Women in Research #LINO25: Thais Schroeder Rossi

Thais from Brazil is a PhD student at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Bochum, Germany.

Thais is currently working on the electrochemical synthesis of Ag-Au nanoparticles using reverse micelles as nanoreactors, focusing on their characterization and the evaluation of their electrocatalytic properties.

Thais participates in the 74^th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

Enjoy the interview with Thais and get inspired:

What inspired you to pursue a career in science / in your discipline?

Unlike many other scientists who have been interested in science since childhood, my interest in chemistry developed relatively late: only two years before starting my course at the university. At that point, I was completely sure I would go for Psychology (yes, a totally different path!). I even talked to some psychologists that were colleagues of my father, I was already searching which lectures were offered in the Psychology course and was looking forward to attending them.

When I was 16, in the second year of high school, everything changed when I started loving the Chemistry lectures of my teacher, Antonio Muchaki. His lectures were completely interesting; the way he taught was so clear and fascinating. My school did not have a laboratory, I had never had an experimental lecture; I didn’t even know if I would really enjoy it. But those lectures … the way that I saw Chemistry changed entirely.

The following six months were filled with uncertainty as I had questions and thoughts about which career to choose. I talked to my Chemistry teacher and to a cousin of mine who had recently started the Chemistry course to get an idea about what it was. I again searched for the lectures that were offered – now in the Chemistry course. In the end, I decided for Chemistry, and I loved the course from the beginning to the end, falling more and more in love with it every semester.

Fun fact #1: in the last year of middle school, when I had my first contact with Chemistry in a lecture, I could not understand how to balance equations. It was a nightmare; I got ALL exercises about this wrong, and I was so relieved when that part was over because I was really bad at it.

Fun fact #2: in the first year of high school, I was super bad in stoichiometry. All the calculations of mol, gram and volume seemed to be so complicated!! I remember I achieved the extraordinary grade of 2.6 (out of 10!) in a stoichiometry exam (and only because one question was canceled and I got 1 point extra… I had actually achieved 1.6 at that test. Not because it was not a good test, but really because I couldn’t understand the logic in it).

P.S. To be a scientist, you don’t need to love science since always, you don’t need to be good at it or to like it from the first time you encounter it. You only need interest, dedication, and (lots of) study time.

Who are your role models?

I’ve got three role models, and I’ve had the honor of working closely with each of them. Although they are all outstanding scientists, what I admire most is not their profound scientific knowledge but their character and the way they conduct themselves.

Chronologically speaking, my first role model is Dr Ana Luiza Lorenzen Lima, the person who tutored me during my undergraduate research in Brazil. When I started working with her, I was in the beginning of the second year of undergrad, and she was a master’s student*. She taught me lots of things in the lab and about research, from the very basics of experimental electrochemistry, how to write scientifically, how to prepare samples for different techniques, how to make a poster or an oral presentation for conferences… lots of things! She did that, supporting me in every way and not in a rush, not for yesterday. She gave me time to really absorb the knowledge and learn (something that I didn’t fully realize or was so much aware of at that time, but I see it now). She provided so much support – not only professionally, and she became a very special friend. I am so grateful to her in so many ways, and she knows that.

*In Brazil, the master’s program is very different than in Europe. There, the master can be seen as a “mini PhD.” A master’s student in Brazil has much fewer lectures to attend than a master’s student in Europe, but it’s necessary to develop an innovative research project within 2 years (and publish a paper!). When a master’s student supervises an undergrad student, it is similar to what we have in Europe when a PhD student supervises a master’s student.

My second role model is the person who supervised me during my research stay in the US, Prof Dr Nancy E. Levinger. She is a brilliant scientist, and very famous in the micelle world. And she showed the same to me: she provided support, she provided time! Time to make her students progress at a suitable pace. She told me that research is nice and science is great, but that the most important part is the human beings she was supervising. She cared about people the most, and it was such an amazing opportunity to be there and to observe how she led people. It is something that I will take with me for life. She is a very special person to me, and she also knows that.

