A journey between Greece, the US and Switzerland.
In my experience, a Marie SkłodowskaCurie fellowship comes with many more benefits in terms of personal development and career progression than the short-term funding support. It is truly a gift that keeps on giving!
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
Back in 2003, as a fresh PhD graduate, I left Greece for the US for what I then thought would be a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in basic research. Seven years later, having had my fill of basic, translational, and clinical research in both academia and industry, I found myself longing to return home. A position was available in my hometown to complete my clinical speciality training in endocrinology, but I was worried about being able to keep doing high-quality research, which I was equally passionate about. At the time, I had no idea about funding opportunities in Europe, and I had never heard of the MSCA.
AIMING HIGH
Out of sheer luck, I ran into an old acquaintance from Greece at an international conference in the US. During a brief chat standing in a hallway, he mentioned that I should look into the Marie Curie fellowships. It was a moment that changed my life: though I didn’t have any resources to assist me with the application, I did the best I could to put together an original yet feasible proposal based on my own scientific ideas. I still remember struggling with unfamiliar concepts like “outreach” and “exploitation.” My application received a score of 95 %, which sounded pretty good, though I had no measure for comparison. The grant award letter came a couple of weeks later.
Six months after I first heard about the MSCA, I was back in Greece with a dual role, that of a clinical fellow in endocrinology and another a Marie Curie fellow, holder of a prestigious Career Integration Grant (this scheme was later absorbed into what became the Individual fellowships). This fellowship helped me to move back home and allowed me to stay competitive in research by managing my own group and starting to publish as a senior author. Yet I could have never imagined the long-term impact that the fellowship would have on my career.
RISING FORCE
About a year into it, and, as I learned later, thanks to the high score of my grant application and the initiative of a dynamic programme officer, I was invited to serve as evaluator for the Life Sciences panel of a couple of different MSCA schemes. It turned out that this role came with a lot of perks. To give an obvious example, I learnt a lot about how grants are evaluated in practice, and this has helped me tremendously in my various funding applications. I also finally clarified what those mysterious concepts (outreach, exploitation, etc.) mean, and why they matter...
At the time, all evaluations involved physical meetings in Brussels, a very lively city, and, in many ways, the heart of Europe. At these meetings, excellent opportunities were available daily to network with other scientists as well as with officials of the Research Executive Agency (REA) of the European Commission. But more important than the travel, networking, reimbursement, and so on, I felt highly honoured to be contributing to the support of Europe’s next wave of leading researchers. This pride and sense of higher mission helped me to deal mentally with the concurrent financial downturn in Greece and the general depressive sentiment that came with it.
FUTURE WORLD
When I later left Greece for Switzerland, the distinction of being a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Alumnus accelerated my acceptance, recognition, and integration in my new national scientific environment. In addition to enjoying all the perks mentioned above of being a former fellow, it is now also my turn to give back to the community and to the MSCA. EURESEARCH – a Swiss non-profit association that informs, advises, and connects researchers based in or coming to Switzerland – regularly invites me to their workshops to share my experience as evaluator with applicants to various MSCA schemes. Another notable occasion where I had the opportunity to speak was during a national event in 2017 to mark the full reassociation of Switzerland with Horizon 2020. I also had the pleasure of being a founding member of the MCAA’s Swiss Chapter.
To conclude, in my experience, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship comes with many more benefits in terms of personal development and career progression than the short-term funding support. It is truly a gift that keeps on giving!
GERASIMOS P. SYKIOTIS MD PHD
SERVICE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETOLOGY AND METABOLISM, LAUSANNE
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, AND FACULTY OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE,
UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE, LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND
EMAIL: GERASIMOS.SYKIOTIS@CHUV.CH
What is it like to be a foreign researcher working in Germany? Marina Rantanen and Isabel Paredes Cisnero were invited to speak at the Life of international researchers in Germany webinar that took place on 25 May. They shared with us their personal experience and advice.
Marina, in her own words
I'm the secretary of the MCAA Executive Committee and an early career researcher working on cyber-physical systems at the Technical University of Dortmund. I grew up on a small island outside of Stockholm and later studied at the Royal Institute of Technology and the Stockholm School of Economics. Professionally, I've been involved in a wide range of projects and companies, most recently as a robotics engineer at the European Space Agency and as a research engineer at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), before I started my position at TU Dortmund in 2016. I have moved around frequently in the past few years for work and have developed an intense love for getting to know new cultures, languages and people.
Isabel, in her own words
I was born in Colombia, where I studied for my bachelor’s in Physics. I finished in 2010 and decided to move to Chile to do a double-degree master’s in clinical medical physics, at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, in cooperation with the Heidelberg University and the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg. Currently, I am doing my PhD at the DKFZ in computer modelling of the simulation response of hypoxic tumours.
FEELING AT HOME
Finding an accommodation in Germany might not be as straightforward as one could expect. Marina experienced difficulties when she decided to settle in Dortmund: “The first year, I moved three times, subletting rooms and apartments before I took over a great spacious place from a colleague. To me, it seems landlords in Dortmund have little experience with international people and hesitate to sign contracts with them.” Before moving to Germany, it is therefore important to be prepared to spend some time finding accommodation.
