Ruben Pulido Rodriguez at Baltic TRAM

Ruben is a Spanish volunteer deployed in Hamburg at Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) lead partner of the for the Baltic TRAM project, financed by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme. The project aims at bridging the gap between industry and analytical facilities and Ruben is in charge of developing a report analysing the needs for the creation of new communication training programmes to better communicate and cooperate with industrial users.

Ruben has participated in other EU programmes for Youth, such as Erasmus, Youth exchanges, which he always felt had a positive impact on his personal and professional skills. The experience in Hamburg gave him the opportunity to escape from his comfort zone: "as I like traveling and being challenged while learning new languages and meeting new people, I thought that this experience could help me gain new useful skills". At the same time, he is well aware of the added-value of the volunteering experience and of its difference from a normal traineeship or job: "volunteering is more focused on how to improve instead of focusing on deadlines and ongoing projects". The experience at DESY provided him with a real boost for his personal and professional growth, clearly addressing his professional future in the field of project management. 

Thanks to this experience he also had the opportunity to take part as an Interreg volunteer in the workshop "European Open Science Cloud ‑ Bridging the gap between H2020 and ESIF" at the European Week of Regions and Cities, as well as in many study visits in the Members States involved in the project.

See also: Inforegio page "Interreg Volunteer Youth: one year, fifty testimonials"