Juan de Gracia (KTH to UiO, Nov.-Dec. 2019)
During the PhD defense of Shaoqi Zhan I met Ainara Nova (UiO) and we discussed about some interesting projects they are leading and some possibilities to learn from her group. So, during the next weeks we discussed about a collaboration in the framework of NordCO2 to explore some promising catalysts using techniques and software that I had no experience in it. So, Prof. Mårten Ahlquist (KTH), Ainara Nova (UiO) wrote down a project description and we had the positive feedback from steering committee in a few days, everything was extremely easy.
My experience there was really fruitful, I have learnt from Ainara and her group a lot. At the same time was really nice to be for 11 weeks in a different research group, with different background and working on different projects as me. Many good discussions were raised during meetings and they added me as one more in the team. On the personal way, to have the chance to live in other country is always good, getting out of the comfort zone, and met new people in and out academia opened my mind. I think this kind of experiences are a must do during PhD, we are doing this to learn, and this is a fun way to learn and, of course to grow your network for your future.