Alba Mangas - three academic degrees in three different countries

Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Spanish student Alba Mangas completed her bachelor's degree in biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, one of the top universities in Spain. Having always been fascinated by plants, this was Alba’s focus when choosing her modules. She soon decided that she wanted to do her Master's in Ecotoxicology, preferably abroad. Searching for a suitable course, she found out about the University of Gothenburg, one of the largest universities in Scandinavia, in Sweden's second largest city.

Alba got the opportunity to present her MSc thesis at the 2019 SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) conference in Helsinki. Attending the conference not only gave her the chance to present her thesis but also influenced her future career. It was there that she met Miriam Langer, Professor of Ecotoxicology and head of the Environmental Technology BSc programme at the FHNW School of Life Sciences (HLS). They discovered that Prof. Langer's projects at the HLS closely matched the topic of Alba's thesis. As a result, Alba was able to start a one-year internship in ecotoxicology at the HLS Institute for Ecopreneurship in October 2019.

During the internship, Alba was involved in different projects, benefited from the exciting research and got the opportunity to work at the Oekotoxzentrum in Zurich. Besides research, she learned a lot about Swiss culture and made new friends. When a PhD position became available at the HLS, Alba jumped at the chance and will now spend 3 years doing research in ecotoxicology for her dissertation.

Alba felt very welcome at the HLS from the start. She likes the fact that different institutes and interdisciplinary expertise are united in one location, since her PhD project also covers different fields. The laboratory equipment is state of the art too, which makes research fun!

Even though her research is not only ‘work’ but also a passion, Alba likes to spend her free time hiking in the mountains and enjoying nature. Another reason why Switzerland is the ideal place for Alba at the moment.