My third role model is the person with whom I worked closely during a period of my PhD in Germany, Prof. Dr. Athanasios A. Papaderakis. He was a postdoctoral researcher in the same research group where I am pursuing my PhD, and he is also an outstanding scientist. Do you know these people that think about one million aspects when you bring them one question? That’s him! It’s amazing! He contributed so much with his knowledge and his kindness! And once again, he offered me so much of his time. Time is very valuable, and people who give us their time show they care. And he cared. I am extremely grateful to him, and he is aware of it as well.

P.S. I think it’s super important to let people know if they are important to us, that’s why I emphasized that all my role models know that I value them a lot and that they are important to me.

How did you get to where you are in your career path?

I would say that my career path started already in high school. Not because it was a subject-focused high school – quite the opposite, it was pretty standard –but because my commitment to my career started there. It began before I entered the university, as I had to study extensively for the university entrance exam. This exam would define where I would study, and I really wanted to be accepted into the university I wanted the most. And I was.

In 2014, I started the Chemistry course at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) in Brazil. The first year was quite challenging to adapt to the new reality: there was much more to study than in high school, even taking significantly fewer lectures. But I managed it. In the second semester, during the Introduction to Physical Chemistry lecture, Prof. Dr. Marcio Vidotti introduced us to the application of some of the fundamental aspects. He told us that in his laboratory, they do research about energy storage devices and sensors, for example. I really enjoyed understanding how we can apply what we learn during lectures in the real world. So, I decided to ask him if I could join his team, even if only as a volunteer because I wanted to learn and gain more experience in that area. He said yes.

At the beginning of my second year of undergrad, in 2015, I started working with electrochemistry at his group (Macromolecules and Interfaces Research Group – GPMIn), being supervised by him and tutored by his (at that time) master student Ana Luiza Lorenzen Lima. We investigated the influence of surfactants (SDBS and CTAB) on the properties of nickel hydroxide using various techniques and evaluated their performance for energy storage devices. After 8 months (which was not a lot, considering that I had to work in the lab only when I was not having lectures -which took place both in the mornings and afternoons- or studying for exams), I attended my first conference (XX Brazilian Symposium on Electrochemistry and Electroanalytical Chemistry) and presented a poster. I remember it was a very stressful time for me. I was constantly afraid that I would not be prepared to present my research at a big conference, and being a shy person was not helping either. My supervisor was extremely nice to me and helped me get through this, providing confidence that I would, and that no one needs to know everything in their field, especially if the person is still in their second year of undergrad. My tutor was also super helpful and went through every explanation of my poster with me. I attended the conference feeling quite scared, but I managed to do it. And I loved it. I was so proud of myself for doing that, despite being afraid to do so. And I was looking forward to attending other conferences.

In the same year, I attended another conference (Southern Brazil Chemistry Meeting) where I got the Physical Chemistry poster prize. I never imagined I would receive a poster prize there. I came home feeling incredibly happy, knowing it had been worth it. I was really proud of myself. And more than ever, I looking forward to working and divulgating it in different events. Until the day I was accepted to present my research orally. My hands immediately froze after I saw the acceptance email. I went directly to talk to Ana, and I was again very nervous. But this time, I knew I would manage it, even though I was afraid of doing so, just as it happened before. Knowing I would manage it didn’t make me any less nervous, though. I remember that I couldn’t even eat breakfast on the day of my presentation because I was too nervous; nothing would pass through my throat. But my time to present arrived, and I somehow managed it. And I was so proud of myself when it was finished. Not only due to the work I did but for overcoming my fear of speaking in public.

I worked as an undergraduate researcher in the group of Prof. Dr. Marcio Vidotti until the end of my bachelor’s course. I loved what I was studying there; it was so interesting, and I was eager to learn more and more about the system. During the three years I worked in his lab, I presented my work at five conferences and two events at my own university – where I also received an oral presentation prize once – and published two scientific papers. I worked voluntarily for the first six months, and I was funded for 1 year by the National Treasury of the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR-TN) and for 1.5 years by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

During my undergraduate studies, apart from lectures and research, I also attended the Chemistry Academic Week for three consecutive years. Oh boy, I really loved those weeks!!!! There were lots of interesting talks, amazing workshops, and nice on-site visits. I remember coming back home every day and talking about everything to my mom; my dinner getting cold on my plate because I was too excited to share all those amazing moments from my day.

