ETH Alumni in Singapur

Dieser Text wurde nicht ins Deutsche übersetzt.

My name is Hortense and I am talking to you from my office. I am faculty at Nanyang Technological University, which located close to the end of the green line towards Tuas Link. It is quite far West but on the other hand we have a beautiful quiet campus with a lot of trees and a very nice park that was renovated just before the Circuit Breaker.

My research group aims at developing manufacturing methods to create reinforced ceramics and composites in a faster and cheaper ways but also with better properties. Typical on-going projects are on non-brittle ceramics for protective shield and bone implants, morphing composites that have an embedded signal for structures to sense their environment, and other projects related to new 3D printing methods

What did you study at ETH?

At ETH, I did a Master and a PhD in materials science. Initially, I got a training in physico-chemistry and general science in France and I got interested in biocompatible materials and biomaterials. During my master, I did several projects related to biology and tissue engineering. During my PhD, I worked in the field bio inspired materials and how to build them.

Following up on this I came to Singapore thanks to the SNF Early postdoc fellowship to join one world-leading group in Singapore that studies biological materials and bio inspired materials. What makes this group special is that the inspiration comes from animals that come from the ocean and are typical from the region like squid and mantis shrimp. The biodiversity of Singapore is really unique and was another factor that motivated me to come, as well as the possibility to travel and explore the region.

What are your plans in Singapore?

During my postdoc, I found out that Singapore invests a lot in science and technology and they are quite keen in having this dynamic vibrant international environment that I really liked. Luckily, the fields I am researching in, that are bioinspiration, ceramics composites and additive manufacturing, are not too much explore here. My plan is thus to continue develop my research at NTU in the next years.

What skill / knowledge you acquired during your ETH time do you profit from the most here in Singapore?

I learned so much at ETH, from speaking English to doing what I am doing today. I would say that the most important skill that I developed at ETH is how to network with people and how to keep the connection. At ETH, I had the opportunity to participate to many team and collaborating projects either for a lecture or for research, as well as sports, language, etc. To conduct a successful project, one needs to learn to adapt and to work with other people first, then to team up to achieve the objective. This is certainly very useful everywhere but when you land in a different and multi-cultural environment like Singapore, it is very helpful to take the time to build this rapport and connection and to understand the local mindset.