“Is getting a PhD in Particle Physics a good idea?” was the motto of the lecture “Careers and Technology in Particle Physics”, held at IST, within Physics Engineering Seminar Series, on 1st and 2nd March. The shared experiences were different but all speakers highlighted the role of Physics in their professional careers.

Six PhD holders who carried out research at LIP attended the session and shared their experience.

Marcus Nordberg, co-coordinator of CERN’s Development and Innovation Unit and member of relevant innovative projects at CERN, ATTRACT and IdeaSquare opened the session. The researcher shared the conviction that particle physics careers can be an opportunity to succeed, combining perseverance with sense of opportunity.

According to Teresa Monteiro, product manager at Coriant, “the multidisciplinarity that I acquired in physics allowed me to adapt very well to programming. The fact that I am not graduated in this area was never a problem. Siemens was looking for critical sense and differentiated approach”. She attributes her success to the knowledge acquired during her academic journey.

Patrick Sousa, founder of GyRad, has taken a slightly different path. During is PhD he identified a promising niche market that transformed his company. “The Physics course gives us so many skills that sometimes we aren’t able to recognise them”, he explained. His company, now with ten years of activity, has stood out in radiation safety market. The team is composed of four physicists and “there will be probably many more”, he said.

The second part of the conference will take place this Thursday, at Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL) and will be focused on technology.