During my last semester of undergraduate studies, I also completed a 6-month internship at the Inorganic Nanomaterials Laboratory (LNI) at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Herbert Winnischofer. There, I synthesized nanoparticles of a coordination compound, namely Ni3[(FeCN)5(4-CNpy)]2, characterized them, and evaluated the performance of self-assembled films in electrocatalysis. I’ll be honest: a more complex inorganic synthesis was not my strength, and it still was not when I finished the internship. But I really wanted to do something more inorganic-related to have some experience with it. I didn’t even know if I would like it or not – it turns out it’s indeed not my favorite. However, I enjoyed the topic so much that I wanted to continue studying it in some way.

Immediately after completing my bachelor’s degree in 2018, I began the master’s program at the same university, funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). I wanted to stay in the same lab where I had worked all those years during my undergraduate studies. However, after working for three years with nickel hydroxide, I wanted something different—a new topic—and I wanted to learn more. And I was interested in the topic I just worked on during my internship. The funding from CAPES was to the researcher, not to a specific project. So, we had the freedom to think about a specific master project for me. Ultimately, I worked on the synthesis of metallic hexacyanoferrate thin films using various electrochemical routes, their characterization, and the evaluation of electrocatalytic properties through different approaches under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Marcio Vidotti and co-supervision of Prof. Dr. Herbert Winnischofer.

I faced numerous challenges during my master’s program. To begin with, the lectures had significantly more content to study. One lecture would take four consecutive hours. Taking only two lectures per semester would take more time than I was used to studying during undergrad. During the master’s lecture period, it was the first time I had to stay awake for several consecutive nights, working non-stop due to the amount of work to be done (lots of reading, writing, and studying). Only for the lectures, and this was just a small part of the masters. I had to develop and defend a research project within two years (for those who do not know, a master’s in Brazil can be seen as a “mini PhD”; it has fewer lectures than the standard European master programs, but the research project is developed during the whole time, not only in the last semester). And develop a project using a material I’ve just started working with. I had some experience with electrochemistry. I worked a bit with coordination chemistry, but it was the first time I was doing that specific electrosynthesis. And it was so difficult in the beginning, simply because things didn’t work. In the first six months of my master’s program, I had literally zero results (I conducted experiments in the lab, but they were not working). Soon after, I started supervising an undergraduate student, Luciane Tenório (just as I had a master’s student supervise me when I was doing research as an undergrad). I was again filled with doubt about whether I could do that. How would I teach someone something that I couldn’t make work?

But I realize I could, yes, teach her lots of stuff, even if only the very basics of electrochemistry and the idea of what I was trying to do. During the off-lectures period, I worked extensively on my project, as I was concerned about the time (one-quarter of my master’s time had passed, and I did not see any good results). And at some point, it began to work. After numerous days of going home frustrated because nothing worked, I finally achieved my first results after trying different parameters and reading a lot of literature. I could teach my student, she was also getting good results; and to be honest, I realize how crazy it is to supervise someone. Until that point, I always thought that people who supervise someone know a lot and are completely prepared for all kinds of scenarios. It turns out that this is not always the case, and even though I supervised her and was able to teach her many things, I also learned a great deal in this process. She was not the only one who had grown; I had too.

During my master’s program, I also tutored an experimental Physical Chemistry lecture for the Pharmacy course, where I had the opportunity to teach students with diverse backgrounds and different ways of thinking. It was such a nice opportunity. I presented my work at two conferences and published my first-author scientific paper.

It’s crazy to think that I was probably less nervous in my master’s defense than in my first oral presentation at a conference. Of course, I was still a bundle of nervous, but at least I could eat something before presenting. I finished my master’s degree and could not be more grateful for the six years I spent at my university (UFPR). I had grown so so much in those six years. I loved Chemistry more each and every day. But it was time to move forward.

I didn’t want to do my PhD at the same university. Sometimes we need some fresh air. It’s not about the university; it’s about feeling this need to start in a completely new place. The story overlaps a bit because already during the master’s, I – together with my boyfriend, who was also doing his master’s in Chemistry at the same university – decided that we wanted to do our PhD abroad. It wouldn’t be enough for just one exchange year; I wanted to pursue the full PhD abroad. I had always dreamed of studying abroad since I began my undergraduate studies. Unfortunately, the Brazilian exchange program for undergraduates (Science Without Borders Program) was shut down after my second year, so I couldn’t apply for it. In the masters, it seemed too much for a small period. Although two years seems like a lot, you realize it’s not enough to develop a research project with limited infrastructure and a lot of work from lectures building up. So, an international experience had to wait at that time as well. Now, I could finally go for it.