AT WORK
Both of our interviewees agree on the good working conditions. “I felt welcomed in Heidelberg, and very well supported to perform good scientific research: many things that are not provided for granted in Latin America were given here, so it felt easier in many ways,” explains Isabel.
According to Marina, researchers work in a very supportive environment. As she says, “German research institutions are very well funded (at least, within engineering). Provided that one can give a good enough reason for acquiring material, one can always get the equipment and resources one needs for experiments.”
But be prepared to deal with hierarchical structures. “It is important to know how the structures work in order not to offend anyone above you,” Marina explains.
“Swedish organisations take pride in being informal and flat. For them, hierarchies are mostly a paper exercise that does not translate into real life in terms of communication structures or even decision-making. My experience is that the hierarchy renders communication inefficient and may cause unnecessary issues in everyday work,” she adds.
The working environment in Germany displays a strong work ethic and other advantages, as Marina emphasises: “Punctuality is important, which I appreciate. Planning work becomes easier as one can trust colleagues to be on time for meetings, and work that has been promised to be delivered generally is.”
What’s more, research groups can bring together up to 30 PhD and junior researchers under the supervision of one professor. “I consider this a very large group, but I have learned that this size is not uncommon in Germany,” Marina notes, adding: “A last remark is that we as PhD candidates contribute extensively to both academic and non-academic work in the department. I started for instance teaching from my very first few weeks at TU Dortmund.”
LEARNING THE LANGUAGE
Both our interviewees agree that speaking the language of the country is important. “If you can, learn German. It is for sure not necessary – especially if you don’t plan to be here for the long-term – but it definitely makes things easier,” advises Isabel.
“Knowing German is very important for your social life, and my advice is to start taking courses from day one and simply get over your embarrassment, to talk to people ASAP,” says Marina.
GETTING INTO THE CULTURE
Other than providing an inspiring working environment, Germany offers multiple opportunities. “The rich German cultural history, interesting language and strong engineering tradition have always fascinated me and were my main reasons for going to Germany. There is always some cultural event going on across the whole spectrum – everything from small, local punk concerts and DIY craft festivals to internationally renowned art exhibitions and opera.”
Marina is happy to share memories of her stay so far: “I remember particularly my participation in the event series titled FameLab Talking Science. I encourage any young researcher to take part in such events, as you learn and grow so much from talking about your research to the general public in an understandable way and standing on stage in front of a large live audience.”
THE EDITORIAL TEAM
Ana Çernok’s work provides new evidence about how the formation of ancient Moon rocks may be directly linked to large meteorite impacts.
Ana, in her own words
I am a Serbian national. I grew up in Serbia and went to school there. I obtained my bachelor of sciences and master of sciences degrees in geology and geochemistry at the University of Vienna, Austria, and my PhD at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. I was an MSCA fellow (2016-2018) at the Open University in the UK, with professor Mahesh Anand, and this project was my first postdoc experience. The project allowed me to do something I had wanted to do for a very long time: learn about planetary geology.
Passion, motivation and solid teamwork. This is behind every success, or in this case, behind every Moon rock.
“Discoveries may seem to come in a flash, but sometimes it takes a long time to articulate scientific findings,” says Ana.
Reported in the journal Nature Astronomy, Ana is part of a team that discovered evidence that the formation of ancient rocks on the Moon may be directly linked to large meteorite impacts. “Traditionally, the lunar crust is seen as formed through the cooling of the planet-size Lunar Magma Ocean that existed in the early stage of the Moon formation,” she explains.
“Our discovery is challenging the hypothesis that the unique rock collected by NASA astronauts during the 1972 Apollo 17 mission to the Moon contains mineralogical evidence in the form of cubic zirconia formed at incredibly high temperatures (in excess of 2300 °C / 4300 °F). This can only be achieved by the melting of the outer layer of a planet in a large impact event,” she adds.
Eventually, this suggests that the unimaginably violent meteorite impacts that happened early in the solar system history helped to build the lunar crust.
INSPIRATION
According to Ana, this discovery wouldn’t have been possible without the role of her colleague, Dr Lee White. “The idea originated when we looked together at the Apollo 17 samples I had worked on during my MSCA project,” she recalls. Thanks to Dr White’s expertise in cubic zirconia, Ana and he were able to work on a common project. “Lee’s perspective was eye-opening!” she adds.
PUBLICATION
Formulating the main implications of the discovery involved plenty of discussions with senior scientists and robust teamwork. Ana notes how her team’s interpretation of their research was not immediately accepted in the peer-review process.
“I would like to use the opportunity to advocate the need for MSCA to reconsider covering publication costs after the funding ends. A good example is set by other European funding schemes, in Austria, for instance,” explains Ana. “Here, we were lucky to publish in a high-profile journal that does not charge fees. However, it could have easily cost us several thousand euro to publish in a different journal,” she adds.
MOON MATTERS
Conducting research on moon-related topics is crucial, according to Ana. “Not only is it the nearest place from which we can currently learn about the earliest history of the Earth and the solar system, but it is the place of our future, too. If we are to go to the Moon, and we seem to plan it for the next decade, let’s make it our quest for knowledge!”
The story is far from ending. For Ana, it’s a new beginning. She continues to work on Moon-related topics.
The story is far from ending. For Ana, it’s a new beginning. She continues to work on Moon-related topics.
Interested?
Read more in the article published in Nature Astronomy.
MCAA EDITORIAL TEAM