Since 2002, every summer in July (except for a short break during COVID), a small group of international students and tutors in the epilepsy field gather on San Servolo, a quiet green island just across the water from Venice. Removed from the noise of everyday clinical routines and research deadlines, this setting over 12 days becomes more than just a venue for teaching and learning.

Here, conversations stretch over breakfast, walk-and-talks replace emails, and the lines between student and tutor blur into shared curiosity. Hesitations fade. By midweek, those who arrived as observers – shy, sometimes scared of the unknown, definitely overwhelmed by information – begin to speak up, sharing ideas, sketching out research proposals with peers they hadn’t met days before.

The task is ambitious: to identify real gaps in epilepsy diagnosis, treatment, or understanding of disease, and to design a project that matters. Under (hopefully) gentle but persistent mentorship, students are encouraged not to replicate what’s been done, but to step out of their comfort zone, think differently, connect fields, innovate, and risk being creative.

For tutors, it’s a chance to step out of the lecture hall and into meaningful dialogue. For students, it’s a rare moment to talk eye to eye, reflect, and realize they have something to say. The island holds space for all of that.

This year, Katja returned to San Servolo as a tutor, eight years after attending the course as a student. That first experience was transformative. It helped shape her scientific path, laid the foundation for a lasting international network, and, just as importantly, forged friendships that continue to grow. Coming back to teach where it all began closed a circle and opened new ones.