Discover
“I still remember the moment I saw that signal appear during an experiment. It confirmed something we had only hypothesised until then. For a brief moment, I realised I might be the only person in the world who knew what I had just discovered. That feeling is difficult to describe, but it is one of the reasons I love doing science.
My journey into chemistry, however, was hardly straightforward. I grew up in a family of teachers. Both my parents taught science, and my elder brother pursued mathematics. Science was almost an obvious choice, but chemistry became a genuine interest because of a teacher who taught us beyond the school syllabus. He introduced concepts I would otherwise have encountered much later, and I became fascinated.
I wanted to study chemistry after Class XII, but I didn’t get into a conventional chemistry honours programme. Instead, I pursued Industrial Chemistry at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur, followed by a master’s in Applied Chemistry at the same institution. It would take another five years before I finally worked in pure physical chemistry during my PhD.
I wasn’t an exceptional student initially, and I sometimes lacked confidence. What made a difference was having mentors who believed I could do more. My undergraduate and master’s mentor, along with a faculty advisor during my internship at IIT Gandhinagar, encouraged me to apply for PhDs abroad. I completed my Master’s in 2020, when COVID disrupted almost everything. I had returned to IIT Gandhinagar for my dissertation in February, but the lockdown interrupted my experiments, leaving the project unfinished.
Meanwhile, I applied to the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). Its graduate programme appealed to me because students could rotate through three research groups before choosing a supervisor. Coming from an applied rather than conventional chemistry background, that flexibility mattered.
The interviews were another lesson in uncertainty. My first interview, with a researcher working in nonlinear quantum optics, went terribly. I was unprepared for some of the questions and felt completely lost. The next interview went better because I had prepared a presentation. The final interview, with two professors working closer to my interests, went particularly well. One of them eventually became my supervisor.
I learnt something important from that experience: research experience matters, but so does the willingness to learn something unfamiliar. You don’t need to know every technique before beginning a PhD. On 15 September 2020, I left India for Austria, in the middle of a pandemic. My parents didn’t express much anxiety. My brother was already in the United States, and they were accustomed to having their children away from home. I think they were also happy that someone who hadn’t always been a strong student was now beginning a PhD abroad.
Austria initially seemed surprisingly normal, but restrictions returned with the second COVID wave. Classes became partly or entirely online, and laboratory occupancy was restricted. Thankfully, my research group was small enough for experiments to continue. Working inside gloveboxes while wearing a mask wasn’t particularly pleasant, though!
There were also the smaller surprises of living abroad. Once, desperately thirsty, I bought water from a supermarket without realising it was sparkling water. I had to learn unfamiliar social etiquette, including when to address professors by their first names. Fortunately, ISTA was international and welcoming, and people were always willing to help.
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My PhD focused on experimental physical chemistry, particularly the mechanism of oxygen and sulfur redox reactions. One part involved understanding singlet oxygen, a reactive form of molecular oxygen relevant to emerging energy technologies and potentially to biological systems. Another examined how different forms of sulfur are generated and behave in the context of Li-S batteries.
Moving into fundamental physical chemistry from my earlier training was initially intimidating. But ISTA offered coursework, time to learn, and, most importantly, a supervisor who was genuinely supportive. We had long discussions, sometimes every week, and I could ask questions without hesitation. Gradually, my confidence grew.
I was fortunate to enjoy my PhD. There were rejections, including two unsuccessful applications for a prestigious Austrian research fellowship, but I never saw them as defining failures. My supervisor had funding, so financial uncertainty did not disrupt my research.
There were unforgettable moments too. One of my papers was accepted in Nature while I was travelling on public transport with colleagues during a conference. And then there was that experiment in which a spectroscopic signal finally provided evidence for something we had been trying to demonstrate. That quiet moment in the laboratory remains particularly special.
In late 2022 however, a major cyberattack disrupted our institute’s systems. Much of my data was stored in the cloud, and for days I couldn’t access it. I had just spent two exhausting weeks analysing data using MATLAB and genuinely feared losing that work. Later, we learned that personal information had also been compromised. It was an unsettling time for the entire institute. Another low point during my PhD was in the summer of 2022, when I couldn’t attend the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting even after being selected because I got COVID.
Outside research, Austria gave me friendships and memories I cherish. Our first-year cohort lived on campus, and there were frequent barbecues, birthdays and gatherings. Later, even when friends moved to Vienna and I stayed closer to the institute, I found a wonderful social circle through my laboratory and other researchers. I enjoyed the winters and snow, although the long stretches of cloudy weather could be difficult. In September 2025, I defended my PhD.
For once, I prepared my presentation well in advance! My colleagues and supervisor helped me through mock presentations. I was nervous about one committee member with whom I had previously disagreed quite strongly at a conference, but the discussion turned out to be constructive. What made that day truly special was having my parents there in Austria, watching me defend my research. After everything that had brought me there, sharing that moment with them meant a great deal.
I stayed briefly at ISTA as a postdoctoral researcher before moving to Berlin in April 2026. My current postdoctoral work is deliberately different from my PhD. I wanted to learn new techniques and approaches that I could eventually combine with my earlier experience. My long-term ambition is to become an independent group leader, pursuing fundamental questions in physical electrochemistry and energy research. Whether that happens in Europe or India remains uncertain. Whenever I visit India, I try to give talks at research institutes, both to share my work and to build connections for the future.
For students hoping to pursue a PhD abroad, my advice is to start exploring early. Seek internships, talk to researchers, develop practical experience and remain open to subjects beyond your immediate training. Competition is intense, and there is no single formula for success. Sometimes an opportunity comes because of preparation, sometimes because a supervisor recognises your potential, and sometimes because of luck.
I didn’t begin as the strongest student, and I didn’t follow the conventional path into chemistry. But with encouragement, curiosity and the freedom to learn, I found my place in research. And perhaps that is what I value most about this journey: not simply where it has taken me, but everything it has allowed me to discover.”
-Soumyadip Mondal, PhD in Chemistry, Institute of Science and Technology Austria
