages in the region of Campania). The idea is to promote this area, its products and services and improve its communications, logistics and marketing strategies to avoid the growing shrinkage problem. His specific role consists of working on export and internationalization initiatives. Here is an interview about his experience in Frigento.

 

 

Muhammad Nasir - Tallinn University (EE)

Muhammad Nasir is a Master student in Social Entrepreneurship at Tallinn University, Estonia. Muhammad was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. He's a Business graduate specialized in marketing. He has done two core marketing internships one was for the sales force and the second one was for marketing advertising.
He has three years of experience working in leading organizations from Office Assistant to Personal Assistant to CEO's assistant. He has also experience in the E-Commerce Industry and Digital Marketing as he has been working as a bVirtual Assistant for International clients and launched multiple products on Amazon from the US to Australia. His Traineeship (May-August 2022) titled  Rethinking the center of Fitero "The brand Fitero" is carried out in collaboration with the Town Council and local businesses to promote the brand Fitero, within their current campaign (Health, Cultural Heritage, Gastronomy and Outdoor Tourism). Here is a video about his experience with KiNESIS. 

 

 

Martin Cruz Echeverri - University of Wageningen (NL)

Martin Cruz Echeverri is a student of  International Development, at the Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands and he did his internship (June - August 2022) in Frigento, Italy in the Agrifood sector. He is keen on sustainable development topics, with a special interest in food-related issues.  During his studying and working experiences, he has been enhancing his critical thinking and learned how to work in teams and the importance it has in the exchange of ideas and the reaching of consensus. He is eager on working in culturally diverse environments and supporting communities toward a sustainable future. In this video he tells us about his experience in Italy.

 

Maureen Barasa -  Tallinn University (EE)

Maureen Barasa is a Master's student of Social Entrepreneurship from Tallinn University in Estonia. She is passionate about rural development through economic empowerment. When she heard about the KiNESIS program, she was determined to participate in the long-term goal of ending depopulation. She applied and got accepted to be a part of the internship titled  The Camino de Santiago: Mapping the impact of the Aragonese route in Navarra.  

The focus of her internship (May - August 2022) is on the economic impact this route has on the people and the businesses and how this can be used to combat depopulation.

 

 

Sabrina Stieber  - Harz University of Applied Science (D)

Sabrina Stiebner is a student of European Administrative Management at the Harz University of Applied Sciences. Since March 2022 she is participating in the KiNESIS-Project in Navarre (Spain) which has its goal to fight against depopulation and shrinking in rural areas across Europe. Her project in Rocaforte, therefore, focuses on reducing negative environmental impact to increase the quality of living. Specifically, the project goal is to reduce the acoustic, odour and visual impact of the paper factory at the bottom of the village. Here you will find a short description of her work. If you want to know more about her experience as an intern in our project watch her video on our Youtube channel!

 

Paola Buonanno  Porras -  University of Navarra (E)

Paola Buonanno is a student of Applied Management at the University of Navarra, and she did her internship  (June - August 2022) in Frigento, Italy in the Agrifood sector. She is particularly interested in working in marketing and territorial cohesion for local products, especially the position of reviewing importers and identification of distribution channels while developing promotion for KiNESIS. The degree she is currently pursuing at the University of Navarre has given her skills in the areas of marketing and public relations, thus giving her the right qualifications necessary for the traineeship in Frigento. Watch the interview about her experience in Frigento.

 

 

Consiglia Marchese  - University of Naples L'Orientale (IT)

Consiglia Marchese (23-years-old)  is a Master student in Languages and Intercultural Communication at the University of Naples L'Orientale. She did her internship with the KINESIS project titled Camino de Santiago - Mapping the impact of the Aragonese Route in Navarra proposed by the ICS of the University of Navarra.  She continued the research done by Oliver Karolyi and Maureen Shisia. The idea is to analyse the economic and social impact of the Camino de Santiago route on the villages and small towns in Navarra as several of them face the risk of depopulation.  She tells us about her experience in Spain in this interview! The final results of her internship are available in this presentation.

