Profile

My name is Filip, I’m 27 years old, and I’m originally from Sweden. I came to the UK in 2014 to study Chemistry at Imperial College London, and after finishing my studies I stayed to do a PhD. During my university studies I also took courses such as programming, economics, and languages – I love to learn new things!

Even though I spend a lot of time in the laboratory, I also do a lot of other fun things in my spare time, such as hanging out with friends, travelling abroad, and doing fencing. As a teenager I used to compete a lot in fencing, but now I mainly practice with the university club, where I’ve made many great new friends, with whom I volunteer in different roles to keep the club running. I also get involved in various political campaigns from time to time. I still don’t know exactly what I want to work with in the future!

I’m a synthetic chemist, with a focus on materials chemistry. That means that I spend most of my time in the lab, creating (synthesising) different new materials. After making a new material, I look into its properties and behaviours – such as colours, chemical reactivity, electrical properties, etc – to learn new things about how we can design new materials.

The type of materials that I make can be used in different ways. For example, they can be used in a new type of solar cell. They can also be used in transistors (which make up computer chips), or in screens. I’m hoping that my research will help us learn new things about material design, so that we can make improvements in future technologies, such as better solar cells to help combating climate change.

Since my work is often pretty independent, my working hours are very flexible. That means that I can start my day when I want, and go home when I want, as long as I get the job done! Usually, I like to sleep until late in the morning, and go to work around lunch time. However, that also means that I stay at work until very late in the evenings, sometimes until midnight. It’s how I like to do it, but some other people prefer to start early and finish early instead.

At work I spend a lot of time in the lab. In the lab I will sometimes carry out chemical experiments (e.g. doing a chemical reaction to create a new chemical), and sometimes I do analytical experiments (e.g. doing different measurements of my chemical). My work days also involve a lot of writing and reading. Usually I will write about my research, and read about other people’s research. Sometimes I also help with the teaching at the university.

In my lab and office there are many other researchers, and we have a lot of fun together. It is very helpful to have people around, as we have different skills, and can help each other with research questions. A lot of the people that I work with are at a similar age as me.