Interview mit ehemaligen FUJ-Praktikant*innen

Seit 2020 ist die Kompetenzstelle für Klimaneutralität Einsatzstelle im Rahmen des Programms „Voluntary environmental year“ (FUJ). So hatten wir dank dem FUJ mehrmals das Glück, eine neue, begeisterte und eifrige Person für einige Monate in unseren Kreis aufzunehmen. Mehreren FUJ-Praktikant*innen gefiel es bei uns so gut, dass sie sich dazu entschieden, nach ihrem FUJ als studentische Mitarbeiter*innen im Team zu bleiben. Welche Erfahrungen sie mit dem FUJ gemacht haben, wollte unser FUJ-Praktikant Jakob Gibitz herausfinden und hat daher mit ihnen gesprochen.

Jakob Gibitz: Welcome! Please introduce yourselves briefly and let us know when you did your FUJ at the Competence Centre.

Vivienne Pirker (Vivi): My name is Vivi and I did my FUJ from October 2020 to June 2021.

Sigrid Karl: I'm Sigrid and my FUJ was 2021/22, also from autumn to summer.

Maximilian Auer: My name is Maxi and I did my FUJ from September 2022 to June 2023.

Perfect, let's get started. Why did you decide in favour of the FUJ and the competence centre?

Vivi: I didn't want to start studying straight after school, so I started looking for alternatives. I then came across the FUJ and the competence centre immediately sounded very interesting. At the interview, it was a perfect fit.

Sigrid: I was already at the end of my bachelor's degree, so this was not the typical time to do a voluntary environmental year. But as I didn't have much time left before I finished my degree and I wanted to gain more practical experience, I decided to do the FUJ. The positions at BOKU were exciting for me because of the subject matter and the proximity to science. That's why I applied there and luckily it worked out!

Maxi: I wanted to spend my civilian service doing something cool and scientifically challenging and then came across the FUJ. It just clicked during my interview.

And what tasks did you spend most of your time on during your FUJ?

Vivi: I spent most of my FUJ time working on the project makingAchange verbracht, das sich mit der Treibhausgasbilanzierung von Schulen beschäftigt hat. Dort konnte ich sehr viel Verantwortung übernehmen; ich habe es organisiert und auch die zugehörigen Workshops veranstaltet.

Sigrid: Im ersten Semester meines FUJ war es vor allem Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Support: Ich habe die Website betreut, Kund*innen beraten und so weiter. Zu Beginn des zweiten Halbjahrs hat dann unser Projekt mit den Bundesmuseen started. I was able to immerse myself in a larger project.

Maxi: Ich glaub das wird bei mir auch der Support gewesen sein. Ich schätz mal, dass ich ca. ein Drittel meines FUJ damit verbracht habe.

What did you like the most?

Vivi: It was particularly great for me that it wasn't just the typical intern job with making coffee and photocopying. And if there was something I wanted to do but couldn't quite do, I wasn't told ‘That's not in your area of responsibility, it's not possible’, but ‘Ok cool, write to me if you need help’. Being able to take the initiative like that was great.

Sigrid: The flexibility in terms of time and location at work was very helpful for me. I always enjoyed the team meetings and tinkering with the Excel tool for greenhouse gas accounting for the federal museums.

Maxi: No two weeks were the same. Sometimes you were writing, then researching, then programming, writing the minutes for meetings and then doing the media project. I really enjoyed the variety.

What were your media projects as part of the FUJ programme and how did you feel about them?

Vivi: In 2020/2021, we didn't actually have a media project in the current sense, but a free project with other people from our FUJ year. I teamed up with two friends and created the Instagram account @climeetpoint we then posted information on climate change and climate protection there.

Sigrid: My media project wasn't too complicated: I realised that we didn't have any photos of ourselves on our website, so I took my camera, got my colleagues together and solved this problem straight away.

Maxi: Well, I went a bit overboard with the media project (laughs). As a passionate filmmaker, I have a short movie in which the fight against climate change is portrayed as an underground struggle. In the end, I think I put about 140 hours into my media project, but now I have something to be really proud of. Sarah and Joachim, who lead our team, also gave me a lot of creative freedom and this month, in which I was allowed to be a director with almost no restrictions, was an extremely cool experience.

What do you think of the working environment?

Vivi: Die flachen Hierarchien am Zentrum für Globalen Wandel und Nachhaltigkeit, wo die Kompetenzstelle für Klimaneutralität angesiedelt ist, sind extrem angenehm. Man kann sich wirklich einbringen und auch viele Rückfragen stellen, ohne sich Sorgen machen zu müssen, dass deswegen irgendjemand angefressen sein wird. Außerdem sind generell alle sympathisch und ich arbeite gerne hier!

Sigrid: The team at the Competence Centre for Climate Neutrality and the whole centre in general are very cool. The ‘climate scene’ in Austria is relatively small, and here you are at an important interface. It was great to get to know so many people in this field. As a BOKU student, the location was of course also a big advantage, even though I was often working from home due to coronavirus.

Maxi: I can only agree, I think it works really well in such a young team with motivated people. We take the work very seriously, but we always have fun doing it. The only thing missing is a supermarket nearby (laughs).

What did you take away from the FUJ and who is this position suitable for?

Vivi: Ich habe einen tollen Einblick in die Arbeitswelt gewinnen können und hab auch gelernt, Verantwortung zu übernehmen. Generell hat sich durch die „Augenhöhe“ mit dem Rest des Teams mein Selbstbewusstsein wirklich verbessert. Diese FUJ-Stelle ist für Personen, die starkes Interesse haben und bereit sind zu lernen, und auch tatsächlich etwas tun wollen. Also nichts für Zeitschinder, die einfach 10 Monate totschlagen wollen.

Sigrid: I agree with you, I don't have much to add.

Maxi: Absolutely, I can endorse that too. What's more, all three of us took a job as student assistants with us!

You are at least 18 years old and passionate about climate protection? Does the Competence Centre for Climate Neutrality sound like a place that suits you? Then apply here für ein Freiwilliges Umweltjahr bei uns! Wir freuen uns auf deine Bewerbung.

Dieses Medienprojekt wurde von der Kompetenzstelle für Klimaneutralität und Jakob Gibitz im Rahmen des FUJ-Lehrgangs (www.fuj.at) gemeinsam umgesetzt. Das Projekt entstand im Zeitraum Jänner-Februar 2024 und das Interview fand am 20.02.2024 statt. Die Inhalte des Gesprächs wurden gekürzt.