My research stay at the Australian National University, Canberra
I am currently doing my PhD at the Technical University Dortmund, majoring in physical chemistry and more precise electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy in the working group of Prof. Kasanmascheff. In this role, I had the chance to join the German excellence cluster RESOLV as an associated member. RESOLV enabled me to join the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra as a visiting researcher for three months, from February 2023 to April 2023, to work on a new resonator for our EPR lab in Dortmund.
Planning
For the most part, planning my stay at the ANU Research School of Chemistry was reasonably straightforward as I planned to do my PhD in the working group of A/Prof. Cox at the ANU but failed to enter Australia in 2020 due to Corona. I was already in contact with him and his lab members. The only thing I recommend is to bring time to get through all the paperwork of the ANU if you try to apply.
Rought steps for my RESOLV internship at ANU:
Talk to Prof. Cox about a possible stay
Propose Internship to RESOLV (1-page pdf with three-sentence project description)
After approval: Beginning of ANU paperwork
Application for the research project at ANU
CV, financal statements, academic track (Bachelor & Masters certificate), academic English test results
After acceptance at ANU:
Visa formalities: you need an invitation letter from the University to apply for a Visa.
Booking the trip
Finding accommodation: No registered ANU student = no student accommodation
Booking flights
Sunset over Canberra.
So, the first step to contact the hosting Professor was quick and uneventful for me. A/Prof. Cox was happy to host me, and we were quick to discuss a possible project. I wanted. to work on a new resonator he was building for our lab to get to know the hardware component of EPR better. During normal measurements, it’s rarely the case you have access to or need knowledge about the exact building or mechanics of the machine and resonator. Additionally, I was able to work on a couple of small projects in his lab to see how it’s done in different labs.
Proposing the project as an internship to RESOLV is like the easiest thing ever. As an overseas internship is mandatory for a RESOLV Ph.D. student, the application is quick. You can download a 1-page PDF file, fill out your name, your professor, and hosting professor, as well as a box with your intended project description. The box for the project description is so small that you can fit a maximum of 4-5 sentences in it. So, the most challenging part is breaking down the project into just a few understandable sentences. Initially, I thought it would be a long process with project proposals and so on, but no, it’s easy and quick. The ANU part was the long one.
Being allowed to work in the lab at the ANU was a bit more troublesome. Besides a ton of paperwork required, I needed to write a full project proposal (which one of the members from A/Prof. Cox's group kindly supplied all the information for and helped a lot with writing). The processing time was quite long; it took around 3-4 weeks for the university to process everything and provide me with the necessary paperwork for the visa. For the visa, I needed to submit nearly all the same paperwork as for the ANU and also needed to wait for quite a bit. In the end, I waited, I think, two months.
Room in the Canberra Accommodation Center.
From beginning to talk to Prof. Cox in late February 2022 to receiving my visa at the end of October 2022 and being able to book the trip, it included painstakingly much waiting time. The paperwork and everything for the German side (my university and RESOLV) were done and approved in two days.
The main problem I encountered when booking the trip was my accommodation for the three months I stayed in Canberra. As I was not an ANU student but a visiting researcher (occupational trainee), I had no right to stay in student dorms. The university could only offer me their guest house, which, with 100$ a night, exceeded my RESOLV stipend by a lot. In the end, with the help of some friendly university employees, I found the Canberra accommodation center, which was much more affordable and offered a nice stay. It’s located in an old student dorm (about 20 minutes by foot from the campus) and features single rooms with shared facilities as well as full apartments. The only negative point I must make about it as a short-term visiting person is that the rooms are bare. I needed to go and buy all the bedding essentials as only the mattress and frame were provided.
ANU
Parkway in between ANU buildings in front of the chemistry building.
View over Sullivans Creek from the bridge at Fenner Hall.
