Where did you go for your period abroad, how long did you stay, and why did you choose that destination? Please give a short description.: I spent three months at the Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) in Sweden, working in Stephen Wenkel's lab. UPSC is one of Europe's leading plant science institutes, and the Wenkel lab was a good fit for my work- their focus on molecular biology aligned directly with the gene expression side of my PhD project. My home institution's strength is metabolomics, so stepping into a lab where molecular techniques are well established filled a real gap in my training. The lab skills they taught me will stay useful long after those three months ended.
What were your first impressions of the university, your supervisor, and the research team? Did you feel integrated into the group?: Walking into UPSC in January, surrounded by birch forests, darkness, and cold, felt like landing on another planet. But the lab was immediately warm. The team integrated me into group meetings and seminars from day one. I never felt like a visiting student; I felt like part of the team.
What surprised me most was how open and approachable everyone was, not just within my host lab, but across the entire institute. Every professor, postdoc, and PhD student I encountered was genuinely willing to discuss science, share perspectives, and engage in meaningful conversation. For someone in the early years of their PhD, that kind of environment is formative. UPSC is also remarkably international and diverse, with a strong work culture and professional attitude that is truly worth mentioning. It showed me what a truly open scientific culture looks like in practice, and it matched exactly what made CRISPR-Cas9 possible here in the first place: openness, collaboration, and intellectual generosity.
Did you face any challenges during your time abroad? If yes, what were they, and how did you address them? What practical advice would you give to future students—especially about administration, funding, or country‑specific opportunities?: The main challenge was time management under pressure. My samples arrived later than expected due to shipping logistics, which compressed my experimental timeline significantly. I ended up working evenings and weekends, but the team was supportive throughout, ensuring I had lab access and could use instruments even on weekends, and checking in to help troubleshoot when needed. Optimising the RNA extraction protocol for my root samples added extra time but also taught me how to deal with unexpected situations. On top of that, since our stipends are not enough to manage expenses and accessing research budget funds can take time, managing finances in an expensive country added another layer of stress.
A minor but very real challenge: Swedish winter-it genuinely affects your mood. Vitamin D supplements and proper winter clothing became non-negotiable. Once I had both, I actually started to enjoy it.
For future students:
•Ship your samples early- logistics are unpredictable
•If possible plan your research abroad period early
•Sweden is expensive; budget carefully, cook at home.
•A proper winter coat and gloves, and you are all set to enjoy the Swedish winter- it is genuinely beautiful once you stop fighting it.
•Attend seminars and group meetings even when the topic is not directly related to your project -some of my most interesting conversations started exactly there.
What are your plans after returning to Italy? Did your time abroad enrich your research and personal growth? If yes, how? Do you feel you contributed meaningfully to your host university, and in what ways?: Immensely. I arrived with some molecular biology knowledge and left with real hands-on confidence. Going forward, I want to connect the dots between my biochemical, metabolomics, and molecular data more effectively and this experience gave me both the skills and the mindset to do that.
Being at UPSC in my early year of PhD was particularly well-timed. Watching experienced researchers plan experiments, navigate unexpected results, and collaborate openly across groups gave me a clearer model for how to approach my own work- not just technically, but in how to communicate, ask questions, and carry myself in a scientific environment. Openness, curiosity, and generosity with knowledge - what makes good science possible- and I am bringing that understanding back with me.
I want to close with something I read from Valentino, a fellow PhD-SDC student who shared his thoughts on research abroad: "You will never again be the same you of this exact moment." I did not fully understand it before I left. I do now.
What aspects of the local culture stood out to you whether something you loved or found challenging? Did you have a favourite place to spend your time, and how did you make the most of your free time?: Fika culture is real and it is wonderful. The fika room became one of my favourite places, not because of the space itself but because of the people and conversations in it. Some of my best learning moments happened over coffee and cardamom buns, discussing everything from experimental design to weekend plans. What also surprised me was how genuinely the Swedes care about the physical and mental well-being of everyone in the workplace.They have strong policies against discriminatory behaviour.
Fresh food as good as Italy's is hard to find there, but beyond that, daily life felt surprisingly manageable. Coming from a tropical country, I experienced skating, skiing, and the northern lights for the very first time, each one a small wonder. I also tried to share my own cuisine with colleagues and my landlady, which turned into some of the warmest and most memorable moments of the whole journey.
I am deeply grateful to PhD-SDC for giving me this opportunity, not just for the scientific training, but for the kind of life experience that quietly reshapes who you are as a researcher and as a person.
Where are you studying in Italy, and what motivated you to pursue a PhD?: I am Sadia Tabassum Tanni, and I grew up in Bangladesh, surrounded by rivers, fields, and floods that would later shape my research questions. I completed my bachelor's in agriculture in Bangladesh, then moved to Hungary on a government scholarship to pursue a master's in horticultural engineering- my first experience of building a life and a scientific identity far from home. In searching for a PhD, I discovered the PhD-SDC program at IUSS Pavia. Its interdisciplinary, sustainability-focused environment with strong institutional collaboration makes it truly unique. I applied and joined the group hosted at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, where my research focuses on how plants respond to the combined stress of waterlogging and salinity, with a particular focus on metabolomics.
That combination is not an abstract problem for me. In Bangladesh, flooding and soil salinisation are already threatening agricultural productivity, and climate change is making both worse. My work sits at the intersection of plant stress physiology and metabolomics, trying to understand the molecular language plants use when facing these pressures simultaneously.