Malou Fraiture: "In Luxembourg, we have many inter-institutional collaborations making our research innovative and interdisciplinary"
What does your job consist of?
I am a PhD training coordinator at LIH’s Science Office. I serve as a contact point for doctoral training related matters. I ensure compliance of our institute with the National Quality Framework for Doctoral Training, a set of principles fostering a good research, training and supervision environment for doctoral candidates. My role also includes the organisation of courses, in particular the yearly LIH Training & Workshops series. I (co-)organise and promote events at which PhD candidates can meet and discuss such as retreats, social gatherings and the annual National PhD Welcome Day.
What do you like most about your job?
I enjoy organising courses that enhance PhD candidates' scientific and methodological competences and allow them to gain transferable skills to succeed in different career paths in the future. Every day is a bit different in my job. At any moment, an unexpected or challenging request could arise. What I enjoy most is the diversity of responsibilities and the interaction with the doctoral candidates, co-workers and external stakeholders. I have a lot of freedom in my work to take decisions and initiatives. I like for example not only organising courses but also act as a trainer myself. I have always enjoyed teaching while I was a junior researcher, therefore I asked whether I can also design new courses. This year, I gave three transferable skills courses to young researchers at LIH and one at the University of Luxembourg.
I aim to improve the PhD experience for our doctoral candidates, by offering them training, career orientation, guidance and opportunities to exchange.
What does a typical day look like?
A typical day always starts and ends with checking my e-mail inbox. It is important to me to quickly react to any inquiry or concern from PhD candidates, supervisors or administration. I want to provide them with the necessary information or guide them to the right person to solve their request in a timely manner. I think I spent quite a lot of time in my inbox, more than other people who might consider e-mail follow-up as a side activity or even a burden. Every day I check on the tasks that need to be completed for the practical set-up of courses, workshops and events as I organise or co-organise around 30 activities per year. I also regularly search for information about external training opportunities that I then transfer to our young researchers. I occasionally have to write guidelines related to doctoral training and revise documents such as administrative procedures, researcher CVs and grant proposal for PhD projects. When new PhD candidates are being recruited, I am part of the selection committee and later also participate in their onboarding and ensure their university enrolment.
As Luxembourg is small and has a dynamic research community, you can contribute directly to new developments and have an impact on a national scale.
What has been the most rewarding experience in your job so far?
The most rewarding experience is when doctoral candidates defend their thesis, when they have successfully overcome all the difficulties of a PhD journey. I love to attend PhD defences. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to be present at each defence.
One former PhD candidate wrote a very touching sentence in the acknowledgements of his thesis. He thanked me for helping the PhD candidates “from the bottom of my heart”. This statement motivates me a lot. I hope that my work can have a positive impact on each PhD.
What makes doing research in Luxembourg special?
Researchers have very modern facilities and access to state-of the art equipment in Luxembourg. I think we have many inter-institutional collaborations that make our research innovative and interdisciplinary. The research community is small but interacting a lot. This team spirit is well promoted by the common branding strategy Research Luxembourg.
The National Branding initiative has defined three very pertinent words to describe Luxembourg and its population: reliable, dynamic and open. I think they are well chosen.
What are your favourite places in Luxembourg?
My favourite place in Luxembourg is the nature reserve Aarnescht in Niederanven. You can see many orchids in spring and observe insects. The pine trees give a Mediterranean character to this unique place. It feels a bit like holidays when walking on the Aarnescht trail on a sunny day.
I invite newcomers to visit the different regions of the country in their free time to get a sense of the culture and traditions and enjoy nature. I also advise them to join a club or an association or do some volunteer work. This way they can get in touch with locals, make friendships outside of work and feel integrated. At LIH they can take part in my training “Introduction to Luxembourgish culture and language” to get some ideas about local traditions and spots to visit and a taste of our language.
Discover more about LIH doctoral training