What´s your research about and how does it connect with SUCCeSS vision?

Yasmini Portes Abraham Silva is new PhD student representative in the SUCCeSS board. Photo: Private.

My PhD project is titled "Upcycling food industry side streams into functional organic-inorganic hybrid materials". I'm using a "zero-waste" approach to first fractionate food side streams (parts of the raw materials that are not appropriate for food consumption), and then use these fractions as building blocks for synthesizing materials that can replace fossil-based materials in various applications, for example as adsorbents for water remediation and antimicrobial materials for food packaging. The project is funded by the WISE Materials (Wallenberg Initiative Material Science for Sustainability) program. As you see, it is completely aligned with SUCCeSS vision, as it is essentially built on principles of circularity and sustainability!

What do you think that SUCCeSS should do more in the future?

I would love to see SUCCeSS engaging more with students, especially at earlier stages of their education. I believe that, regardless of their area of study, students should start thinking about sustainability and interdisciplinarity early on, so that throughout their studies they can always think critically about how all the things they are learning have an impact outside of their own field. For this, I think SUCCeSS could have an important role, for example through outreach activities for prospective and/or early bachelor students, where they could hear from experts but also share their opinions. That would also help to spread knowledge about SUCCeSS itself, and hopefully naturally create more engagement with the center as the students progress in their studies. 

How do you think that you could benefit from being part of SUCCeSS?

Being part of SUCCeSS as a student representative is an amazing opportunity to develop a broader perspective on sustainability and the challenges and needs of managing a large initiative like the center. I love participating in the board meetings and hearing from some of the leaders in the field in Sweden about their vision and strategies to make SUCCeSS a success! It's an incredible opportunity that I wouldn't normally have just by following the standard PhD education, so I'm very grateful for the chance of learning about this side of research. I hope I can give back at least a little by bringing a student voice to the discussion!