Reflection

The summer of 2026 is going to be a memorable and invaluable summer to me since I participated in the summer programme, The Lives of Deltas: A More-Than-Human-Studies Lab in the Netherlands. It is both an exciting and challenging opportunity not only because it involves ecology and social science as an interdisciplinary subject, which are new fields to me, but also because the programme contains multiple approaches of teaching, including online courses, offline lectures, and local excursions in the Netherlands. Each part is arranged logically, like the online courses in the beginning of the programme aim to provide us background information and theory and help us adapt to the new academic fields. The most exciting part is when we arrived in the Netherlands. The first lecture we had was at Utrecht University, where we met our classmates from both the Netherlands and Poland. It convinces me that having different minds collide and communicate could generate something fun and creative. We are glad that we made new friends and are looking forward to doing research and excursions together. The first excursion we had was in Rotterdam, the second-largest city in the Netherlands. We visited a cultural centre called Nieuwe Instituut (New Institute) and learned specifically about Fungus. One of the art installations in the Nieuwe Instituut I am impressed with is a tomb that is filled with names of extinct frogs all over the world due to a lethal fungus named Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). The fact that the primary driver behind the global spread of Bd is human activity makes me shocked as it reveals the inevitable conflict between human and non-human creatures. However, where there is Yin, there is Yang. Our next excursion to Zeeland showed me the potential for humans to live in harmony with nature. On the beach of Zeeland, we did a workshop on thinking and moving with bodies of water. For example, we closed our eyes and opened our arms to let the wind shape our bodies freely. Also, we dismissed on the spot and let wind guide us walking in any direction, as wind guides waves of the sea as well. In general, this summer programme is full of surprise and meaning. I am grateful for the invaluable opportunity offered by MALCS for not only witnessing and learning the complex relationship between humans and non-humans but also having the privilege to work with classmates, artists, and scholars with various backgrounds from different parts of the world. This two-week journey is going to stay in my memory for such a long time and continue to encourage and help me with my future career.

I am grateful for the invaluable opportunity offered by MALCS for not only witnessing and learning the complex relationship between humans and non-humans but also having the privilege to work with classmates, artists, and scholars with various backgrounds from different parts of the world.