Can you tell me a bit about yourself? 
My name is Louise, I am from Stockholm and have lived here most of my life. After high school, I worked for one year before starting studying welding. Then I worked as a welder for five years, before realising that this was not what I wanted to do with my life. After taking a scientific base year at komvux in order to be able to study meteorology, I found out I really liked chemistry, and now I am doing my PhD in the field of analytical chemistry.

How did you end up at SU?
Since I live in Stockholm, and I don’t want to move away from family and friends, Stockholm University was an easy choice for me for my bachelor studies. Then I really liked it here, so I continued with my master studies (in analytical chemistry) here and now I’m doing my PhD here too. What I liked with the chemistry studies here at SU is that there is so much practical work in the laboratory, and not just theory. I also like that you get the opportunity to use some advanced instruments during the masters and diploma work.

What is your position?
Currently, I am a PhD student in Anneli Kruve’s group, but I’ve been a student at SU for a little over five years already as I took my BSc and MSc here.

What do you think makes a good chemistry student?
A good chemistry student is someone who is curious to understand how the nature works, but also patient and meticulous in their work. Especially in analytical chemistry, analyses can take some time so you need to be patient and plan your work. After analysis, there is also a lot of work with the data, which also requires patience and an eye for details.

Not only is chemistry fun to study, it also increases your understanding of the world and how it works, and in addition it gives you good opportunities to find a job. 

Why should anyone study chemistry?
Not only is chemistry fun to study, it also increases your understanding of the world and how it works, and in addition it gives you good opportunities to find a job. 

In what way do you believe chemistry can help build a more sustainable future?
We are all, whether we like it or not, very dependent of chemistry. I know many people think about chemistry as some dirty business that rather destroys nature than helps making it better. This is understandable, but chemistry also makes our life much easier and helps building a more sustainable future. For example, by making sustainable materials, research on energy storage, etc. My research focuses on quantification of contaminants without their analytical standards, which can aid in regulations of hazardous contaminants in the environment.  

Thanks very much Louise! And good luck with your research. Louise is part of the Anneli Kruve research group. Read more about the group below.

The Kruve group