Due to the corona close down the previous three month, the Government has advised against all departure and closed the borders. This put postdoc Ada-Ioana Bunea in a difficult position as she had just received a travel grant.
In an e-mail interview the researcher answers three question about just that.
1. Ada, you received the VIPO grant and was supposed to go to Florence as a part of your future carrier. What happened?
The trip to Florence was of course postponed, but I expect to be able to go there during the project, which started in January and lasts for 3 years. Despite staying in Denmark, I have initiated the collaboration with the group there as planned, just with a temporary switch in focus towards work that can be done from home.
2. As a creative researcher you naturally came up with a Plan B. What was it?
The short term solution was rather simple. I am currently working on a comprehensive literature review with the group from Florence, which should both help kickstart the experimental work and lead to a high impact factor publication. In terms of more applied work, I am working on designing new microrobots that should help overcome current challenges in the field.
We make use of multiple channels of communication. We have established a common Mendeley folder for sharing literature and a Google drive for sharing other relevant files (e.g. figures, the manuscript draft, or 3D designs). We keep in touch via e-mail regularly and we hold meetings via Zoom for brainstorming or discussing specific details of the work when needed.
3. The world is not going back to “normal” for some time it seems. What will happen next as far as your ongoing research is concerned?
I am prepared for being highly flexible with my research and making the best of the lab time I can get. I have already applied for lab time and I hope to be able to do experiments in the near future. I will focus on fabrication and characterization while physically at DTU and use the time at home for data analysis, making new microrobot designs, and finding solutions to known challenges, and unknown issues that will become obvious along the way.
Just one more question. What´s on the refrigerator behind you?
It's a magnet collection that used to belong to my dad. One fridge is covered with magnets I brought him from different trips and one with magnets he collected himself or received from other people.