This duo, also couple in real life, are the creators not only of EUropa.S, but of IRTEA in general. So, we can not call ourselves as a Press team, without having interviewed the most powerful ones! Without any further discussion, here are the questions (and the cheesy ones) we have asked them.
-How have you come up with the idea of IRTEA and EUropa.S?
-MR: We started with the creation of EUropa.S. We had seen that there were other similar simulations worldwide and we wanted to create something in the greek community too. So in 2010 we came up with the idea of EUropa.S, which was consisted of students from the department of International and European Studies (Unipi). Later on, we created IRTEA, in order to have the framework to support EUropa.S. However, IRTEA has being developped a lot since then, now it includes also projects for schools (EUropa.S TEENS), and the Military School and other European projects in the academic field (such us Think Tank).
-What do you think that was the key that made EUropa.S so succesful?
-MR and MRS: Firstly the quality and the professionalism of people who consisted the conference all those years – the sustainable quality of the participants, the provision of supplies, rooms, and of course the affordable fee. We get a really low fee related to our offers to the participants. Last but not least we have succeded in the field of communication, since we have so many connections with other universities. Today, we have almost 300 participations.
-What do you expect from EUropa.S conference in the following years?
-MR: We expect more constitutional cooperations with other Universities, as well as the enhancement of the topics and the institutions which are simulated. We also make a huge effort to offer rewards to the distinguished participants, for instance the travel award to Brussels and the visit to the institutions which have been simulated.
-Could you tell us more projects of IRTEA?
-MR and MRS: First of all, we are specialised on the European Affairs and we promote the cooperation with young researchers and experts who create innovative projects and are active in Greece. So we have created the STEPS work, EUropa.S TEENS and others. Last but not least we offer the possibility to students to go to foreign companies or organisations either for volunteering or internship through the Erasmus + program.
-How did you manage to combine your personal relationship (marriage) and your bussiness world?
-MRS: If you find the appropriate and suitable people, time, conditions and chances you can do everything. We get along really well and our personnalities match each other so it is achievable. We make a huge effort to be both happy and professional and apart from that we try to be discreet in the job field. Apart from that, we try to save some free time to spend it together. This makes our marriage unique.
So we would like to congratulate both of them for their succesful work! They are definitely the so-called couple goals and they have the most succesful “baby”.. EUropa.S!!
Zina Papandreou, Editor-in-Chief of EU Focus
