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Women in Science

How many women hold senior positions in neutron research in Europe? How many women work with neutrons in Europe and Worldwide?

In an effort to promote gender equality in scientific research, below you can find open-hearted interviews with women working in neutron science, as well as links to related articles. Do you know women in neutron science who you think should feature on these pages? Tell them to contact us!

These pages were transferred from the former FP7 project NMI3.

Estefanía Abad

Estefanía Abad

Estefanía Abad

Resp. of Collaborations and Strategy at the Management Office of ESS Bilbao

I am physicist, currently responsible for collaborations at ESS Bilbao, a position that I got after several research positions at the University and applied R&D center and ESS Bilbao.

Read more

Arantxa Arbe, CSIC

Arantxa Arbe, CSIC

Arantxa Arbe, CSIC

Research Professor, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain

I obtained a degree in Solid State Physics at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), in Bilbao (Spain). My Thesis (San Sebastian, UPV/EHU) was focused on the study of the dynamics of glass-forming polymers by combining neutron scattering and dielectric spectroscopy. Read interview.

Elizabeth Blackburn

Elizabeth Blackburn

Elizabeth Blackburn

Professor of Physics, Lund University, Sweden

I am a condensed matter physicist, focusing on studies of correlated electron phenomena, such as magnetism and superconductivity, most commonly using scattering probes like neutrons.

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Heloisa Bordallo, NBI

Heloisa Bordallo, NBI

Heloisa Bordallo, NBI

Associate Professor, Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark

I studied Physics and obtained a MSc in Laser Optics at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. During my Master thesis I built my own pulsed laser system, which I used during my research project and which was then used to develop 2 master thesis and one PhD! That was a real hands-on task! On time and without budget!!! Read interview.

Jane Brown, ILL

Jane Brown, ILL

Jane Brown, ILL

Retired Senior Scientist, ILL, France

Jane Brown had over 30 years of experience in neutron scattering. In 2001 she received the Walter Hälg Prize. Read interview.

Herma Büttner, ANSTO

Herma Büttner, ANSTO

Herma Büttner, ANSTO

Senior Advisor Scientific Liaison, ANSTO, Australia

I started as a neutron scatterer at the ILL, but slowly moved into science communication and research management. After a spell in the European university system I moved back to neutrons, but in Australia. Read interview.

Diana Lucia Quintero Castro, Uni. Stavanger

Diana Lucia Quintero Castro, Uni. Stavanger

Diana Lucia Quintero Castro, Uni. Stavanger

Associate Professor, University of Stavanger, Norway

Since beginning of 2017 Diana is Associate professor at the University of Stavanger in Norway. She has several years of experience in investigating magnetic materials with neutrons as well as instrument responsible at HZB. Read the interview here.

Giovanna Cicognani, ILL

Giovanna Cicognani, ILL

Giovanna Cicognani, ILL

Communication and Scientific Support, ILL, France

I obtained a degree in Nuclear Engineering from Bologna University (Italy) and specialised in neutron instruments and methods. Within my specialisation studies, I was offered a one year contract by the CEA-Grenoble for the optimisation of the growing technique of very thin films. Read interview.

Pascale Deen, ESS and NBI

Pascale Deen, ESS and NBI

Pascale Deen, ESS and NBI

Instrument Scientist, ESS, Sweden and Adjunct Associate Professor, Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark

Pascale Deen is an Instrument Scientist at the European Spallation Source and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute. She told us the steps she took on the neutron scattering field and how she conciliates her professional and personal lives. Read interview.

Sultan Demirdis, JCNS-MLZ

Sultan Demirdis, JCNS-MLZ

Sultan Demirdis, JCNS-MLZ

Scientific staff at JCNS-MLZ

Sultan Demirdis works in the field of neutron research at Forschungszentrum Jülich. In a video, she talks about how she became a neutron scientist and why she likes working at the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science. See video.

Giovanna Fragneto, ILL

Giovanna Fragneto, ILL

Giovanna Fragneto, ILL

Head of the Large Scale Structures and Soft Matter Science and Support groups, ILL, France

My PhD work involved the study of the adsorption of surfactants and proteins at solid/liquid interfaces by neutron reflectivity. During that time I had the luck to spend many days (and nights…) at neutron facilities like ISIS, NIST and ILL. I was born in a place by the mountains, no wonder that doing experiments at the ILL made a strong impression on me. Read interview.

