What is your academic background and your current research field?
I have an interdisciplinary academic background with diverse research expertise in the field of nanoscienceand nanotoxicology. I pursued my doctorate in Bioengineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India. After my PhD, I moved to the University of Birmingham in 2021 with the role ofPost-Doctoral Researcher on a couple of EU-funded projects, SABYDOMA (https://www.sabydoma.eu/) and MOZART(https://www.mozart-project.eu/). In principle, both projects are associated with improving the safety-by-design of nanomaterials. I am an ambitious and super-enthusiastic researcher who loves collaborating with researchers from diverse backgrounds. My research interest lies in understanding the fundamentals of nanomaterials design, their biochemical transformation, and toxicology.
What is your role as a ECDN Rep and how can postdocs in your school contact you?
After spending nearly a couple of years at the UoB, I have adapted to the research culture and would like to support my fellow early career researchers towards career development, identification of fellowship opportunities, and encourage cross-disciplinary research collaboration. I am situated in the Geography building (Room 311), and please feel free to contact me by email at (s.chakraborty@bham.ac.uk). I am a coffee-holic person, so I would always fancy coffee meetings.
What do you feel are the benefits of the ECDN programme for postdocs and what do you feel have been the benefits to you from being a postdoc rep?
ECDN is an excellent assortment of formal and informal events that enhance early career researchers' networking capacity. This allows each member of the ECDN community to participate in a wide range of events, develop cross-disciplinary collaborations, consequently, help them grow professionally. The events also cover a wide range of employment options, fellowship and grant writing workshops, a regular update on funding opportunities and the open positions, etc.; in short, a complete package of career development services. As a rep, I would benefit by working in close liaison with ECDN core team members, developing new networks with fellow postdocs from other schools, and making collective decisions on improving Early Career Researchers.