 

 

Mariana Cely Uribe  - University of Navarra (E)

Mariana Cely Uribe is an International business administration student at the University of Navarra and she is currently doing his internship  (June - August 2022) in Frigento, Italy in the Agrifood sector. Mariana has always been interested in researching and analyzing issues related to sustainability and the interaction between corporations and society. Mariana is working on the development of alternative sales channels, especially on the digital side of sales creating online relationships and opening doors to new possibilities for the small local business of the Ufita area. She joined the project because she is truly interested in what the different small enterprises of typical products in this area have to offer and in the overall experience of sharing new points of view with Italian small communities and supporting them in their possible developments.

 

Andre Toscano Aramillo - University of Navarra (E)

Andre Toscano is an international student currently studying Business Administration at the University of Navarra located in Pamplona, Spain. He is carrying out his internship  (June - August 2022) in Frigento, Italy in the Agrifood sector. He is a self-driven and motivated student who likes to get things done the best way possible. He's working on the Business to Business sector in this project and this means that he's looking at how to improve the B2B sector in the Ufita area in Italy. He's also responsible for finding ways to implement technology in the agriculture sector in order to bring more innovation and help the partner companies reach their fullest potential. This in general is something that he's very interested in since more technology is being implemented in everything we do. He's convinced that he will be more involved in technology as a career.

 

Miranda Colavolpe - L'Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Miranda Colavolpe is a master’s degree student from University L’Orientale, in Naples. She is
currently studying Languages and Intercultural Communication and doing her two-monthly
internship in Pamplona at the University of Navarra, involved in the Kinesis Project. She is
conducting a socio-cultural investigation in Mapping the French Camino de Santiago in
Community of Navarra and considering the role of women of the past, the present and the future
that have made and will make an impact in all the development and the maintenance of local and
cultural activities, businesses and realities along the villages of the pilgrimage to Compostela.
Miranda is conducting surveys directly on the field, tracing history, religion, literature, myths and
legends related to the Jacobean Heritage and also collaborating with local and touristic
entrepreneurs. If you are interested in knowing more about her project, watch her video on our
Youtube Channel at the link .

 

Yuliya Pavlova - Harz University of Applied Sciences (D)

Yuliya Pavlova studies European Administrative Management at the Harz University of Applied Sciences in Germany. For 5 months she is staying in Navarra to participate in the KiNESIS project. The essence of the project is rural development and it is a network between students, universities, and other stakeholders across Europe. Yuliya's project in Liédena focuses on both livability and sustainability aspects. The goals are to propose solutions for the village to make it more socially attractive and more environmentally friendly at the same time. As the village's image and noise level suffer from a lime quarry right next to it, sustainability is an important topic.

If you want to get a bigger picture of the project and see Liédena with your own eyes, watch her video on our Youtube channel at the link .

 

Francesca Amatruda - L'Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Francesca Amatruda (24 years old)  is a Master student in Literary Translation at the University of Naples “L'Orientale”, where she studies French and Dutch languages, cultures and linguistics. She grew up in Santa Maria di Castellabate, in the wonderful area of Cilento (Southern Italy). That’s why she chose to apply for the KiNESIS Project as part of her internship: the aim is to investigate why young people are leaving Zeeland (in the South-West of the Netherlands) and never coming back again. 

She attended KiNESIS virtual training classes (KVTC) with all the students who are part of the international living lab on social innovation in shrinking villages.
She will carry out her internship mainly via field research, interviewing young inhabitants and discovering more about their life choices. 

 

 

Marika Lamberti - L’Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Marika Lamberti (24 years old) is a second-year student of the master’s degree course "Languages and intercultural communication in the Euro-Mediterranean" at the University of Naples "L'Orientale".
The voluntary activity as a teacher of Italian L2 for adult immigrants fits perfectly with the interest in linguistics studies and linguistic and cultural integration. The interest in trekking, the environment and sustainability prompted her to participate in a year-long project as an environmental educator as part of the Universal Civil Service.
She's leaving for the KINESIS experience for two months in Wernigerode, Germany. There, she will investigate
Ecological and social travelling on historical pilgrim routes (Via Romea).
She's ready to put herself in the game with the motto "Helping to improve".

