Interview with Ágnes Kóspál: There are many rewarding moments in my work
Ágnes Kóspál is an astrophysicist, who worked as a postdoc in the Netherlands at Leiden University and at the European Space Agency after obtaining her MSc in physics and astronomy, and her PhD from Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary. She returned to her home country, Hungary, in 2014 and won a Starting Grant from the European Research Council in 2016. She is now a tenured research advisor at Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, where she works in the field of star formation. She uses the largest ground-based and space telescopes to study how Sun-like stars and their exoplanetary systems form. She won the Junior Prima prize in Hungarian Science category (2014), and she was also the laureate of the L’Oréal-UNESCO International Rising Talents Award in Paris (2017). In 2018 she received the Hungarian László Detre Award of the Roland Eötvös Physical Society for exceptional results in astronomy.
Luc Bergé, chair of the EPS Equal Opportunities Committee (LB), interviewed Ágnes Kóspál (ÁK).
LB : Why did you choose to study physics?
ÁK : I became fascinated by the night sky quite early, already when I was in a kindergarten, then in primary school. I wanted to know not only facts about stars and planets but also how we can figure out their properties and how we can discover the laws of the universe. So I decided to become a researcher and studied mathematics, physics, and astronomy to have all the tools I need in my hands.
LB : Any worry to match your family life and a career in physics?
ÁK : Such worries never factored into my decision to become an astrophysicist. However, I quickly realised that this requires full-time commitment. Now there is not much more I can fit into my life.
LB : Are you worried about finding a job in physics?
ÁK : I applied for postdoc positions several times in the past 15 years and those periods were some of the lowest points in my professional life. I always felt inadequate when I had to list my accomplishments and worried that they would not be enough. I worried because I did not know in which new country I would have to move the next year, who my new boss and co-workers would be… I’m now tenured in my home country, which I’m very happy about. However, funding for science and education is uncertain here, so that, now, I am rather worried about the future of education, research, and the fate of my institute and colleagues.
LB : What has been the personally most rewarding experience and also the biggest difficulty encountered so far in your career?
ÁK : There are many rewarding moments: every time I have a chance to travel to an observatory and use the world’s largest and most high-tech telescopes, or when I know that a space telescope that is located millions of kms away is running my script to make observations for me, or when I look at the new data and discover something unexpectedly interesting, or when I discuss science with my colleagues and see their enthusiasm matching mine.
Having many deadlines close in time and juggling a dozen projects at the same time is extremely difficult, mentally and physically draining for me. Having to deal with complicated managerial, financial, or personnel issues frustrates me very much.
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?
ÁK : Not that I know.
LB : Any suggestion to guarantee a balanced gender representation in physics?
ÁK : There are many initiatives that I hope will help, like aiming for gender balance when selecting conference speakers, fighting against unconscious bias by using double-blind review, or introducing measures to help female researchers who have young children. It would be important to increase the visibility of the work of women researchers or of scientists belonging to different minority groups.
LB : Any particular advice for a young aspiring researcher?
ÁK : Be curious. Try to find a good mentor and colleagues whose skills, expertise, and personality complement yours. Be very strict in your study/work ethics. Be patient. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice and be generous in helping others.
LB : Do you have any female ‘physicist cult figure’ or ‘role model’?
ÁK : Not really. I received a lot of support from my mentors and colleagues, and I try to give back as much as I can.