Shortly after completing the first year of my master’s, I began searching for professors in Germany. “Why Germany?” is one of the questions I hear most often. Because it’s such a strong country for Chemistry, since always! When you learn Chemistry, there are so many equations and laws derived by Germans. And nowadays, too, there are so many opportunities in Germany. Furthermore, it would require me to develop at least some of my German language skills (which are still not great, but I’m working on it), so it would be an opportunity to learn a third language. And finally, because my family (dating back to my great-great-grandfather, or something similar) originated from Germany. My grandma has German as her first language (even though she is Brazilian), and it’s also nice to reconnect with your roots.

But as I was saying, I was looking for professors in Germany. For this, I had to know which field of Chemistry I wanted to work on. I wanted to continue in Electrochemistry. But there was something else. Among the lectures I attended during my master’s program, Prof Dr Aldo Zarbin gave the “Nanochemistry and Nanomaterials” lecture, and I literally fell in love with the nanoworld. It was so so interesting and intriguing!!! I really wanted to work with something related to it at some point in my life. And now was the time. So, I searched for professors who worked with electrochemistry and/or nanomaterials. And I tell you, there are not so many (or at least not so many that it is clearly stated in their research group name).

I prepared an Excel sheet with possible professors to apply, including information on their research interests, the university they are affiliated with, and a link to their webpage. And highlighted the ones that interested me the most. My top choice was the Electrochemistry & Nanoscale Materials (NanoEC) at Ruhr University Bochum, led by Prof Dr Kristina Tschulik. Then, I invested a lot of time in creating my CV (which I didn’t have until that point) and reading about how to approach a professor. My English skills were not the best, so I wrote an email and asked a friend, Beatriz Valença, to correct it for me. Apart from grammar and spelling corrections, her feedback was to shorten the email – as you can see, I tend to write too much –. And I think this made a huge difference; this professor clearly stated on her website to send a “short email” in case someone is interested in joining the group.

I wrote the email, and I had my CV ready. At that time, I didn’t know my email had an option to schedule a sending. So, I left my email in a draft and woke up at 5 am to send it to her. That’s because I read on her website that her office hours were scheduled for around 10 am on that day, and Brazil is 5 hours ahead of Germany – yes, you have to think about every detail. I woke up at 5 am only to click on the “send” button, and I got so excited that I had trouble getting back to sleep. Just a few hours later, I received her feedback, stating that we could have an online interview where I would present my expertise and discuss three papers that she had sent.

I used my weekend to prepare my presentation and read the papers. Sometimes, I had the feeling I was not smart enough to understand what was in some parts of the papers, but fortunately, she even mentioned in her email that she was not expecting me to know everything in there, especially of one paper much more technical. That was a relief, but I was still quite worried to give a good impression. The interview went great, and I got her acceptance on the next day. I was in heaven! In a week, I went from not having submitted any applications at all to being accepted as a PhD student in Germany. When this happened in May 2019, I still had nine months to complete my master’s, so we had plenty of time to think about how to proceed.

For funding, I would apply for a joint call from the Brazilian and German funding agencies CAPES/DAAD (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel / German Academic Exchange Service). It was only one application, but the applicant would receive either a scholarship from CAPES or from DAAD. I applied for a full PhD in Germany. There were more PhD categories for which one could apply (cotutelle or doctoral exchange program). I had to prepare a research project to apply, so I contacted my future supervisor, who asked me to propose three abstract projects based on her work. With her feedback, we decided on the project, and I wrote the document. After gathering all the needed documents, I applied for these scholarships in December 2019 (while still in the master).