 

Gabriel Pérez - University of Navarra (E)

Gabriel Pérez (19 years old) is a student of Economics + Leadership and Governance at the
University of Navarra. He is participating in the Kinesis program while doing his internships,
his objective here in the region of Irpinia is to internationalize the local companies of the
agri-food sector. The main idea is to make them work together and find a way to sell their
products abroad and make them well-known outside Italy as well.
To achieve the objectives he is meeting every company from the sector and analyzing
their production and sales channels, and at the end of his internship he will provide a
report of what his job has consisted of.

 

Princy Sahu - Harz University of Applied Sciences (D)

Princy Sahu is a Masters student at the University of applied science, studying Technology and Innovation Management. As a part of her Master's Project she is working with Kinesis for the upliftment of shrinking villages. Her project aims to find ways to foster and increase startups in rural areas of Germany, Italy, Estonia, Spain and the Netherlands. She plans to interview different startup owners in these regions to understand what kind of ecosystem is needed to establish start-ups.

She strongly believes that these beautiful regions can be enlivened with innovations and startups, which will attract more and more youth in those areas

 

Miriam Zeballos - University of Navarra (E)

Miriam Zeballos is a 21-year-old International Relations student at the University of Navarra. She spent two months fully immersed in the KiNESIS project in Zeeland, the Netherlands. This project is dedicated to understanding the reasons behind youth migration in the province.  Indeed, her project is focused on shedding light on the critical issue related to migration of young people and the stories behind them which she will collect by means of insightful interviews.

 

 

Emilia Quillupangui - University of Navarra (E)

Emilia Quillupangui is a 19-year-old International Relations and History student at the University of Navarra. Currently on an exciting journey with the KiNESIS project, diving into cultural heritage bonds that inspire youngsters in Zeeland and Groningen to embrace their roots, and to understand the reasons behind why they migrate to other areas of The Netherlands, through in-depth interviews, she has been showcasing the rich history and unique traditions that make these provinces so special.

 

 


Local students

 

Bilgehan Kurt - Hanzehogeschool Groningen (NL)

Bilgehan Kurt is a fourth-year real estate & brokerage student at Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands. From February 2022 to July 2022, he focused on the KiNESIS project to convert pumping stations into heritage lodgings. The goal of this research is to preserve the pumping stations for the region. Since the pumping stations were and sometimes are a crucial element in the water management of a region. For this reason, they form an important part of the regional heritage and as such have to be kept and maintained. By giving them a new function and informing people about their role in a regional history is therefore important.

For this purpose, he conducted research in Nieuwolda, the Netherlands. He also visited the Harz.

 

Mafalda Masucci - L'Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Mafalda is a student of Chinese and Tibetan language and culture originally from the province of Avellino. She currently lives in Naples and she is enrolled in the final year of the Master's degree in Asian and African Languages and Cultures at the University of Naples L'Orientale where she also completed her three-year degree. She also conducted a six-month study abroad period as part of the Erasmus project at L'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. For the KiNESIS project, she carried out an activity to assess the degree of digitisation and internationalisation of around one hundred sites mainly located in the municipalities of the Unione delle Terre dell'Ufita, which are listed on the Fondazione Sistema Irpinia website. The purpose of the research was to map the places that are part of Irpinia's cultural heritage, such as museums, churches, and archaeological sites, and to identify the shortcomings in digital communication, first and foremost the lack of information in English. The theme of the enhancement and development of inland areas interests her greatly because it is linked to her origins, which is why during the summer of 2022 she took part in the Summer School organised by Giveback- young inland areas, as part of the European Erasmus project.

 

Gerardo Genua - L'Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Gerardo, 27 years old, is a Master student in European and American Languages and Literatures (“Traduzione letteraria”) at the University of Naples L’Orientale. He studies German and English. He was born and raised in Frigento, Italy.

He applied for KiNESIS Project as part of his internship. He is determined to cooperate with foreign and local institutes to fight depopulation in the territories of the Ufita Valley and bring innovation in rural areas.

Within the Project, he interviewed third-year students of the Real Estate program from the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen (Hanzehogeschool Groningen), who made suggestions about how to improve tourism and quality of life in Frigento.

He attended KiNESIS virtual training class (KVTC) with all the students who are part of the international living lab on social innovation in shrinking villages.