I arrived in Canberra the day before starting my studies at ANU. After settling in at the Canberra Accommodation Center (and buying all the necessary stuff to stay there), I figured out how to get to the campus and where exactly I was supposed to be the following day. The Chemistry building is (relatively) central on the campus, close to the primary hub with one of the libraries, restaurants, student dorms, and supermarkets. No long search or complicated ways are required. Something that surprised me compared to the Technical University here in Dortmund was the security in the chemistry building or probably in general on the campus. I could only access the foyer, where, after writing down my contact data at the terminal, a contact person needed to pick me up. Also, many of the internal doors (mainly directed toward the labs) were only opened via electronic swipe cards. Luckily, everything was organized by A/Prof. Cox and the ANU beforehand. I could pick up my swipe card right away at the personal office on campus (only a picture needed to be taken quickly) and could access most areas half an hour later. Another thing I did not expect was the office concept. Besides Professors and high-ranking staff members, students, Ph.D. candidates, post-docs, and other staff sit in large open-concept offices with four-person cubicles and half-high walls. It feels very inclusive, and you can contact everybody quickly without hesitating to knock on a closed door like here in Dortmund. Here, everybody sits in small, fully enclosed offices with 1-4 persons (depending on working group size and position). You can see it as positive or negative. Here in Dortmund, you can listen to music on speaker or talk loudly to your colleagues in the room, while at the ANU, everybody was very silent, trying not to disturb anybody. Saying so, nobody batted an eye when you had a quick chat with somebody; you just always tried to keep it quiet and short.
Green spaces on ANU campus everywhere!
In general, I feel the management of the chemistry faculty is much better at the ANU than at the Technical University in Dortmund. When I arrived, I had an in-depth safety briefing two days later with a tour of the whole faculty, getting to know all the necessary rooms, people, and procedures. After nine years in Dortmund, I still don’t know whom to contact for some problems. Getting to know all relevant persons and places made it so much easier to work on my own later as I knew whom to ask for what. Funny enough, Germany is known for its bureaucracy and a lot of paperwork, but the chemical and work safety paperwork at ANU took me two days to finish. Besides the initial walk through the building and everything, you need to complete an online course tailored to your working field. For me, corrosive chemicals, acids and bases, cryogenic liquids, liquid gases, high magnetic fields, electromagnetic irradiation, and some general chemical safety.
New lecture hall in the physics department of the ANU.
Additionally, there are courses about arranging your work area for best performance and health (sitting at a desk all day is not ideal for your health). One of the best slides that showed the significant difference between Dortmund and Canberra was about work-life balance. While at ANU, general admission to the building is strictly limited to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays for employees, which can be extended to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., including weekends. Here in Germany, I have 24/7 access to the university and lab, which I often use. At ANU, it is emphasized that you concentrate and prioritize your free time as much as possible, not only work. Also, the sentence: “If you don’t feel well, don’t come to work until you feel better.” It is something I can not imagine seeing in Germany, at least not without the necessity to provide a doctor’s note as to why you are missing (more than two days).
There were multiple factors to this; it is much easier to prioritize free time if, during work time, you can always do as you wish. At the EPR group at ANU, we were 2-3 students (including me) for three spectrometers, while in Dortmund, we are ten people with one spectrometer (since a couple of weeks ago). Therefore, it was much easier to measure what, how long, and whenever I wanted at ANU compared to here, where we had to plan measurement time meticulously.
Student dorm on the banks of Sullivan creek. (Yukeembruk)
Overall, the working experience was similar and different with A/Prof. Cox, it was a lot of self-management. While here in Dortmund, our professor wants to be more involved in the research. We have weekly meetings to talk about our research and answer her questions. In Canberra, it was more like you worked on your project, and when you were ready to show results, we arranged a meeting. Nevertheless, A/Prof. Cox was always available for questions, which I had a lot of, especially about the spectrometers. I had multiple problems initially, as the spectrometers are a bit older than ours and have some unique quirks. In EPR, newer spectrometers are not that much better than older ones, as Bruker always manages to incorporate new and more annoying bugs. So it’s more about learning which spectrometer has which bugs.