The waiting months for this result can be only described by anxiety. Anxiety every day. Until February 2020, I still had my master’s project to defend, so something else was occupying my mind. But after that? My mind was full of “what if…?”. “What if I’m not selected?” “Will I have to find another funding option? How long will this take?” “Will my future supervisor give up on me because it’s getting more and more complicated for me to go there?” “Should I try to find a job now (during the pandemic)?” “Should I just wait for the (hopefully) positive result?” “What if I’m starting a job and going out of home (during that extremely risky time), but I’m accepted to go to Germany? Would it be worth the risk?” It was a very anxious period, and I’m really empathic to every person who is waiting for such a result that will decide the path that the person’s life will go. It was the pandemic, and the process was on standby. The deadline for the selection was suspended without an estimated next deadline.

The results were announced in June – but the Brazilian and German funding agencies had their own separate evaluations, so their results didn’t become public at the same time. According to the selection process document, there were supposed to be 10 CAPES scholarships and 10 DAAD scholarships for the PhD category I applied for. The call was for the entire country of Brazil, including all areas (all areas! I’m from Chemistry and was competing with people from engineering, medicine, philosophy, and many others). Only 20 people would be selected. The first results came from DAAD. However, they only send emails to those who have been selected. And not at the same time. We had an online group, and suddenly, some random people started saying they got an email from DAAD saying they were selected. Everybody went nuts! Other people sent a message that they received the acceptance email only a few hours later, maybe even in the next day. Can you imagine the anxiety of everyone during those hours?

In the end, I did not receive an acceptance email. However, I received an email saying I was on the waiting list (in case any candidate decided not to take the scholarship). I was on the waiting list for the same position (with the same mark) as another person from Philosophy. And I only know this because he was also in this online group. Every day, we spoke to each other, trying to cope with all the uncertainty. We also didn’t know which one of us would be selected in case only one person refused the scholarship. We were almost sure we would get the CAPES scholarship. When CAPES results became public, it was such a negative surprise! Not only were we not selected by CAPES, but nobody in our category was selected. All 10 CAPES scholarships to the full PhD in Germany were cut. We could only wait even more to see if we would be selected by DAAD after a month (a whole month!) that the selected candidates had to decide if they would take the scholarship or not. It turns out that everyone kept their DAAD scholarships, and I was almost there, but no, I didn’t get it. It was so so frustrating! It had been such a long process, and I had the feeling that I had put in so much effort for nothing.

I contacted my future supervisor, telling her the negative news. Fortunately, she said she would see if she could do something else. After two weeks, she sent me an email asking me to apply for the university’s master’s program. Even though I already had a master’s degree, I would attend what is called a “qualification year of studies for the doctorate,” which means repeating half of a master’s program to then finally start the PhD. She told me that I would get a scholarship from a graduate school. She was not sure about the amount; I had no idea what lots of she was telling me meant (and I took a few months to understand the academic structure in Germany. It is so so different than what we have in Brazil. Even now that I understand, when I try to explain to people in Brazil, basically nobody understands – even people from academia. There are so many things that we don’t have in there). But I didn’t care. I wanted to do my PhD in Germany in that group. If that meant studying one more year, so be it. Let’s go.

During my first year of studies, I received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the graduate school “Confinement-controlled Chemistry.” Apart from a few activities at the graduate school, I attended theoretical and experimental lectures from the faculty, the latter being in applied research, which I conducted in the laboratory where I would later pursue my PhD. That year was the most challenging year of my life. Adapting to a new country, speaking English all the time (to the point that I had headaches in the first weeks after speaking English for 2 hours non-stop), trying to fit in my new research group, facing a completely different educational system by having an extraordinary amount of Chemistry content to study to a single exam, with all exams overlapping at the end of the semester – everything in English –, all this at the same time that I was moving my entire life, trying to understand all the bureaucracies I needed to do (which is a lot – we’re talking about Germany), finding an apartment (and putting furniture in it), all this during the pandemic! It was a very very hard year! But I managed it somehow.

During this year, I also applied for another DAAD scholarship. Now, a much narrower selection process than competing with people from all areas in Brazil: it was linked to the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV, which means that only people who would study something related to solvation science within RESOLV were my competitors. I was finally selected to be a DAAD scholar! After completing this year of studies and becoming familiar with the lab and the research group where I would develop my PhD project, I could finally begin it. It was a long journey! I started it in November 2021, 2.5 years after being accepted as a PhD student by my future supervisor. From her acceptance, it took ~1 year to finish the master’s and apply for funding + ~6 months to receive the negative result from the CAPES/DAAD process + ~1 year of studies pre-PhD.

