For Jacopo Oswald, the member- In 2023, former SNI doctoral ship of the SNI PhD School as an student Thomas Mortelmans associate doctoral student was an received the 2023 enriching experience. PSI-Impuls Award. A valuable addition Outstanding Associate doctoral students PSI-Impuls Award for Thomas Mortelmans Doctoral students carrying out research In short videos, Annika Huber and as part of a dissertation project funded by The Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the Antonia Ruffo talked about their research and motivation. the SNI are members of the SNI PhD PSI-Impuls Association presented former School. Particularly interested and quali- SNI doctoral student Dr. Thomas Mortel- fied doctoral students whose funding mans with the PSI-Impuls Award. Mortel- comes from other sources can also be in- mans received the prize, which is pre- Women in the nanosciences corporated as “associate doctoral stu- sented every two years for the best appli- Role models from the dents” if their supervisors are members cation-oriented doctoral dissertation at PhD School of the SNI network and request their in- the PSI, for his dissertation on a new kind clusion. of rapid COVID-19 test that can also be These associate doctoral students be- used to detect other viruses such as in- come part of the SNI network, attend 昀氀uenza A or to determine the status of By the end of 2023, two female doctoral events organized for the PhD School, and the disease. students from the SNI PhD School have bene昀椀t from interdisciplinary exchange. For his doctoral dissertation, which participated in the video series “Who are So far, two doctoral students have he began in 2018, Mortelmans worked at the women in nanoscience?,” which was taken advantage of the scheme. After Dr. the Paul Scherrer Institute. After com- launched by the SNI. Tamara Aderneuer from the CSEM, Dr. Ja- pleting the dissertation with top marks, Annika Huber from the Department copo Oswald became the 昀椀rst doctoral he swapped academia for industry and of Chemistry at the University of Basel is student from Empa to complete his doc- joined Johnson & Johnson, where is cur- working to develop a nanomaterial that toral dissertation as an associate doctoral rently working as a Device Scientist. could one day be used in a gas sensor. At student in 2023. Attending SNI courses Article: https://bit.ly/3YOrYRh the Paul Scherrer Institute, Antonia Ru昀昀o provided a valuable addition to his educa- Video on the scienti昀椀c project: is researching the development of a non- tion, and he was delighted with this added https://youtu.be/7VKskNZCoMc invasive method for measuring the tem- value. In the future, the SNI plans to fur- Video on the SNI PhD School: perature in fuel cells. ther expand the PhD School’s associate https://youtu.be/9dqX_vimmcY Having both followed their own ca- membership scheme. reer pathways, the two young women are very much enjoying their current re- search work and serve as role models for other young women with an interest in the natural sciences in general and the nanosciences in particular. Videos: Annika Huber: https://youtu.be/8JxTRe8rRPo Antonia Ruffo: https://youtu.be/V386tx4PLFA SNI Annual Report 2023 19