Professor Ludmilla Steier MRSC

I believe in 6th or 7th grade, a number of experiments in the chemistry (and physics) classes resonated with me. One of the first ones I still vividly remember turned white anhydrous copper sulphate powder into the most beautiful blue with just a drop of water. Like magic, some of my friends said (probably because we were reading Harry Potter at the time), but I wanted to understand what caused the change in colour. This had to wait for a little since MO theory was unfortunately not part of the school curriculum :). This particular blue is still my favourite colour. I think colours, pigments and the interaction of light with matter have always fascinated me.

I think there are day-to-day things that motivate me that I perceive as an external motivation and then there is a drive that I think comes from within. The day-to-day things are important as they are stimulating and exciting. This could be the happy moment when we collected data from a series of long experiments followed by the moment of truth when we look at the data and realise the outcome is unexpected. This demands further experiments for clarification and a new cycle of the project starts. Equally motivating I find the discussions with my group and fellow researchers, especially the moment when I recognise "the click" which is the moment in which either of us just got a better understanding, a different angle to look at a problem or a new idea – or, with some luck, all of the above.

The motivational driver from within is my ambition to contribute to our transition to renewable and, in particular, solar energy. I hope that my research will help advance photo- and electrocatalysis with earth-abundant and hence scalable materials and grow our understanding of how their properties dictate their catalytic performance in order to design better catalysts.

To me, good research culture enables everyone in the research community to reach their full potential to advance our understanding and technological development as a society through carefully designed and executed experiments and an unbiased and analytical interpretation of the results. I strongly believe that the best science is done when we can focus on the experiments and are then stimulated by discussions with the research community to interpret the results and deepen our understanding. I think that this focused state is easier achieved by a happy mind and that productive discussions can only occur when all parties feel positive about sharing their thoughts. Consequently, a good research culture should, in my opinion, create an environment that is inclusive, collaborative, open-minded, supportive, and most importantly respectful.

It is much more fun to work in a team which I believe boosts our productivity and motivation, in particular if it is a challenging project. Often challenging projects lead to significant scientific breakthroughs and would be at risk of failure if the project is not carried by the multidisciplinary and complementary expertise, experience and knowledge of a team. Furthermore, teamwork creates a good research culture.