He carried out a case study on “The Civic-Archaeological Museum of Civilisation and the Territory of Frigento-Frimact: a dialogue between past and present to build the future”. He translated into English the Vacancies Format Museum (FriMact) and contributed to digitalize the cultural-historical heritage of Frigento.

He then took part in a workshop that forsake the strengthening the local health service to reduce the doctor-patient distances.

 

 

Federica Scaperrotta - L'Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Federica, 24 years old, is a master's student of International Relations at the University of Naples L’Orientale and took part in the Kinesis project between August and September 2022 in Frigento.  She was born in Ariano Irpino, a town near Frigento that is the heart of the project, she knows closely the riches and problems of her territory and is interested in identifying the causes to encourage the search for a solution. In the KiNESIS project she dealt with the analysis of the land of the Ufita Valley,  which are subject to depopulation, analyzing the characteristics of individual municipalities with particular attention to infrastructure and population, trying to identify the causes behind the depopulation of this area. The tool used to achieve this goal is the drafting of a document that intends to be an element of stimulation for the community to change increasing awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the territory and the challenges that await it.

 

Marianna Grasso - L'Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Marianna, 24 years, is a master's student of International Relations at the University of Naples L'Orientale and took part in the KINESIS project between February and April 2023 in Frigento.

She was born in Ariano Irpino, she is particularly interested in this initiative because she comes from a town that is part of Valle Ufita, which is an internal area of Campania, and near Frigento. The project she has carried out has analysed the economic situation of Valle Ufita, then, analyzing the employment situation in this area by focusing more on the leading sectors, such as agriculture, construction and trade. 

The socio-economic situation of this area, analyzed by a document drawn up by Marianna, allows to understand the leading and growing sectors of these areas with analysis thanks to ISTAT data that have allowed to carry out a more thorough and tangible investigation, with decades of data that have made it possible to see how much potential these areas have and that making the most of all the elements they possess can reborn creating a future employment for more young people.

 

Paola Selena Gutierrez - L’Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Paola Selena Gutierrez attends the “Language and Cultural Mediation” course at the University of Naples L'Orientale.

She is 24 years old, she is originally from Venezuela but she has been living in Italy for over 10 years with her family, precisely in Torella dei Lombardi, a little town not far from Frigento. Therefore, she directly experienced both the advantages and challenges of these small realities. During the KiNESIS project, she had the opportunity to meet students from other European countries and learn about different perspectives. In addition, she had the privilege of conducting research in different places in Frigento which she described in detail, with the aim of promoting the development of tourism in that areas and stimulating the curiosity of visitors.

Local young people were also involved in other activities, with the organization of engaging activities in Frigento's museums and the 'HacKINESIS' to promote the area.

 

Claudia Vizzuso - L’Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Claudia Vizzuso, a 25-years-old master's student of International Relations at the University of Naples L’Orientale took part in the Kinesis project between July and August 2023 in Frigento.

In the KiNESIS project, she dealt with the analysis of the Ufita Valley's cultural heritage in order to promote tourism. The analysis she conducted focused on understanding the position and the great importance of Ufita Valley and on the backgrounds and the history of the eight municipalities that make it up: Bonito, Flumeri, Frigento, Gesualdo, Grottaminarda, Melito Irpino, Sturno, and Villamaina. Each town has a big cultural heritage, such as the main attractions: the Archeological Museum of Frigento, the Panoramica Limiti, Gesualdo’s Castle, the Mefite’s Geosite, the Murales of Bonito and the Villamaina’s thermal baths.

 

Lina di Leo - L’Orientale University of Naples (IT)

Lina Di Leo, is 22 years old and lives in Rocca San Felice, a small town near Frigento. She studies English and French at the University of Naples L’Orientale. She spent a five-month study-period abroad as part of the Erasmus project at the University of Lille, France. she applied for the KiNESIS Project as part of her internship. She had the opportunity to take part in the HacKiNESIS project, which is a fair of ideas attended by young people aged between 18 and 35. This project involves young people in society, allows the interaction among young people from different contexts. It is also useful to enhance local communities and promote sustainable development. This venture allows the development of small territories, such as Frigento, which are rich in resources.