Certified Interpretive Trainer (CIT)
Sandy Colvine (France)
Contact: +33 6 58 80 14 17; email on the interactive map
Languages: English, French
Courses: CIG, CIW, MIH
Professional background:
Freelance translator and rural/local development consultant. Undergraduate degree in Geography, MSC in Landscape and Development, Postgraduate diploma in land Resource Planning, currently completing Post Graduate Diploma in Interpretation: Management and Practice.
Everyone has the ability to learn new skills, unearth hidden talents and enrich existing knowledge. I take a highly supportive approach so people can surpass, even surprise themselves. Our innate connection with the historic environment is powerful, so unlocking and expressing it through interpretation is hugely rewarding on many levels.
Max – Dubravko Fijačko (Croatia)
Contact: +385 91 30 01 401, email on the interactive map
Languages: Croatian, English
Courses: CIG
Professional background:
Journalist (Radio, Newspaper), 10 years of experience in marketing (copywriter) and Licensed Tour Guide (more than 9 years of experience in Private tours). I have 1st level education in WSET and in 2018 I was nominated for the Green Microphone Award (for sustainable tourism). Today I’m tour manager and an IE Certified Interpretive Trainer (with the experience of several successfully completed courses) and IE Gastronomic Heritage Coordinator, focused on Food and wine traditions.
I believe that each interpretation is unique. Interaction with participants is something I’ve always wanted to teach. My goal is to make participants interested in heritage interpretation to use first-hand experiences naturally on the understanding that their every observation is a bridge to interpretation and deeper meanings.
Ivana Jagic Boljat (Croatia)
Contact: +385 955 063 681, email on the interactive map
Languages: Croatian, English
Courses: CIG, CIW
Professional background:
MA in tourism, museology and heritage management.
Since childhood I have bonded with nature and the Carpathian Mountains, constantly delighted in the wilderness around me. I believe strongly that a guide’s role is much more than just transferring knowledge. Transforming visitors into participants seems to be one of the most responsible parts of my job.
Thorsten Ludwig (Germany)
Contact: +49 176 3218 9237, email on the interactive map
Languages: German, English
Courses: CIG, CIP, CIT, CIW
Professional background:
MSC Interpretation: Management and Practice (UHI, UK) / Self-employed with Bildungswerk interpretation since 1993 / Managing Director of Interpret Europe from 2015-2021 / Ran more than 30 Interpret Europe training courses in nine countries (as of 2022) / Trainer/co-trainer of all Interpret Europe Certified Interpretive Trainers (CIT).
Our courses help parks, monuments and museums to make a difference to the development of society. It gives me goosebumps every time I see our participants discover the power of meaning, the magic of interpretive skills, and their own responsibility in enabling others to interpret heritage in an appropriate way.
Evarist March Sarlat (Spain-Catalonia)
Contact: +34 66 22 51 059, email on the interactive map
Languages: Catalan, Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese -less fluent.
Courses: CIG
Professional background:
CEO of Naturalwalks. Degree in Biology, post-degrees in Mediation and international cooperation. Professional guide, trainer and consultant in Ecotourism and interpretation specialising in natural areas and ethnobotany.
I define myself as a professional tourist, for whom tourism is both occupation and passion. Heritage interpretation for me is the only way to develop tourism properly and sustainably, providing satisfactory genuine experiences for visitors while preserving nature and culture for the next generations.
Michal Medek (Czech Republic)
Contact: email on the interactive map
Languages: Czech, English, Slovak, Russian
Courses: CIG, CIP, CIW
Professional background:
Director of the Czech Institute for Heritage Interpretation, lecturer at two faculties of Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic: Heritage Interpretation and Environmental Education, former director, founder and coach of two environmental field studies centres, guiding experience with over 30,000 participants
PgCert. in Interpretation: Management and Practice – University of Highlands and Islands, UK; MA in Environmental Humanities – Masaryk University, Czech Republic, MSc. in Biology, Geology and Geography (high-school teacher training) – Masaryk University, Czech Republic.
Every participant and every training course is individual to me. As a perfectionist I even try to adjust the same activity to the situation and the people, to make the course as relevant to them as possible. People often ask me if I am so enthusiastic all the time. I am not, but during the trainings I transform into a special flow mode.
Contact: maria.michalcikova@gmail.com
Languages: Slovakian, fluent in English
Courses: CIG
Professional background:
As an independent professional, 15+ year experiences in tourism sector. She has been vice-chairman of the board of regional tourism board Rezort Piestany, she is dedicated to tourism guiding services, training, development of tourism products and destination management. She is active in community by the development of product lines of the “Central European Spa” and regional product brand “Piešťansko” with stakeholders (professional associations, government, municipality, NGOs, commercial entities, tourism board, universities and museums) at local and European level. She is founder of Art Nouevau Festival and Exibition of art – Alphonse Mucha in Piestany. She is guide in spa town Piestany. She loves Live Interpretation.
