#NCCRWomen - Rea Dalipi (UNIGE, A. Alekseev's Group)

27/1/23

Interviewed people :

Rea Dalipi (UNIGE, A. Alekseev's Group) obtained a double bachelor's degree in Physics and Electronic Engineering at the University of Paris 6, France. After that she moved to Switzerland to pursue her master studies at ETH Zürich, with a focus on theoretical and mathematical physics. She completed her master’s thesis with title “R-matrix for the A-infinity quiver and Instanton moduli spaces” under the supervision of Giovanni Felder. Her current research interests are infinite dimensional Lie groups, quantum gravity and quantum groups.

The biggest challenges women scientists face are…?

One of the major hurdles for a woman scientist is gender inequality resulting in the lack of a support network, which can be very discouraging at times and even detrimental to career advancement. The problem worsens for more senior positions, where unfortunately the biological age is a selection criterion when it should be the academic age that matters. We live in a very comfortable era compared to our parents’ generation, with various options allowing a solid family-work balance, hence I see no reason anymore for such criteria.

Why did you choose a scientific career?

It was my family who shaped my interest in science. My dad and my grandma stimulated my curious nature as a kid (and still do, to be honest); they’re both very creative people and always loved to build things. It was all about quite easy stuff around the house like fixing a simple electric circuit, or the water pump, (or even funnier things like my grandma once made her own coffee capsules). Their enthusiasm to fix or build these small things got me curious about how they worked in the first place.

Later in middle school, I found comfort in physics as it provided me with satisfactory answers, but also it felt really fun and kind of addictive learning how nature works. Eventually, it became my favourite subject and soon after it was clear to me that I would pursue some physics-related career.

On a more life perspective level, my mom's example inspired me to remain in academia after my master's studies. She has a PhD in linguistics and is currently a professor, which demystified for me at an early age the stigma that a successful academic career and family can’t coexist. Thus, pragmatically speaking, this made my decision for an academic career in science smooth and spared me the social dilemmas.

If you weren't a scientist, what would you be?

I think I would study music, very probably piano. I took piano lessons as a child; to be honest back then I would get bored of it quite fast, but later in my teen years I started enjoying it a lot more, and now it gives me great peace playing it.

I’m curious about other instruments too, I am trying to learn the guitar, and soon I am getting a çifteli, a two-stringed instrument that is typical in my home country, Albania.

What is your favourite thing about research/science?

The most exciting thing about research is that it is constantly a quest. It feels like being in some open-world video game solving mysteries of the Universe, hence it’s a very thrilling and challenging profession. Moreover in maths and theoretical physics, you aren’t limited by experimental setups, so you have many degrees of freedom to be creative and come up with some pretty crazy ideas. Another aspect I like about scientific research is the very dynamic environment it offers. You are continuously meeting new people in conferences, workshops, etc hence you are often engaged in very stimulating conversations that enrich you not only as a researcher but also as an individual.

What's your least favourite thing about research, how do you improve it/make it easier to deal with?

Because in maths you are more or less free to investigate whatever you think or hope may lead to a resolution of your problem, there’s often the risk of just following the wrong lead. It can be quite frustrating to realise that all the work you have done over the past few weeks hasn't really provided much insight, and you’re back to square one. Getting stuck like this for weeks in a row can be quite discouraging and may easily lead to social isolation. I deal with it by talking to other people. Explaining your problem to someone is always advantageous: firstly, it fosters my understanding of the issue, and secondly, they may have some ideas on how to resolve it that I hadn't considered. In the end, two brains are better than one.

This approach also reduces isolation, which is the other aspect of research that can be challenging.

What would you like to say to your younger self about a scientific career?

To go for it because it is a very fun and rewarding one. You’ll get (I hope, most of) the answers to questions that you have as a kid and some of them are pretty mind-blowing. It is tough, it requires hard work, persistence, and passion, but it is very fulfilling to be aware of what’s around you and to be able to understand nature on fundamental levels.

Have you ever encountered discrimination because of your gender?

I have not experienced any discrimination that could harm my career advancement, but I have encountered some implicit biases in conferences or other events outnumbered by men. Overall I find that women are more harshly judged than their male colleagues (maybe even unintentionally sometimes). This creates a tension in building healthy academic relationships, bringing us back the support network I referred to at the beginning. If such situations become manifest, then potential collaborations are fractured, inhibiting results for both sides.

I must say though that I have had the chance to work closely with very supportive thesis supervisors and male colleagues, who never discriminated based on gender or origins. It is crucial for someone’s performance to actually feel comfortable and appreciated by their coworkers.

What challenges in your career did you have to face because of your gender or ethnicity?

As I mentioned earlier, I was not submitted to any gender bias in my important career experiences, like bachelor thesis, master thesis or PhD, so there wasn’t really an obstacle due to my gender to achieve my goals.

On the other hand, regarding my ethnicity, I feel the need to talk about how cumbersome migration policies are when it comes to non-European citizens like myself, and this implicitly induces a challenge for any career. All residence permit procedures are more complex and needlessly more frequent than for European citizens. As a young graduate already stressing about job applications and important career decisions, this extra pressure interferes with the smooth running of the job processes.

What do you like to do outside the office?

Usually, at home I’m either playing the piano or the guitar, colouring (on canvas or mandalas), or trying out some new food recipe. I also regularly practise yoga. As for outdoor activities, I’ve been hiking a lot since I moved to Switzerland and also trying to get better at skiing. Another thing I would like to take up more seriously is surfing, which I tried with my sister last summer and really enjoyed it. If I’m not doing any of the above, I am at some bar having a drink with friends.

What's your favourite food/film/song?

Food: my grandma’s dish, is called fasulnik, and it is a salty pie filled with meat/chicken and beans. Film: I don’t have a particular favourite one, but my favourite genre is horror. Song: Kozmic Blues by Janis Joplin.

What is your wish for girls studying science in school today?

Similarly to what I would say to my younger self, I wish that they go for it, and they don’t pay much attention to nonsense statements about how a profession is more for men or more for women. Unfortunately, nowadays maths and physics are portrayed as very difficult, even to an unpleasant level, mainly by public opinion. This discourages a lot of young kids to study these subjects and drains their motivation for science in general at a very early stage. I hope that young girls (and boys for that matter) push through this stigma and give these subjects a try, because more often than not they launch into a very fun place.

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