Travel. Learn. Change. Welcoming Home Our EIL Explore Scholarship Winners
This weekend was a very special one for EIL as we gathered in Maynooth to welcome back many of our 2026 EIL Explore Scholarship winners and hear about their experiences, their challenges, the people they met and, most importantly, what they learned along the way.
Our EIL Explore Scholarships are one of the activities at the very heart of our mission. For over 30 years, Explore has been creating opportunities for people to step outside their comfort zones, immerse themselves in another culture, learn about global issues and return home with new perspectives, ideas and a desire to make a difference in their own communities.
And what a year of exploring it has been!
Almost 30 people travelled to destinations across the world, including Vietnam, Kenya, Mexico, Egypt, Japan and Vermont in the USA, to name just a few.
Each Explore journey is different. Depending on the scholarship, participants may take part in volunteering and community projects, cultural immersion, education and language learning, youth leadership and social justice programmes, environmental and ecotourism projects, or experience everyday life in another country by living with a host family and becoming part of a local community.
For our younger Explorers, opportunities can include studying and living with a host family abroad, experiencing school life in Japan, taking part in youth leadership and social justice programmes in Vermont, or combining education, cultural activities and excursions through an international summer experience.
For those over 18, Explore opportunities can involve volunteering and cultural immersion programmes connected to global issues and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with experiences ranging from ecotourism and environmental projects to education and community-based initiatives.
But Explore is about much more than travelling to another country.
It is about Travel. Learn. Change.
Participants are encouraged to be curious, open-minded and willing to challenge their own assumptions. They learn from the communities they spend time with, encounter different ways of living and thinking, and develop a deeper understanding of their place in our interconnected world.
From Explorer to volunteer
One of the things that made our weekend in Maynooth particularly special was the presence of our EIL volunteers.
Every one of the volunteers supporting the weekend had once been an Explore Scholarship winner themselves. Having returned from their own international experiences, they have stayed involved with EIL and are now active volunteers, giving their time to support the next generation of Explorers.
There was something particularly powerful about seeing previous scholarship winners welcoming home this year’s participants, listening to their stories and helping them reflect on everything they had experienced.
It demonstrates something we value enormously about Explore: the journey doesn’t necessarily end when the scholarship ends.
For many participants, Explore becomes the beginning of a much longer connection with EIL, volunteering and global citizenship. They return with new skills and perspectives and find ways to pass those experiences on to others.
And the journey home is an important part of the scholarship experience too.
Every Explorer completes an Action at Home Project, taking what they have learned overseas and finding a way to reflect on it, share it and create an impact within their own community.
That is why our return and debrief weekend is such an important moment in the Explore journey. Hearing our returning scholarship winners speak about the friendships they made, the challenges they faced, the cultures they experienced and the ways in which they have grown is a powerful reminder of why these opportunities matter.
And not all of our 2026 Explorers are home just yet!
We currently have a group of our Study Abroad Scholarship winners spending three months overseas, taking part in programmes in countries including Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium. We can’t wait to welcome them home and hear their stories too.
Could 2027 be your year to Explore?
If reading about this year’s Explorers has sparked something in you, there is exciting news ahead.
Applications for our 2027 EIL Explore Scholarship Awards will open in November.
Our scholarships support people who are curious about the world, interested in other cultures and global issues, engaged with their communities and ready to challenge themselves. There are opportunities across different ages and themes, including options for both under-18s and over-18s.
So whether your Explore journey could take you to a school on the other side of the world, a youth leadership programme, a host family and new community, or a volunteering project focused on global challenges, this could be your opportunity to do something extraordinary.
And perhaps, like some of the volunteers who joined us in Maynooth this weekend, your Explore journey could be the beginning of a connection that lasts for many years to come.
Travel. Learn. Change.
Keep an eye on our social media channels over the coming weeks for details of the 2027 EIL Explore Scholarship Awards, application information and more stories from our Explorers.
Your world is waiting.