Diana Andrea Garcés

Diana Andrea Garcés

Diana Andrea Garcés

PhD student at National Atomic Energy Commission in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Works at the National Atomic Energy Commission in Buenos Aires, Argentina and currently doing a PhD on hydrogen fuel cells.

Read more

Gail Iles, ANSTO

Gail Iles, ANSTO

Gail Iles, ANSTO

Instrument Responsible, ANSTO, Australia

Gail Iles is an Instrument Responsible at ANSTO and is an award-winning scientist. She told us about her career path, accomplishments, and difficulties. Read interview.

Joana Rebelo Kornmeier, FRM II

Joana Rebelo Kornmeier, FRM II

Joana Rebelo Kornmeier, FRM II

Instrument scientist, FRM II, Germany

Joana Rebelo Kornmeier works since November 2002 as Postdoctoral Researcher and since January 2005 as Instrument Scientist at the materials science diffractometer STRESS-SPEC at the research reactor FRM II in Munich, Germany. Read interview.

Maria Paula Marques, Univ. Coimbra

Maria Paula Marques, Univ. Coimbra

Maria Paula Marques, Univ. Coimbra

Professor (with habilitation) – Univ. Coimbra

I am an assistant-coordinator of the R&D Group “Molecular Physical-Chemistry” (QFM-UC) and head of the “Chemoprevention, – Therapy & – Toxicology” laboratory at the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Coimbra in Portgual.

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Helen Maynard-Casely, ANSTO

Helen Maynard-Casely, ANSTO

Helen Maynard-Casely, ANSTO

Instrument Scientist, Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering in ANSTO, Australia

Helen is a Senior Instrument Scientist at ANSTO, Australia. She is also a passionate Science Communicator. Read interview..

Flora Meilleur, ORNL and North Carolina State Uni.

Flora Meilleur, ORNL and North Carolina State Uni.

Flora Meilleur, ORNL and North Carolina State Uni.
  • Associate Professor of Biochemistry at North Carolina State University
  • Lead Instrument Scientist (IMAGINE) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Flora Meilleur is a structural biologist – she is interested in the structure of biomolecules, specifically of proteins. Since 2007 she held a joint faculty position between the Oak Ridge Neutron Sciences Directorate and North Carolina State University (NCSU). In July 2015, she was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure. Read the interview.

Konstantina Mergia, Demokritos

Konstantina Mergia, Demokritos

Konstantina Mergia, Demokritos

Senior Researcher, National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Greece

I have been using neutron scattering techniques (neutron diffraction, neutron reflectometry, small-angle neutron scattering, neutron inelastic scattering) in different research fields such as precipitation kinetics in alloys, crystalline and magnetic structures, magnetic thin films, porous materials, oxidation coatings, etc. Read the interview.

Tatiana Nagorna, JNIR and Univ. Kyiv

Tatiana Nagorna, JNIR and Univ. Kyiv

Tatiana Nagorna, JNIR and Univ. Kyiv

I am a Junior Researcher in Russia and Ukraine using neutron techniques to study fullerenes that are used in several biomedical applications.

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Mariela Nolasco, University of Aveiro

Mariela Nolasco, University of Aveiro

Mariela Nolasco, University of Aveiro

I am a spectroscopist that has been using inelastic neutron scattering to understand structure-property relation of Luminescent Dendrimers-Lanthanide Materials, Hydrogen Bond Dynamics, Cellulosic Nanostructured Materials and Deep Eutectic Solvents.

Read more

Vanessa Peterson, ACNS

Vanessa Peterson, ACNS

Vanessa Peterson, ACNS

Instrument Scientist, Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering

I am a neutron scattering instrument scientist at the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, where I am co-responsible for two neutron powder diffractometers and where I founded and lead the Functional Materials for Energy Systems research project.

Read interview.

Marie Plazanet, CNRS

Marie Plazanet, CNRS

Marie Plazanet, CNRS

CNRS Researcher, Grenoble

I am a spectroscopist, with a physics background. I am interested in chemical physics of soft condensed matter systems, their dynamics and relaxation, organization and stability: water transport in soft confinement, formation and stability of molecular gels, structure and interface in biphasic liquid systems… I use mainly optical spectroscopic techniques or neutron quasi- and inelastic scattering.

