Tell us something about yourself:
I have more names and surnames than the Czech system can deal with! For real though, I am just a common girl who likes beer, travelling, computers, reading, sports… Pretty easy-going but also quite stubborn. I love my family and, although I prefer colder weather, I go visit them any time I can. I like to be updated with what is going on in the world and learn about it. I would also love to live in more countries before settling down somewhere.
What do you like most about working as a scientist?
I guess it would be, as is for every scientist, discovering the answers to your questions. I think that is a feeling that cannot be described. And to be more precise, I work with programming but my background is biological so making my code work and implementing it really makes my day.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement(s) so far?
I am Spanish and it is very hard there to find a job in your field. It does not matter if it is science or not. However, it is even harder for young scientists because most of us have to make our living from public grants and the national budgets for science in Spain are very low. So, to me, being able to live as a scientist is my greatest achievement. It may not seem like a lot but most of my university classmates did not make it.
Why did you decide to study at UCT Prague?
While I was working on my master’s thesis in Barcelona, I met Petra Karnetová who was promoting the ‘Study in Prague’ programme. I was looking for a PhD in Bioinformatics and she did not know anything about that but she looked into it and gave me a name and an e-mail to contact. Then she started talking about Prague and the Czech Republic in general. After that, I created an Excel file with my PhD possibilities and Prague hit the first position quickly. The beer price, the level of laicism and, most importantly, the passion that Petra transmitted while talking about the city and the quick and nice response of my, nowadays, supervisor. Besides that, looking at the map it was clear that Prague is at the centre of Europe, with so many weekend trip possibilities. Those factors made my choice very easy.
Do you enjoy living in Prague?
I sure do! Google was right about the beer price… It increased since I moved to Prague in 2016 but it is still super decent. I love Prague and I think it is the most beautiful city in Europe. It has history, nature, sun, snow... I think it is really easy to fall in love with Prague and with the Czech Republic in general. I, personally, was amazed by the amount of big forests in the city. I am from the southeast of Spain. I live near the beach and the temperatures are always high so we do not have such nature. Prague does and it also showed me to differentiate seasons and feel what it is to live below 0 ºC, which is something that I enjoy a lot.
What would you say to those who are thinking about doing a PhD at UCT Prague?
I think that the university should not be as important but instead which group, supervisor, and project. I have been super lucky with that and all I can say about UCT Prague from my experience is that every principal investigator I have met here is awesome. So, if you are thinking about coming to UCT Prague as a PhD student and you like the project you will be working on, I am pretty sure you will be fine here. What I would suggest is to talk with another PhD student from that group beforehand. Just keep in mind that if it does not work then you can always change the destination or the project.