From a very young age, Liliana knew she wanted to work in a science laboratory - though she wasn’t sure exactly which field. At school, she loved maths, chemistry, physics and astronomy.
Liliana’s academic path wasn’t a straight line. She began by studying Astronomy before shifting to the more applied field of Materials Engineering - the study of the materials that make up everything around us, from the metal in aeroplanes to the materials in our phones. After completing her studies in Portugal, she was invited to stay on at the University of Porto in an academic role.
“Building a network of supportive people around you is just as valuable as any qualification.”
A few years later, an opportunity arose to pursue a PhD at ETH Zurich, one of the world’s top universities, in Switzerland. Liliana never expected to be accepted, and moving away from her family and her home country of Portugal was a difficult decision - but she took the leap, and describes the experience as incredibly enriching.
Since then, Liliana’s career has taken her between industry and academia in Switzerland. She now researches how hydrogen affects materials used inside nuclear power stations, working at the Paul Scherrer Institute, while also teaching at ETH Zurich to help train the next generation of scientists.