How To Build a “Network for Life”
an Alternet Summer School Student Testimonial by Songül Sönmez
How do you build a Network for Life?
Recipe:
✨ Bring together early-career researchers
✨ Add inspiring tutors and speakers
✨ Isolate them in the French Alps for 10 days
✨ Create a modern-day School of Aristotle
✨ Challenge them to co-design a project proposal for Alpine futures
✨ Visit mountain pastures & the Parc National du Mercantour
✨ Learn, debate, play, and dance together
✨ Make them feel like a family so they want to keep the network alive
This was my experience at the 2025 Alternet Summer School in Peyresq, France 🌿
We explored the intersection of biodiversity and society through lectures, field trips, collaborative learning projects, debates, and creative communication. These academic exchanges were at the core of the summer school. What made the experience unforgettable, though, was the community spirit: evenings of ceilidh dancing, playing mafia and zombie games in the village streets, or simply watching the sunset over the Alps with new friends.
The motto of the school is “Network for Life”. Now I understand why. We didn’t just learn; we built bonds across disciplines, cultures, and generations that I know will last far beyond Peyresq.
A huge thank you to Alternet, Biodiversa+, the organizers, tutors, speakers, and fellow students for creating such an experience.
Songül Sönmez is a PhD student and research assistant at Istanbul Technical University (Turkey) and alum of the 2025 Alternet Summer School.
