“I want to find a solution for the environment”

“Sometimes I ask myself: When did I start to care about these things?
I don't really know.  I think I built it up with time. In my family we always did recycling since I was a child. But also of course all the news about the climate changes, and problems with pollution. It’s like you put on some glasses and start seeing everything, like people still drive cars, and keep buying stuff, and all the plastic. I think that the moment I started realizing all of this was the moment that I thought that I should do something. I decided to act on my convictions, and I started to participate in clean-up initiatives, and being vegetarian, and so on. But it is really during my Bachelor’s studies that it became clear to me that I wanted to study something for the environment.

During my internship, I started to research on the use of bacteria to degrade marine oil spills that were in the sea near Porto. That is a huge problem. So, we started studying if we could use microorganisms from the sea, to see whether they could work better than all the techniques that they use right now that are so expensive and not really efficient. I think it is very interesting to try to use nature itself to help nature to heal.

I always wanted to move abroad because being abroad gives you a lot of experience. I think it's a way of discovering yourself: being alone, learn how to be alone in a different country, without the help of your parents and relatives. For instance, I discovered that I like to cook, which I never did while living with my parents.

I chose Stockholm University because of my interest for the environment, and Sweden is known for its strong focus on sustainability and environmental questions.  I know that after my master’s, I want to do a PhD and do research in academia for a while, and I know that I would like to try to come up with solutions for helping the environment and the climate. “

Leonor da Quinta Lobo

To learn more about the master's programme, see Master's Programme in Molecular Life Sciences.

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