Cristina Serra
Postdoctoral fellow at the Food Microbiology group
Wageningen University (The Netherlands)
What motivated you to do the PhD at IRTA?
During my degree in Biotechnology, I became familiar with the field of food safety and predictive microbiology. From the very beginning, I was fascinated by these topics and decided that I wanted to continue exploring them. I completed my Final Degree Project at IRTA, in the Food Functionality and Safety program in Monells. Then, I obtained contracts as a technician within the same program until the opportunity arose to apply for a predoctoral training contract, which allowed me to explore and work with predictive microbiology.
How do you remember your experience at IRTA?
Being a research institute, dynamics are often different from academic institutions. When you do your thesis, there are two points that determine your experience. The first is the attitude you adopt, your ambitions, how you face challenges and transform these to opportunities for learning. The second is supervision and direction. In my case, I am very fortunate for the thesis directors I have had, as they were a great support. They have also helped me to do multiple stays in national and international research centers, where I have been able to establish various professional relationships. In addition, I have had the opportunity to participate in contracts and additional projects in my doctorate, with which I knew the needs that food companies currently have. All this makes me very positively value my step through IRTA.
To what extent do you think your time at IRTA has helped you professionally?
My experience at IRTA has been key to being able to access a very competitive postdoc in one of the most prestigious international research groups in the food safety sector. It has been key from the perspective of technical skills and scientific knowledge, as well as the acquired learning of how to face challenges, how to lead projects, how to look for opportunities and know how to cooperate within a scientific team.
From everything you learned, what do you value most later?
What I value most after the event is the opportunity to work and analyze the needs and challenges of the food sector, making my research very applied.
What do you think are the main challenges facing the sector today?
The food industry has several challenges that affect both food production, distribution and consumption. These factors are driven by population growth, demand for alternative protein products, climate change or pressure to increase sustainability, among others. In the case of food safety, one of the greatest challenges is to evaluate and increase food safety of products that are developed to respond to the new needs/demands of consumers (ALTERNATIVE protein foods, with less preservatives, convenient and nutritional) without increasing or even reducing food waste.
What would you recommend to someone who wants to follow your steps?
The first piece of advice would be that you did not follow my steps, everyone has to go their own way and there is no better way than another. What I would recommend is that if you decide to choose to do a doctorate and continue in the scientific career because there is a vocation, not because there is an employment contract for a certain time. Basically, to have ambition, not to wait for them to teach you, but to look for opportunities to learn, and above all and very important, effort and perseverance. And finally, learning to believe in yourself, we are not as small as we think and there are many opportunities waiting for us!
