Arzoo Sharma never thought she would end up doing her PhD in Germany at GSI/FAIR. In the interview she talks about cultural differences to her home country India and pros and cons of doing a PhD abroad. “The journey was challenging at the beginning, but with time it turned out to be beautiful. Few mantras: Work, challenge, learn, travel, enjoy, and most importantly meditate”, she says.
The interview was conducted by Christof Holzmann and Anna Mues, who study “Science – Media – Communication” at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). As part of the course “Media and Public Relations”, in which KIT and GSI/FAIR cooperate, students conducted interviews with young researchers at GSI/FAIR in the winter semester 2022/2023.
How did you come to GSI?
I never thought that I would go abroad for my PhD because the place where I come from in India is quite small and I didn´t have sufficient funds. Getting a PhD in India is not easy because we must go through many national entrance exams. I come from the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (short IIT Ropar). The IIT institutes are some of the most prestigious in India. I joined as a PhD student with Dr. Pushpendra P. Singh who did his postdoc in GSI. He had already been in collaboration with GSI working on some challenging research and development projects. I had computational experience in graduation/postgraduation. It later helped me to work on one of the projects that led me to landing in Germany. I visited GSI in 2019 for the first time. This is now my second visit here; I came in March and I´m staying until the end of December. I feel lucky to work on this collaborative project.
What are your current projects at GSI?
I am doing my doctorate in the NuSTAR collaboration, which stands for Nuclear Structure Astrophysics and Reactions. NuSTAR is part of the FAIR accelerator facility, which is currently under construction, and will study astrophysical events. For example, with NuSTAR we want to find out how the chemical elements were formed in the universe. To do so, we study exotic atomic nuclei that are unstable. One way to study them is to observe their decay. This is what we do in DESPEC experiments (DEcay SPECtrocopy). We create exotic atomic nuclei and measure the gamma rays emitted after the decay, which are useful to probe the nucleus and its properties.
My task here was to develop a gamma-ray scanner devoted to the characterization of segmented/tracking detectors. During my stay, I have also worked on the characterization of a segmented detector setup that detects where the exotic atomic nuclei stop inside the detector. This may all sound very abstract, but there are concrete applications for such devices. They could also help with imaging in cancer therapy, for example.
How is life that far away from home in India?
When I first came here, it was difficult for me. I never thought that I would live in such a different place. I had some problems with the food in the past but now I like and enjoy it. Understanding the accent was also quite difficult in the beginning. Managing to stay here took a lot of time and there are a lot of formalities everyone must undergo for funding or residence. Other than that, it was fine and people at GSI are quite helpful. When I came in 2019, there were very few people from India who were working here. Three of my friends from India helped me a lot during that time. This year the number of students and employees has increased. I know many of them from different facilities and they have become good friends of mine. All in all, it was a wonderful experience for me to work with so many different personalities from different cultures.
What do you do to relax after work?
I’m interested in many things, and I like to switch between different things. I like playing badminton, reading and I do Zumba and Yoga. I usually read fantasy or Indian scriptures. Apart from that, I like traveling and cooking. I usually cook for myself and during that time I think about what I should have done in order to get something working. When dealing with stress there are some things that have helped me a lot: yoga, meditation and talking to friends. The friends I am talking to are all actually doing their PhD, so they can understand my phase very well.
What are your plans after GSI and after finishing your PhD?
After my PhD I would like to continue working on this project. There are many different facilities where such kind of projects are running and I would like to visit those. I feel encouraged to work on projects that may directly help mankind. I would also like to visit and explore accelerator and research facilities across the world.
Can you recommend doing your PhD in a different country?
I would recommend joining a program to do your PhD abroad. Joining a PhD program in India has both pros and cons. It helps to do your PhD in India because you get to know many people, but it takes time. In India, it may take around five to six years for a good PhD thesis in nuclear physics and therefore, one learns to be more patient. I am very happy to be here at GSI. I can´t describe at this moment how much I have learned here not only related to my work but also from meeting new people, the importance of team work, and organizing things in a more efficient way. I am almost at the end of my PhD now. It´s an international laboratory, so I have met many people from different cultures. This has been an outstanding experience. And along with that learning from their cultures and comparing to my culture. It has been a wonderful experience.
Thank you very much for the interview, Arzoo! We wish you the best for your future.
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