Minerva's daughters thrive through new perspectives
Flóra Barasits works as a doctoral researcher at the MPI
A young woman from Hungary decides to pursue her PhD in Germany after studying abroad in Sweden. In the interview, Flóra Barasits talks about how she came to the Max Planck Institute.
She is interested in science communication and sustainability: Flóra Barasits works in Guanqi Qiu's research group. In the interview, she talks about her understanding of equality - and why she has no role model.
What brought you here? Tell us about your way to the Kohlenforschung!
Flóra Barasits: I come from Hungary, where I conducted my Bachelor of Science at the Eötvös Loránd University. After my Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry – in Uppsala, where it was pretty cold (laughs) – I joined a position in industry to glimpse outside of academia and moved from Sweden to Germany (which is warmer and closer to my friends and family in Hungary). After the internship I noticed that I would have more opportunities with a PhD – so I looked for openings and I found Guanqi’s job offer on LinkedIn. We had a very nice job interview with her where she showed an unusually healthy mindset of how to conduct research! She liked me just as well and luckily, I got the position.
What do you like about your work?
Flóra: I like the atmosphere in our group. It grants me a lot of freedom. I can open up my creativity in this very interdisciplinary environment.
What are your professional goals?
Flóra: I am still undecisive about my professional goals. I do not really see myself either as a professor or in an industry job. I am very much interested in science communication – explaining to a borader public what we are doing, I think this is essential. I am also very interested in questions of sustainability – to tackle what really matters for improving it – either in the chemical industry itself or in the society in general.
What has been your most difficult step so far?
Flóra: From retrospective all steps taken look easy enough (laughs). But probably moving to Sweden was my most difficult step so far. It was a big leap for me – also from a language point of view. Until then most of my studies were in Hungarian. Yes, we had an English exam, but I did not know if I was fluid enough in English. Yet, moving abroad was the best decision I ever made. It opened up my personality, I got to know so many interesting people – and I learned many new perspectives. And I think that this – looking at things from different perspectives – is crucial for us as scientists.
Do you have a role model?
Flóra: I would not say that I have a role model, as I think this would mean to idealize one single person. We are all humans with faults. I rather prefer to collect something from everyone I meet. Learning about other people's characters helps me to grow.
What advice would you give to young girls who are interested in working in a scientific institution?
Flóra: I luckily grew up in an environment where being a woman did not make any difference in the context of science. We were taught to treat each other as people, not as men or women. I think this is very helpful to get us to a truthfully equal society. Of course, authorities need to set rules, but we as students and scientists need this sense for equality in ourselves – that it truly does not play a role in science if we are men or women. From this can you really gain the necessary confidence to concentrate on what you are really passionate about!
If you had one wish: What would it be?
Flóra: I would wish for people in the world to get more reasonable. I think if we gained more understanding, acceptance and curiousity we would get rid of a lot of meaningless hatred, manipulation, anti-scientific beliefs, stress and many problems including sexism, racism also.
