For Cristian Ledesma, to be a researcher, ‘you need to be a naturally curious, very, very patient and persevering critical thinker’. It is not about mechanically performing experiments, but rather thinking about and understanding what you are doing at all times. You also need to be ‘passionate about research, organised and optimistic’. The most important lesson he has learned in recent years is that ‘patience is the mother of science’.
His doctoral thesis consists in studying a chemical reaction that uses a biomass-derived product called bioether to obtain hydrogen. Studying this reaction involves preparing and characterising catalysts containing different formulations of nanoparticles.
He is currently conducting experiments for his doctoral thesis, and he will shortly begin a research stay at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He plans to defend his thesis next autumn. Once he has finished his PhD, he would like to continue to devote himself to research in the private sector.
