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Q&A with MSCA fellow

Being an MSCA fellow at SDU

Why choose the University of Southern Denmark for an MSCA fellowship? For Erna Wieduwilt, it was a unique opportunity to advance her research in a supportive and welcoming environment. Dive into her inspiring journey towards becoming an MSCA fellow at SDU in this Q&A.

By Caroline Højberg Nielsen, , 12/18/2024

Why did you choose to come to SDU? 

After doing my PhD I knew what methods and systems I wanted to work with. So, I started looking for open positions. Then I saw that Erik Donovan Hedegård, who is now my supervisor, had an open position, that fitted perfectly. I knew very little about Denmark and SDU beforehand, but the position allowed me to study the systems I was interested in with the methods I wanted to learn. Additionally, there was an environmental aspect in producing sustainable biofuels. I thought that was really cool.

So, in the beginning I was employed by Erik, and during that time we also wrote the Marie Curie application and got the funding, which is why I am still here. Now I am basically continuing my work but on my own funding. It gives me the opportunity to explore more and learn more. I am much more independent now and I can make my own decisions because I have my own money.

 

How did you experience the application process and the support you received along the way? 

I received quite a lot of support from SDU. Especially Jan Andersen from the research support unit at The Faculty of Science was super helpful. It was great to have someone who has seen successful applications from SDU and who knows SDU much better than me. Then I also had Erik’s support. When he was a postdoc, he had a Marie Curie fellowship as well, so I had his old application. It was very helpful to have an example that had worked.

There is also an online masterclass that SDU offers where people explain every single step of writing your application, and I can totally recommend that. To me it felt like the master class started super early, but I think that it is good because the earlier you start thinking about your application, the more opportunity you have to talk to people and get feedback.

About Erna

  • Started a MSCA postdoctoral fellowship  in 2024 at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy at SDU Odense.
  • Currently working on the LyticPol project. The project will go on until 2026. 
  • Originally from Kassel, Germany with a PhD in theoretical chemistry from Université de Lorraine in Metz, France.

I think asking for help from different people who do different things makes the whole application much better

Erna Wieduwilt, MSCA fellow

Both Erik, Jan and my colleagues helped a lot. We discussed and everyone read the application and gave me feedback. I remember a few days before I handed it in, one of my colleagues caught a small detail that no one of us had seen before. And that was important because all the small details matter.

The Marie Curie application is not just about the research project. It is about you as a person. It is about the supervisor. It is about the host organization. It is about how all that fits together. It takes a long time, and it is a lot of effort to write such an application. So, I think asking for help from different people who do different things makes the whole application much better. It is very helpful to not do it alone.

 

What is life like as a researcher in Denmark?

I think it is really cool. I am very happy here and I think Denmark is a great place to do research. The prejudice is true. You have that high level of trust and flat hierarchies and that is something that I like. I feel that people generally trust that you can do things. That is very encouraging.

Also, Odense has this international community. There are newsletters that you can sign up for and there are different events that they organize. I think that it is super cool. When you move here as an SDU researcher there is also this great housing service. I love the flat that I live in, and I am friends with the person that lives below me. So, through the house you already know someone Danish and that is of course the challenge when you life abroad. You often live in your international bubble, and it is of course great to have international friends, but it is also nice to have local friends. I have met Danish people who are really open to getting to know me as a foreigner living here and who are now my friends.

 

Editing was completed: 18.12.2024