Dragana Lucija Ratković Aydemir (Croatia)
Contact: +385 91 505 83 02, email on the interactive map
Languages: Croatian, English
Courses: CIG, CIP
Professional background:
BA in Art History and Comparative Literature, EU Diploma in Cultural Management
Receiving and sharing knowledge and skills is my passion. Supporting local communities that come together to celebrate heritage is my calling. All of this is combined in IE training for interpretive planning and I am proud to have participated in its creation.
Iva Silla (Croatia)
Contact: email on the interactive map
Languages: Croatian, English, Spanish
Courses: CIG
Professional background:
I am an educator, specialising in heritage interpretation, innovative tools, creative tourism project management and IE’s longest-standing CIG trainer in Croatia.
I also run my businesses, Secret Zagreb, Croatia Underrated and Playful Croatia, as well as being an active interpretive guide and author.
Janja Sivec (Slovenia)
Contact: +386 31 747 039, email on the interactive map
Languages: Slovene, English
Courses: CIG, CIW, MIH
Professional background:
BA in Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, self-employed freelance interpreter
My passion is working with people and sharing enthusiasm for heritage interpretation. I believe that I learn as much from the participants in my courses as they do from me. I facilitate the process and ask difficult questions that do not always have answers but serve as food for thought.
Per Sonnvik (Sweden)
Contact: +46 18 672 444, email on the interactive map
Languages: Swedish, English
Courses: CIG
Professional background:
Master of Science (MSc) in Rural Development from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Mid Sweden University. In addition to these educations I have studied Agrarian History, Biology, Graphic arts and design, several languages and environmental courses.
Heritage interpretation has great potential to help people build connections with our natural and cultural heritage. I enjoy giving courses, when I meet guides and from these encounters, I experience the possibilities of interpretation.
Contact: +30 6989 297 077, email on the interactive map
Languages: Greek, English, French
Courses: CIG, CIP, CIT, CIW, MIH
Professional background:
I have an MSc in Environmental Decision Making and have been working for 20 years as a free-lance trainer for NGOs, museums, educational and governmental institutions, all over Europe. Since 2016, I have had the honour of acting as Interpret Europe’s training coordinator.
I see training and heritage interpretation as two parallel, never-ending roads where both trainers and interpreters are there to inspire, transmit their passion, relate what they say to the participants’ world, provoke new ideas and encourage participants think for themselves. Care to join me in this journey?
Zsuzsa Tolnay (Hungary)
Contact: +36 30 50 17 646, email on the interactive map
Languages: Hungarian, English
Courses: CIW, CIG
Professional background:
MSc in Biology, MSc in World Heritage Management; employed at the Hortobágy National Park and World Heritage Site, and Assocation of Cultural Heritage Managers. Fields of expertise: nature conservation, eritage management, World Heritage, heritage interpretation.
While my colleagues work with wilderness creatures, I study those of society. As an anthropologist in a nature park, I teach how humans transform the environment and how nature affects people, an interconnected process summarised in 3 key words: heritage, identity and landscape.
Helena Vičič (Slovenia)
Contact: email on the interactive map
Languages: Slovene, English
Courses: CIG, CIP, CIW, MIH
Professional background:
BA in History, PGdip in Heritage Interpretation, self-employed interpretive consultant and trainer
IE courses are a highlight in my work as a trainer, bringing me motivation and reward, seeing participants shine when they feel something significantly changed in their lives. My true wealth grows with the many relationships built up during courses that are then transformed into fruitful cooperation.
Ondřej Vítek (Czech Republic)
Contact: +420 60 46 57 192, email on the interactive map
Languages: Czech, English
Courses: CIG
Professional background:
Ph.D. in Landscape Ecology, currently employed as Visitor Monitoring and Management Specialist at the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
Every ranger should be able to easily explain to the general public why visitors should respect constraints related to nature conservation measures. Interpretation provides a tried and trusted way of achieving this and so much more too.
Ivana Zrilić (Croatia)
Contact: +385 98 529 581, email on the interactive map
Languages: Croatian, English, Italian, Spanish (French, Portuguese)
Courses: CIG
Professional background:
B.Sc. Econ., working as a teacher for new tourist guides, self-employed freelance tourist guide and interpreter.
I work with children and adults, encouraging them to discover the best in themselves. I help them in their professional and personal development, returning home richer for at least one new experience. I help people look at the world through different eyes for a uniquely memorable experience of a place.