Yesterday I submitted my proposal for becoming a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow. So if everything goes as hoped I will be collaborating with Prof. Christoph Schalley group in Free University of Berlin from the next schoolyear. My project there will be about supramolecular chemistry, more precisely on rotaxanes and molecular machines based on rotaxanes. It will introduce me a whole new world of opportunities that exist in supramolecular chemistry. I am really excited about this stay, though it is not certain jet.
I would like to comment on some things that I
have learned about myself and about applying during this process. First of all,
few years ago I was sure I never want to go to post-doc. There were several
reasons. I had my aims that could at that moment of time be fulfilled here in
University of Tartu. This has changed, I feel the need to learn some new tricks
to reach higher, to be more effective and to widen my collaboration circle.
Secondly I have always been very keen on my family. My stay in Helsinki during
my doctorate thought me that far away from home (alone) can be somewhat
depressing. Though I have grown and also Tauri is now able to come with me to
Berlin, so this hard part can be handled. I am really grateful that Tauri is
willing to take this effort for my dreams and take a break in his career.
Actually the fact that this proposal is now
submitted sounded unrealistic to me in April. Everyone who had either applied
for MSC or had heard anything about it told that it is very-very-very (I should
probably but an exponent here) hard. And to be honest the form itself also felt
quite complicated in the first place. But as the discussion with Prof. Schalley
went further a plan that I felt comfortable with was put together and then it
wasn’t that complicated to put it down on paper. I am also very thankful to
everyone who helped me during this period – starting from discussions on the
topic down to taking up some of my duties so that I would have a bit more time
to focus on the proposal. Thank you all very much!
What I would like to say to everyone who will
be applying to MSC or something similar, even though it seems hard in some
point, writing the proposal can really help you. During this period I have
written to numerous people I did not even know about before, aiming to gain
some information (mostly about how things will be organized in FU when I start
my fellowship). And though it seemed a bit weird to me in the first place that
I am asking people about things that are not even certain jet, I started
feeling must more confident about the success of my stay. Due to these
interactions, I hope, I have a more realistic picture what happens when I
arrive in Berlin. Which on the other hand has made me feel that it is a right
thing to do and I really want to do it.
Another important thing is the influence I have
already had. During writing this project I have to admit I read more papers
then probably during the whole year before. Which, in the beginning seemed like
an ocean, but though I still probably haven’t read a fraction of papers related
to my topic in Berlin I have already found a lot of interesting stuff that also
is related to my tasks (scientific and partially also teaching) today. And
these came up from the papers I would have never been searching from.
I will keep my fingers crossed until the time
results of this proposal will become available (Feb 2016).
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