Everyone has a special memory of Ana. Everyone who has met her in Brussels or in Florence, everyone who had the chance to talk to her during her outstanding, too short, career.
Because Ana was one of those women you may or may not like, but who certainly do not just pass unnoticed.
Beautiful, smart, passionate for her job, successful – impossible to ignore her presence in a room, even at a crowded Florence Forum or at a workshop on smart grids. Ana was one of those women with opinions, with reasoned questions and – also – one of those women who are not afraid of asking them, even loud – if needed.
Few years ago, I had the chance to work with her on the writing of a booklet , “Women in energy” – a collection of articles written by women working in the EU energy sector. Each of us was tasked to write few thoughts on “Energy and…” something else.
Ana chose “Energy and Education”.
She worked at the EUI in that period and she wrote:
“Energy and education are a perfect tandem that we should use and profit from in searching for sustainable solutions; and since our life is too short to talk about it – let’s do it. […] A greater collaboration between industry and universities and why not, between industry and schools and institutes could without doubt accelerate those changes.
Education is a process of giving and receiving and, as Winston Churchill said: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give”.
That’s exactly what the Scholarships in memoriam of Ana intend to be – a “collaboration between industry, schools and institutes” and we hope that the students who will benefit from this opportunity will bring with them Ana’s wish and inspiration for a better energy world.
Written by Ilaria Conti
