ESR11 – Elena Bandini

Elena is a PhD researcher from Italy. She has always liked sciences and studies related to the environment, therefore, she decided to take the bachelor degree in Chemistry and Technologies for the Environment at the University of Bologna. During this period, she carried out an internship at the research centre ENEA in Rome about ionic liquids as a green alternative to organic solvents in Li-ion batteries.

Right after that, Elena started the Erasmus Mundus Master Advanced Spectroscopy in Chemistry, which gave her a deeper knowledge in physical and analytical chemistry and the opportunity to be part of an international environment, to study in different countries and learning new cultures. She spent one semester University of Lille (France), one at the University of Leipzig (Germany) and the last year in Helsinki (Finland). At the University of Helsinki, she worked on her master’s thesis in the polymers and colloids research group, carrying out the synthesis and analysis of a novel series of thermo-responsive microgels.

She graduated in 2019 and had a first working experience just before starting this PhD. She was doing research about mechanical amorphization of ceramic materials at the Institute of Material Science of the research centre CSIC in Seville (Spain).

Currently, she is an Early Stage Researcher, ESR 11, at the University of Ghent with Prof. Frederic Lynen (Ugent) as supervisor and Dr. Hamed Eghbali (Dow Chemicals) as co-supervisor, working on the development of new TRLC and GC columns for enhance AOP analyses.

In her free time, she enjoys doing open air activities, reading, and travelling.