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Meet our Bernalite Kyriaki Koupepidou who is originally from Cyprus. Kyriaki is a PhD researcher in Materials Chemistry.

This coming weekend, Kyriaki is set to embark on an exciting opportunity as she presents her work at the EUROMOF Conference in Granada, Spain.The title of her presentation, “One atom can make all the difference: gas-induced phase transformations in bisimidazole linked diamondoid coordination networks." This event marks her international debut, where she will be sharing her research with a broader audience. Very shortly after, Kyriaki will be flying to China to work with future collaborators at Nankai University in Tianjin, China. The objective is to establish partnerships, conduct experiments, and, during her free time, do a little travelling. When she is not working Kyriaki enjoys baking, painting, and reading crime novels. Her favourite author at present is Agatha Christie, as she enjoys Agatha’s use of chemistry woven into her novels.

Her research area involves the investigation of developing new material for environmental applications. Kyriaki and her team are trying to tackle global challenges including like carbon capture, water harvesting from air or gas storage or gas separations.

Why is this important?

“My work is directly related to mitigating the effects of climate change. A lot of our materials are targeted towards providing clean water from air anywhere on earth. We're really interested in sustainability, and I think one of the biggest aspects that keeps me going is being part of this bigger community that investigates sustainability.”

Kyriaki is currently in the third year of her PhD program, and is under the supervision of Dr. Professor Mike Zaworotko, who currently serves as Bernal Chair of Crystal Engineering & Science Foundation of Ireland Research Professor at the 51��ɫ, Ireland. She spoke in depth of the help and support by her supervisor in guiding her on the right path but there is one thing that resonates the most about his mentorship. “He's taught me how to fish. He has morphed me into this independent researcher. Now, when I first came here, I didn't know much, but now I feel I can exist independently and stand on my own 2 feet in every research environment.” Prior to coming to UL and Bernal she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in materials chemistry from the University of Cyprus in 2020. After graduating she applied to UL as a master’s student and 1 ½ years later transferred to a PhD programme.

When asked to describe her time in Bernal up to now she explains; “It has been great, not only because of research, but it has helped me in personal skills. I used to not be able to talk to people so easily and now I feel that I can. And it has definitely opened doors for me in the academic sector as well.” The advice she would give to aspiring scientists is to “follow your instincts. There were a lot of times in my PhD journey where I almost gave up on projects, but I had climbed most of the mountain and all I needed was to push a little bit more and sometimes a small risk has high reward.”

If her life could be a theme song, Kyriaki said “I do listen to Hotel California every single morning while I get ready. So, for now I am happy with that.” A song that will never get old!

Best of luck in all your work, we are proud to call you a #Bernalite, from #BernalNeighbourhood.