Now I’m in my fourth year of the PhD, and the last 4 years were full of challenges, too! I think that’s what a PhD is about. Learning to solve problems, learning how to deal with frustration. The research project feels like a goal, but it is actually a path. A path to becoming a more capable professional. During the PhD, I not only developed an innovative project in my field and improved my scientific knowledge (again by taking lectures, participating in conferences, and publishing papers), but I also developed a lot of my soft skills with different workshops, I got to know and exchange ideas with amazing colleagues, I participated in summer schools and retreats, attended career events, went in on-site visits… Last year, I had the outstanding opportunity to do a 4.5-month research visit in the US under the supervision of Prof Dr Nancy E. Levinger and collaborating with Prof. Dr. Debbie Crans, where I could not only work closely with incredible people and gain more knowledge about nuclear magnetic resonance but also experience another whole new culture, a new place, new people. And all this is because my PhD is a structured program and because I’m part of three graduate schools (iGSS from the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV, Confinement-controlled Chemistry, and the Graduate School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Ruhr University Bochum), as well as a DAAD scholar.

When I first read about the differences between an individual vs a structured PhD, I thought I would never want a structured one because I wanted to focus only on my research project. I thought all the other activities would only consume my time that I could spend doing research. To be honest, yes, these activities consume a lot of time!! But they are also incredibly enriching! And the whole thing made me value not only research but also other aspects of life that I was leaving aside.

Wow, that became a VERY big answer. But indeed, it’s not a short story about how I ended up where I am right now. It took time. Considering that my career path officially began in my first year of the Chemistry course – also when I was already sure that I wanted to pursue a bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD – I am now, more than a decade later, still on the way to achieving the latter title. Which is not only a nice title to have but it brings along a lot of meaning and growth.

What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

It is hard to choose one. I think every project was cool for a reason.

My undergraduate research project, for example, was super nice because I could see for the first time how “real science” works. I could assemble my own electrochemical cell, acquire and analyze data, understand it, and report the findings to the scientific community. It was the first time I was working as a researcher, and I simply loved it!

But if I have to select one, I would say my PhD project. Because I remember I read lots of papers from the group to select what I wanted to investigate and to write the research project proposal. I had already worked with micelles during my undergraduate studies, and now I would use them in a totally different way, specifically to synthesize nanoparticles – the object of study that I had wanted to work with for a long time. Apart from basic electrochemical measurements, which I was already accustomed to due to my background, I learned how to operate a scanning electron microscope and a transmission electron microscope. I performed synchrotron measurements three times at DESY in Hamburg. I learned how to use a Schlenk line. I went to the US to characterize the reverse micelles with nuclear magnetic resonance. I learned how to build microelectrodes, reference electrodes, and counter electrodes myself. I learned how to perform and analyze nanoimpact measurements. I could work in a research lab with a fantastic infrastructure. Although I’m the responsible person for this project, I collaborated with and exchanged knowledge with several people about it.

What’s a time you felt immense pride in yourself / your work?

I like to celebrate even small achievements, which means that I take pride in myself for many things. I feIt proud of myself when I was accepted in my dream university in Brazil (UFPR), when I was accepted as an undergrad researcher in a research lab, when I presented my first poster in a conference, when my name was on the list of authors of a scientific paper for the first time (and the subsequent times), when I presented my research and was orally evaluated during undergrad, when I presented my first oral presentation at a conference, when I got prizes for my conference presentations, when I finished the Bachelor course, when I passed the selective process to become master student (with scholarship!) at UFPR, when I completed the master’s qualifying examination and defended my master’s thesis, when I was accepted by my current supervisor to pursue my PhD in Germany, when I did not give up to come to Germany after a long and unsuccessful funding selective process, when DAAD selected me to be funded by them, when I could learn new things in Germany and explain my research in English, when I learned to have a better work-life balance, when I presented my first oral presentation in English at an international conference, when DAAD nominated me to apply for the Lindau meeting, when the Lindau meeting organizers selected me to participate, when my first paper from the PhD was accepted.

I felt proud in each and every one of these times because every time, I felt I was overcoming myself in a certain way, and that’s why it’s hard to name only one.

What is a “day in the life” of you like?

