Once you’ve been selected you will start your online workshop beginning of Aug that lasts for 3 weeks. After this you will travel to Slovakia and spend 10 days with your team members learning and working on a social challenge. At the end you will be part of the online follow-up session where you will learn how to make your project visible.
Read more about what is going to happen.
Collected evidence in numerous case studies confirms that quality early childhood development can set children in adversity on the right track towards a brighter future. When services are provided early, the return on investment is the highest. Nevertheless, it is exactly those children most in need of early childhood development and care, who are absent from these services. This video below explains everything much better than we ever could.
We will work with experts and practitioners of early childhood development. We will investigate what are the barriers of a well functioning early childhood development system and will develop potential solutions. Our main geographical focus is the Visegrad Region.
We are looking for participants from diverse backgrounds including, but not limited to, the following areas:
Step 1 — Registration
This is you saying that you are interested in participating. We will ask you for some basic personal data and nudge you to complete your application.
Step 2 — Motivation letter and project portfolio
In your motivation letter, please tell us why you would like to attend Holis, what you expect from it, your relevant experiences, what you find interesting about the topic of this year’s summer school, and how can you contribute to the summer school and your team. Your motivation letter should be around 500 words. In your project portfolio, you should present projects that you were part of that are relevant to the summer school. Your project portfolio should be a one-page document.
Step 3 — Shortlisting
We will evaluate your application based on your motivation letter and project portfolio. We are looking for participants who excel in their chosen profession, are eager to learn, open for interdisciplinary collaboration, and have a sense of social and environmental justice. We will evaluate applications on the last day of each month meaning that if you submit your application earlier, you will get your results earlier.
Step 4 — Video interview
We will have a 30 minute interview with every shortlisted applicant to understand each one better and to answer any questions.
Step 5 — Final selection
We will make the final selection of participants one week after the application deadline at the latest. After you pay your participation fee, we will start the preparatory work online.
This program is a non-profit endeavour. We receive a lot of volunteer work, get support from our sponsors, and grants. Nevertheless, your contribution is essential to make it work. We kindly ask that you pay as much as you can within the following ranges.
Student/Unemployed: €300-400.
(Self)Employed: €400-500.
Besides the obvious part of learning the soft skills, you will be part of an ever growing community of Holis Alumni. Holis Alumni consist of team facilitators and participants who are spread across the world. It’s a network of like-minded people who are helpful and occasionally collaborate on projects.
Product Designer, Assistant Professor at Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
Michala is a designer working along boundaries of product and experience design. She leads commissioned research projects at the Institute of Design at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. Since 2013 she is a managing director of collaborative platform Flowers for Slovakia, focused on promotion of Slovak design abroad. In 2017 she has co-founded hardware startup Benjamin button.
Senior Project Manager
Priscila works at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and leads on the strategic direction and operational success of the Center’s Frontiers of Innovation’s Latin American Innovation Clusters cohort as well as other international partnerships, ensuring seamless project development, management, and delivery in alignment with the Center’s priorities and strategies.
Compulsive Connector
Roland Harwood is a compulsive connector of people and ideas. As a successful serial entrepreneur, he is currently Founder and Director of Liminal, a new venture currently in development. Prior to that he was Co-Founder and Managing Director at 100%Open, the multi award-winning open innovation agency that works with the likes of LEGO, Ford, UBS, Oxfam and in 25+ countries around the world to co-innovate with their partners.
The Holis approach is different from traditional courses. We pay attention to every aspect of your well-being and learning. Our venue is in a rural environment away from the rush of big cities; we prepare all of the delicious food that you will eat ourselves; there are opportunities to participate in sporting activities, games, and evening bonfires. All of this is intentionally planned to deliver a unique and unforgettable educational experience.
The first Holis focused on the future scenarios of an old felt factory in Hungary, which at the time was suffering from a 90% loss of income due to the rise in popularity of synthetic felts. As a result of the solutions that Holis participants helped to identify and implement, the felt factory now has new owners, new products, and other thriving business activities. Since then we’ve been working on various challenges in different countries.