Read Interview

Kirrily Rule, ANSTO

Kirrily Rule, ANSTO

Kirrily Rule, ANSTO

Instrument Scientist, ANSTO, Australia

Kirrily Rule is an Instrument Scientist at the Bragg Institute in Australia. Get to know about the career steps she took until her current position. Read interview.

Margarita Russina, HZB

Margarita Russina, HZB

Margarita Russina, HZB

Scientist, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany

I am interested in the dynamics-function relationship in disordered and nanostructured materials, such as glasses, solid electrolytes, clathrates. Such systems are very complex and often the motion of the atomic or molecular groups defines at the end the global behavior. Neutron spectroscopy is very important here, thus there is an organic link to the second point of my interest – development of neutron scattering methods, in particular the spectroscopy at pulsed sources. Read the interview.

Victoria García Sakai, ISIS

Victoria García Sakai, ISIS

Victoria García Sakai, ISIS

QENS Instrument Scientist, ISIS, UK

I am a chemical engineer by background with a PhD in polymer thermodynamics, who then moved to the world of neutrons to probe polymer dynamics. Since then, my research focuses on using neutrons to answer a diversity of questions in Soft Matter and Bio-relevant problems. Read interview.

Susan Schorr, HZB

Susan Schorr, HZB

Susan Schorr, HZB

Head of Department Structure and Dynamics of Energy Materials, HZB

I am a crystallographer with a PhD in Physics familiar with elastic and inelastic neutron scattering. My research focuses on structure-function relations of materials for solar energy conversion. Neutron diffraction enabled me to discover the Cu-Zn disorder in so-called kesterites, a materials class for a critical raw materials free PV technology.

Read interview

Virginie Simonet, CNRS

Virginie Simonet, CNRS

Virginie Simonet, CNRS

Director of research at CNRS, Institut Néel Grenoble, France; presently head of French Federation of Neutron Scattering

Read more

Irina Stefanescu, ESS

Irina Stefanescu, ESS

Irina Stefanescu, ESS

Scientist, Detector Group, ESS, Sweden

PhD and post-doc experience in the field of gamma-ray spectroscopy with Germanium detectors arrays. Two years of experience in a private company working on the development of radiation detectors for homeland security applications. Currently working on developing new technologies to replace the He-3 tubes for the detection of slow neutrons. Read interview.

Susana Teixeira, NIST and Uni. Delaware

Susana Teixeira, NIST and Uni. Delaware

Susana Teixeira, NIST and Uni. Delaware

Instrument Scientist, NIST and Uni. of Delaware, USA

I have a strong background in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry in particular. My scientific field is Structural Biology and I am working as an instrument scientist at the SANS group of the NIST (Maryland, USA) Center for Neutron Research.

Read more.
Linda Udby, NBI

Linda Udby, NBI

Linda Udby, NBI

Associate Professor, Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark

Linda Udby is Associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. She is the founder of the e-learning portal e-neutrons.org. Read interview.

Regine von Klitzing, TU Darmstadt

Regine von Klitzing, TU Darmstadt

Regine von Klitzing, TU Darmstadt

Full Professor in Physics at TU Darmstadt

Our research interest addresses chemical physics of colloids and interfaces. We examine the interactions across thin liquid films (foam films and wetting films between two solid interfaces) and at the air/water interface (pure water, and multi-component solutions).
Another main focus is on the preparation and characterisation of nanostructured (two dimensional) polymer films with specific response characteristics, and the analysis of structure-property relationship that enables the practical use of such materials for “smart” switches and sensors. Read more

Regine Willumeit, HZG

Regine Willumeit, HZG

Regine Willumeit, HZG

Head of Department, HZG, Germany

Studies and PhD in Physics (Diploma on Neutron Activation Analysis and PhD on Spin Contrast Variation to study the Ribosome Structure). Habilitation in biochemistry Ribosome structure and RNA). Read interview.

Kathleen (Katy) Wood, ANSTO

Kathleen (Katy) Wood, ANSTO

Kathleen (Katy) Wood, ANSTO

Instrument Scientist, Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, ANSTO

Currently I’m working as an instrument scientist in Australia. I do some technical work, and am involved in research across a range of fields, from biology to metallurgy.

Read interview.

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