Lately, I wake up at 7 am, have breakfast, and leave home around 8:00-8:30 am to go to the university. There, it depends. Sometimes, I have a lot of experiments to do in the lab, or I have to evaluate some data in the PC, or read some literature, write reports or abstracts for conferences, prepare a poster or talk, go to meetings, seminars or workshops. Sometimes, I have a whole week working exclusively in the lab and collecting data, and then I spend several days working on the PC. This is my personal preference. I realize that some colleagues prefer to collect data and analyze it directly on the same day. For my research, considering how I like to work, I prefer to have one full day dedicated to one task and one full day dedicated to the other. It seems to be better structured in my mind, which, in turn, improves my workflow. At 5 pm, I come back home, give the rabbits food, and play with them for a bit. I then eat dinner, talk to my husband, and sometimes study German or relax before going to bed.

For a long period during my PhD, I would wake up at 5 am, go to the gym, or study German before heading to the university. I really liked to do something for myself before going to work – especially when the day at work was drowning a lot of my energy, and I used to get home quite exhausted to do exercises or study in the evening. Currently, I confess that I am on a pause with physical exercises, which is not ideal, and I plan to get back to moving my body somehow. But I am also enjoying this moment of pause.

What are you seeking to accomplish in your career?

I cannot think of a specific position I want to achieve eagerly or a particular place where I really want to work. Professionally speaking, I am not a super ambitious person. To me, it’s much more important to achieve a healthy work-life balance, doing something that I feel is important and that makes sense to me, having a nice working atmosphere, and earning enough to live a comfortable life.

What do you like to do when you’re not doing research?

I like to spend time with my husband, play with our rabbits, watch series or movies, play some video game / cell phone game / board game, do a puzzle, read a book, go to the park, meet friends, and for a while, I also enjoyed making YouTube videos (also on pause at the moment).

What advice do you have for other women interested in science / in your discipline?

If you want to do it, simply go for it. If you think you are not capable, that’s not true. Everyone needs to learn everything they know. If you want to learn whatever it is, you can, as long as you dedicate yourself.

If you developed an interest a bit later than the “usual,” it doesn’t matter. What matters is your interest. Do you have it? Yes? Then you’re all set.

Be aware, though, that even though there are several programs to try to equilibrate the number of women and men in STEM, as well as their working conditions and benefits, you may still face some discrimination, even if indirectly. Our society is progressing, but unfortunately, it is definitely not entirely equal. You have to be alert and learn to stand up for yourself.

In your opinion, what will be the next great breakthrough in science / in your discipline?

I think it will be finding a catalyst that’s both affordable and highly efficient for key reactions, such as hydrogen evolution, oxygen evolution, and oxygen reduction reactions (HER, OER, and ORR). These reactions are crucial for technologies such as water splitting and fuel cells; however, the best catalysts we currently have are often too expensive or unsustainable. Discovering a stable, active, and low-cost alternative could significantly alter the scenario for clean energy and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future.

What should be done to increase the number of female scientists and professors?

Although there are a considerable number of female PhD students and postdocs, the percentage of female professors decreases significantly. I think it’s challenging for many women to decide between continuing their academic careers, which often involve temporary contracts and high-level requirements to advance professionally and having children. Some women might prefer a more secure work alternative in the long run in such a scenario. This is one point: having more permanent positions in academia might attract more scientists (not only women but also men).

Another point is that to secure a leadership position, such as a professorial role or a high-level position in a company, one must pass through the selection process for that position. Are the people deciding who will be hired somehow biased? People can be highly educated and still be biased. Are they aware if they have an unconscious bias? Are they aware that, having two equally educated and capable candidates, they may unconsciously assess the woman as less suitable for a leadership position than the man? The scenario is even worse when we consider women of color. By the way, it’s not because the committee is formed by women that such women/men bias does not exist. Women can also be unconsciously biased in this regard.

That is why I think that it should be mandatory for EVERY person who is part of ANY decision-making in a selective process to be more educated about gender inequality and unconscious bias by attending workshops and watching documentaries about this subject, for example. And not only these people but everyone! But especially people who are dealing with and evaluating others. This should be mandatory everywhere! And I don’t know why we are not there yet. People are required to undergo safety training to work in a building or lab, but training on how to deal with others (including our own biases) is often overlooked.