First Name:Paulami
Family Name: Manna
Home Country: India
I plan to return to the following institution in my home country on completion of my studies abroad (please precise if in academia, research, policy making, private sector or other?):
University name? University of Hyderabad, Telengana, India
Academia (Research and Teaching)
Host University: Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany
Degree: Ph.D. in Chemistry
Research Focus:Polyoxometalate-basedmetal-organic frameworks
Expertise: Chemistry
Year Fellowship Awarded:2017 /
  1. Personal introduction
My name is PaulamiMannaandI was born in a small village named Nimdangi, West Bengal, India. I grew up in this village with beautiful nature and stayed there till finishing my graduation. I admire nature and the simplicity of the people of my village. But my heartalways became heavy when seeing that these village people live with many social issues such as poverty, illiteracy/low level of education, gender discrimination, early marriage of women etc. I am blessed with parents who fought against all these issues trying to support and motivate me for higher education. Although they could not afford to send me in the city for a better college, I believe they did their very best for me.
I absolutely love reading books, mainly literature and poems. Books have givenme always good company, ever since my childhood. I have a passionate love affair withnature and this leads to me having another hobby, natural photography.
  1. Academic background
My educational background includes a M.Sc. in chemistry (specialization in inorganic chemistry) from The University of Burdwan, India and a doctorate in chemistry from University of Hyderabad, India. I have my graduation certificate in chemistry (Hons.) from University of Burdwan, India. After my doctorate I joined as Research Associate for a year in Prof. Samar K. Das’ group, School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad.
  1. An overview of your research focus and its relevance/application
Being the first person in my family to attend university, I moved to the city for the first time for my master degree and encountered my first tuition expenditure. It was the time when I realized that I am passionate about teaching. And now I cannot imagine myself in any other profession except teaching.
Water splittingin dihydrogen and dioxygen is one of the most contemporary research areas,not only because of its fundamental importance,but also because of the increasing demand for renewable andsustainable energy utilization. During my post-doctoral studies in GermanyI will investigate polyoxo-noble-metalates (PONMs) incorporated in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Such compounds are expected to exhibit a high activity and stability as heterogeneous catalysts or photocatalystsforwater splitting as well as various other oxidative and reductive organic transformations. Further, these materials will be treated by chemical reduction to form highly disperse noble metal nanoparticles, which can then be used as heterogeneous hydrogenation super-catalysts with unprecedented catalytic activity.
  1. An overview on how you are planning to fulfill the objectives of the Schlumberger Foundation(i.e.: how are you planning to be a role model for girls & women in STEM back in your home country, what are the tools you are going to use to do so; how will you contribute in reducing the gender gap in STEM; do you believe you will encounter any barriers to fulfill your objectives?)
In 2014, during my doctoral studies, I joined the ‘Telengana State Backward Classes Women Federation’. Since then I have been actively associated with this federation being engaged in several tasks such as helping women from rural areas with their educational planning and development as well as preventing child marriages. We met several young girls and their families in different rural areas and encouraged them to engage in continued studies and explained to them the importance of higher education.
Being part of this women federation I will always help rural women to improve their life. But if I could reach my destination of being a faculty member in a good Indian university I will get the opportunity to change the situation of gender discrimination even for the higher level of education. During my post-graduate studies, I observed that there is a general thinking by both the teacher and student body that women will not develop into academic research careers. Currently it is the general understanding that female students will either get a job or get married. When I joined for Ph.D. studies I was surprised to see that some faculty members did not even recruit female students into their research groups. After having becomeafacultymembermyselfI will do my very best to try and reduce this discrimination as well asto inspire young female students for science and research education. Gender differences in the areas of science, technology, and engineering are a simple question of statistics. During my Ph.D. studiesthere were only 25 girls (13.9%) among 180 Ph.D. students. When considering the faculty members then there was only 1 woman (4.2%)among 24 individuals. It is evident that more women need to be inspired for science and research.
  1. Hopes and plans for the future
I cannot imagine myself in any other profession besides a chemistry professor. It is my sincere dream to start an independent academic career in my home country doing both, teaching and research. In my view both such activities belong together and will allow me to become a true scholar. After the post-doctoral experience in Germany it is my sincere goal to return to India and become a tenure-track junior faculty member. However, to become a faculty member in any university in India, a post-doctoral experience of minimum two years accompanied by a good quality and quantity of publications is essential. Undoubtedly, a post-doctoral experience via this prestigious Schlumberger fellowship in the highly reputed research group of Prof. Kortz will definitely bring me one step closer to my career dream.
Finally, I wish to be a teacher who can inspire the students to understand the world better and to take educated decisions.