EDITH KUTORGLO Role: PostDoc Area: Functional nanomaterials, membrane chemistry Employer: UCT Prague, TU Berlin Mentoring language: english  Mentees: students Form: online, personal meet up    What can I help my mentee with? Career planning Work-life balance and self care Grant proposal writing CV preparation and job applications

Edith's study path began with her Biochemistry degree from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. She graduated with the best grades at the top of the class and for her Master degree in the field of Membrane Engineering, she got an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, within which she spent one semester in each of the following countries: Czech Republic, France, Spain and the UK. For her PhD studies at UCT Prague  (in the field of Chemical and Process Engineering) she settled for some time in Czechia, however also during this time she went on an internship at ETH Zürich. 

Her rich experience from studying and working abroad is now being followed by her PostDoc position at TU Berlin. Within her scientific work she is developing new catalyst materials which could, together with the energy from sunlight, be used to drive certain reactions for producing cleaner energy.

Edith has always been mentored throughout her scientific career path. “I can't imagine how difficult it would be to do it all by myself without any help or advice. I believe everybody is different and has a different approach, so the mentor is not there to teach you how to do things. He/she is there to share their own experience. Imagine, you are going somewhere, but you don't know what is ahead, because you have never been there. It is a great help if someone else, who has already been there, can share their experience so you have an idea what to expect and prepare for it.”