Jocelyne Carrillo Herrera, Hertie School CIVICA Ambassador for the 2024/2025 cohort, shares her experience and the rewarding projects she was able to take part in.
Jocelyne Carrillo Herrera was a CIVICA Ambassador for the 2024–2025 cohort as a first-year Master of International Affairs student at the Hertie School. She shares her experience with us and the rewarding projects she was able to take part in.
What did your first year as a CIVICA Ambassador look like?
In my first year as a CIVICA Ambassador, I had the honour of representing the Hertie School alongside Sofía García Durrer and inspiring peers across Europe at the CIVICA Ambassadors Conference in January 2025, hosted by the European University Institute. Meeting students from across the alliance reaffirmed the profound impact of CIVICA in strengthening academic cooperation and shaping the future of education through democratic participation.
I also joined the CIVICA Global Forum in Madrid, where I had the chance to visit IE University and collaborate with fellow ambassadors on new ways to foster student engagement.
As part of the Student Engagement Fund, I supported Hertie students in connecting with peers from other universities to bring their project ideas to life. Hertie actively contributed to several initiatives across CIVICA, and these projects reflect how CIVICA empowers students to co-create innovative experiences at the intersection of policy, governance, and education.
“Being a CIVICA Ambassador is a unique opportunity to represent your university while actively contributing to the alliance.”
Additionally, I was part of the organising team for the futurEU competition 2025, a student-led policy initiative hosted at the Hertie School that brings together students from across the CIVICA alliance to draft innovative proposals on European governance and integration. Each year, the competition focusses on a pressing issue for the European Union; in 2025, the central theme was Europe’s competitiveness, encouraging participants to explore concrete strategies to strengthen the EU’s role in the global economy. As part of the organising team, I was responsible for social media and communications, which involved designing content to boost the competition’s visibility, engaging with students from different CIVICA universities, and sharing key milestones with the broader community. This experience not only strengthened my project management and outreach skills but also allowed me to contribute to fostering cross-university dialogue on the future of Europe, while promoting active student involvement in EU-related debates.
What did you learn during your time as an Ambassador?
I learned how powerful collaboration becomes when students from different universities and cultural backgrounds work together. As an ambassador, I was actively involved in connecting Hertie students with peers from across the CIVICA alliance, supporting them in turning their project ideas into reality through the Student Engagement Fund. Seeing initiatives like the EU Regulations Game and HackEd 2025 grow from conversations into impactful projects showed me the importance of building bridges across institutions. It taught me that CIVICA is not just about academic cooperation, but also about empowering students to shape the future of education collectively.
What was your favourite part of being a CIVICA Ambassador?
My favourite part was meeting fellow ambassadors and students in person at the CIVICA Ambassadors Conference in Florence and the Global Forum in Madrid. These moments were inspiring because they highlighted the diversity of voices across Europe while also showing how much we share as a community. Visiting IE University and collaborating with peers on ideas to strengthen student engagement reminded me that CIVICA is more than a network; it is a platform where students can exchange perspectives, learn from one another, and contribute to building a more connected European academic space.
Why would you recommend others apply to be an Ambassador?
Being a CIVICA Ambassador is a unique opportunity to represent your university while actively contributing to the alliance. It allows you to take part in European-level initiatives, shape projects that go beyond your home institution, and gain hands-on experience in student engagement, leadership, and cross-cultural collaboration. The role is not only about attending events, it’s about being part of a community that empowers students to design innovative initiatives and make their voices heard across Europe. Looking back, my first year as a CIVICA Ambassador has been both inspiring and transformative, and I am excited to see how future ambassadors will continue building on these foundations.
This interview was prepared by Dania Abu-Sharkh and initially published on the CIVICA website. Photos courtesy of CIVICA.
The Hertie School is not responsible for any content linked or referred to from these pages. Views expressed by the author/interviewee may not necessarily reflect the views and values of the Hertie School.
About CIVICA
CIVICA – The European University of Social Sciences brings together ten leading European higher education institutions in the social sciences. CIVICA aims to build an inter-university campus that provides joint and long-lasting opportunities in teaching, research and innovative learning, while enhancing academic excellence and facilitating civic engagement in Europe and beyond. CIVICA was selected by the European Commission as one of the pilot European Universities in 2019 and confirmed as a successful alliance in 2022 for its full roll-out under the Erasmus+ programme. Read more on civica.eu.
