Interview with Andrea Blanco-Redondo: Do what you love and never give up
Andrea Blanco-Redondo is a young researcher, an expert in integrated nonlinear and topological photonics in silicon-based materials. She just took a position with Nokia Bell Labs, Holmdel, USA. Until recently, she was a Senior Lecturer and the Professor Harry Messel Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She obtained her PhD degree in Engineering from the University of the Basque Country (Bilbao, Spain) in 2014. From 2007 to 2015, she has been a photonics researcher and a project manager in Tecnalia, the largest private R&D group in Spain and one of the largest in Europe. During this period, she was first with the Telecommunications business area, focused on nanophotonic technologies for all-optical networks including slow-light optical buffers, and later with the Aerospace business area, working on photonic-crystal sensors and hybrid photonic-plasmonic structures. In 2014, she was awarded one of the two Ada Byron National Awards, which are attributed to the top female scientist/technologists in Spain, and in 2016 she was awarded the Geoff Opat Early Career Research Prize of the Australian Optical Society.
Below is a short interview of Andrea Blanco Redondo [ABR] by Luc Bergé [LB], Chairperson of the Equal Opportunity Committee of EPS.
LB: Why did you choose to study physics?
ABR: Interestingly enough, I actually studied Telecommunications Engineering at the University of Valladolid, Spain. However, I soon realised that I was more interested in understanding the fundamentals of physical phenomena than in directly developing technology. That is why I decided to steer my career towards physics by choosing subjects with a strong physics component during my degree and, for my Master’s research project, I joined the Photonics Group of Aston University, Birmingham, UK. After that, in 2007, I joined Tecnalia Research & Innovation as a researcher in photonics and, in parallel, I enrolled in a PhD programme with the Applied Photonics Group at the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain. Now I am excited to keep pursuing new breakthroughs in this next phase of my career that I start with Nokia Bell Labs.
LB: Any worry to match your family life and a career in physics?
ABR: I would not say I am worried, but I do think about it. Research is a very competitive environment which requires publishing frequently and then traveling a lot to promote research results and generate new ideas. This fast pace is harder to maintain when one has other responsibilities at home. I am optimistic about the future, though. Things are changing. Research institutions are recognising these difficulties and offering more flexibility. Also, men and women are starting to share family responsibilities more evenly. There is much more to be done, and we should definitely keep fighting for it, but I wish women do not feel discouraged to pursue a career in physics because of this issue.
LB: Are you worried about finding a job in physics?
ABR: I certainly was, until about a year ago, when I was offered a continuing position. It is the most beautiful field to work in, but there is no abundance of jobs in it!
LB: What has been the personally most rewarding experience?
ABR: The most personally rewarding experiences I have had so far have concerned my students. Seeing them grow scientifically and personally is just the best feeling.
LB: Did you encounter any difficulty in finding funding for PhD or a post-doc position related to the fact that you are a woman?
ABR: In my case, not that I am aware of, at least not directly. This does not mean that it does not happen to other women. There are also a number of indirect hurdles for women that some people don’t see. There is, of course, the fact that the majority of senior people in our field are men, which does not really help women feel like belonging to. But women also have sometimes to face sporadic dismissive and patronising gestures during their career, which can undermine their confidence as scientists just because of their gender.
LB: Any suggestion to guarantee a balanced gender representation in physics?
ABR: At the institutional level, we need to make sure that organisations offer options to balance family and work life for men and women. Only by sharing these responsibilities as equally as possible we will reach gender balance one day.
At a societal level, we need to keep working to avoid conditioning boys and girls towards predetermined roles. I believe interests and aspirations are formed very early on in life. We should give boys and girls the same opportunities from the beginning and reduce the unconscious bias.
LB: Any particular advice for a young aspiring researcher?
ABR: Do what you love and never give up. You will find difficulties, but it will be all worth it in the end.
