Shamila Imtiaz and Sidra Ibadat happily describe their experience during their research internship at ALBA within the framework of the Open Sesame European project.
Shamila Imtiaz (31 years old, PhD candidate and Chemistry junior scientist at PINSTECH Islamabad) and Sidra Ibadat (25 years old, MS Physics Student at the International Islamic University Islamabad) happily describe their experience during their research internship at ALBA. They come from Pakistan and have been granted by the H2020 Open Sesame project to spend 8 weeks at our facility in order to widen their expertise in synchrotron-based Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy SR-FTIRM at the infrared beamline MIRAS. For both of them, this is their first experience in Europe and, apart from their scientific activity, they are enjoying their walks, their talks and taking care of Shamila’s 9-month old baby. Additionally, ALBA is “proud to help in the development of the scientific careers of young mothers here and elsewhere”, says Miguel Ángel García Aranda, ALBA Scientific Director
“The situation in Pakistan has greatly changed in the past years, there are more women than men in science studies but it’s not easy to find funding opportunities to continue with the studies”, says Sidra. “The Open Sesame project has been a great opportunity for us for visiting and seeing how a synchrotron light source works and bring back all this knowledge to our country”, according to Shamila. “Having access to more sophisticated tools that those in Pakistan can boost our research projects”, continues Sidra.