Dr. Huang He | 黄河 (中文版）
Ph.D. from the Department of Physics and Materials Science, the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). Postdoc at the Department of Physics, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), with a focus on researching perovskite nanomaterials. He has published 12 articles as the first or corresponding author, with up to 304 citations for one article.
How did you become aware of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual fellowships (IF)?
In the late stages of my doctoral program, I visited some forums and talked about the fact that being a postdoc comes best with scholarship. Before that, some of my friends and teachers had mentioned Humboldt and the JSPS. When I searched online, I saw the IF program. Given its reputation in Europe, I decided to have a try despite low likelihood of success, fierce competition and a small number of applicants from China.
How was applying for the fellowship?
The application went quite smoothly. But I did meet with some difficulties in this process. First, the instructions from the template offered by the IF program were too general, making it very difficult for me to understand. I had to consult various materials to know what exactly I should write for each part. Second, only the first part truly related to scientific research, while the following parts of Impact and Implementation were also difficult for me to write. Given this situation, the international fund office of the LMU offered very detailed explanations when I was applying by relying on this university. This helped me much in terms of understanding the official template. Besides, thanks to the principle of openness, I was able to download from an EU website a guide regarding reviewers and specific scoring criteria. As for some contents I couldn’t understand, I was able to write in a targeted manner according to the reviewers’ scoring criteria and what they expected to read from this part. I received a score of 93.6%, which I was quite satisfied with though it was not very high.
I like researching in Europe very much. Europe may differ widely from many other places especially the mainland Chinese when it comes to research atmosphere. Overall, researchers here are not so eager to see research results as their counterparts elsewhere, but instead focus on improving their research by improving themselves. Being away from home of course entails some inconveniences in terms of study, research and life, but I’ve now already fundamentally adapted to them. The important thing is to feel what is special about Europe through field studies, visits, exchanges and cooperation.
Do you think the IF has been helpful for your career?
I believe having received the IF means an opportunity. Though I’m still in the early stages of my career as a researcher, I’ve got to know a lot of young and successful professors in Europe, many of whom have got the IF years before. At the same time, there are Marie Curie Fellows among young experts in China, laying a good basis for international academic exchanges. This will definitely and greatly benefit future research.
Did you know Euraxess before this? What else do you think Euraxess can do to promote Chinese researchers’ career development?
When I was preparing materials for the IF, the Euraxess China conducted a workshop on how to apply via online videos. I became a member of the workshop-specific WeChat group and was greatly inspired. Most of my colleagues in Europe know Euraxess. I expect the Euraxess China to help more young Chinese scholars as applicants in order to facilitate rapid improvement to their research.
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A: 黄河，香港城市大学物理与材料科学系博士。现为慕尼黑大学物理系博士后，主要从事钙钛矿纳米材料的研究工作，以第一或通讯作者发表文章12篇，最高引用次数304。
Q: 您是如何得知玛丽居里个人奖学金的？
在做博士阶段的后期，看到某些论坛讨论做博后最好要有奖学金，之前已经听朋友或者老师提到洪堡和JSPS，我在网上搜索的时候，看到玛丽居里个人奖学金这个项目，虽然成功率低，竞争力大，国内申请人不多，但是在欧盟声誉很好，我决定尝试一下。
Q: 您申请的过程顺利吗？有遇到哪些困难，怎么解决的？您喜欢在欧洲的研究工作吗？
A: 申请过程还算顺利。但是在申请过程中也遇到一些困难，一是玛丽居里个人奖学金提供的模板，上面的说明太笼统，理解起来非常困难，要查阅多方面的资料才能理解每个部分究竟要写什么；二是真正跟科研相关的只有第一部分，而且后面Impact和Implementation这两个部分也不好写。面对这种情况，在依托慕尼黑大学申请时，慕尼黑大学国际基金办公室，提供了非常详细的解读，这个对于我理解官方模板提供了很大的帮助。除此之外，得益于公开原则，我能在欧盟网站下载到针对审阅人的指南以及具体的评分标准。有些不能理解的内容，我可以按照审阅人在打分的时候标准，以及审阅人在这个部分期待看到的内容，有针对性的组织撰写。我最终得分是93.6%，虽然不是特别高，但是我自己还是比较满意的。
我很喜欢在欧洲的研究工作。欧洲科研氛围可能和很多地方特别中国内地有很大区别，总体来讲，大家对科研并不是那样急功近利，而是通过慢慢打磨自己而提高科研水平。当然，身在异国他乡，学习、科研、生活也有一些不便，不过现在已基本适应，重要的是通过实地学习考察交流合作，真正能体会到了欧洲的不同之处。
Q: 您觉得获得居里奖学金对您的职业生涯有所助益吗？
A::我认为获得居里奖学金是一个机遇，虽然目前还处于研究生涯的初期阶段，但我已经认识了很多欧洲年轻有为的教授，他们很多早年也都拿到了居里奖学金。同时国内有些年轻专家，也有部分居里学者，这就为以后国内外学术交流提供了良好的基础条件，对以后的研究工作肯定会大有裨益。
Q: 您之前知道Euraxess吗？在您看来，Euraxess还能做些什么助力中国研究员的职业发展？
A:我在准备玛丽居里个人奖学金材料的时候，EuraxessChina曾做过一次网络视频申请指导讲座，我参加了讲座微信群，受到很大启发。我在欧洲的大部分同事，都知道Euraxess。我期待未来Euraxess中国可以为中国更多年轻学者的提供申请帮助，以助力他们科研水平的快速提升。