Planning your workweek in advance was really nice, as at the ANU, I was responsible for measuring my samples and working on the resonator to take back to Dortmund. While here in Dortmund, there is a lot more technical and management/teaching work. Like Helium planning and scheduling, teaching, and group event/meeting management.
Part of the EPR laboratory in the chemistry building.
A significant difference between the TU Dortmund and the ANU in Canberra is the campus life. At the TU Dortmund, we have a central cafeteria (Mensa) With around 5-7 meal options plus a buffet (which is quite expensive as you pay per 100g you take), which are all subsidized by the government and cost around 3 - 8 € for students (guests and employers pay around 2-5 € more). While the food options vary every day, the identical items are on the menu roughly every 6-8 weeks. In my opinion, they are all not particularly good or bad; it’s decent food most of the time. Sometimes, it's a bit too oily. In addition, we have on our campus three additional food options: a cafe for coffee and cake, the so-called food faculty for “freshly” made pizza and pasta, and another small cafeteria where you can get snacks, sandwiches, and around lunchtime burgers, fries, and schnitzel. Besides these options, there are no additional shops or anything on campus (some vending machines excluded), which might be due to the reason that the campus is outside the city in a technology park surrounded by companies and research facilities, like the MPI or the Leibnitz Institute.
The ANU campus, on the other hand, is directly next to the city center and within walking distance of all major shops. As far as I know, the ANU doesn’t offer a cafeteria (outside of some student accommodations). Still, it, therefore, has a large range of different restaurants around the central hub of the campus and in the immediate vicinity of the campus area. From classic cafes to Italian pizza and pasta, burgers, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese food, bubble tea, etc. I think everybody would find something fitting for him on campus. Even a wine bar and a pub are directly on campus. The large variety and a well-stocked supermarket directly on campus made my life so much more pleasant compared to Dortmund. In your breaks, you could easily go shopping for dinner later and grab something small to eat from one of the restaurants before relaxing sometime in the sun or shade around the large park areas of the campus, something I miss here in Dortmund. The campus in Dortmund has some green spaces as well, but not nearly so well attended or inviting. It’s mostly some green areas around the pathways between buildings 1-3 m wide.
The major difference and the reason for the different campus life experiences is most probably the fact that at ANU, all major student housing is on campus in between or around the different faculty buildings in this vast area. In Dortmund, the student housing is off-campus; it’s not very far away but around 1-3 km from the main campus. Also, many more students live in rented flats or at home, which is much more uncommon in Australia (especially in Canberra, as the city is quite small). So many students travel quite far to attend university in Australia, while in Germany, it’s often from the same city or neighboring ones. Further, I felt like the ANU has a much larger international student number than the TU Dortmund. At least in chemistry, as till recent years, our bachelor's and Master's programs in chemistry were mostly taught in German. Additionally, I feel a lot of university bureaucracy here is difficult to understand, and German only makes it hard to apply and understand. An advantage all English universities have, I feel, but also Australia has a couple of the best universities in the world, making it a good study destination for many Asian students. So, focusing your free time and life around the campus makes sense at the ANU, while at the TU Dortmund, many students go home after their lectures.
Canberra
Old and new Parlarmaint house.
Canberra is a beautiful city, originally purposely built to be the residence of the government. Nowadays, it’s a busy city (mainly during the week) and home to one of the best universities, the ANU. While many of my Australian friends told me that Canberra is dead on the weekend when all government workers return to either Sydney or Melbourne, I can not confirm this totally. Yes, Canberra feels a lot emptier on the weekend, but it is still a place with a lot of things to do.
As I am not much of a party-goer, I can’t really say anything about the nightlife in the city. But the cultural activities and the nature around Canberra are great!
The botanical garden and Black Mountain are two of my favorite spots. With the many quiet corners, it was the perfect spot to relax and read a book on my free days. The hike up Black Mountain is a bit strenuous but worthwhile for the view and the quiet area below Telstra Tower. The National Botanical Garden offers a much more relaxed atmosphere without needing to hike. Directly behind the ANU, this large park area offers a wide variety of Australian biomes. My favorite is the fern gully and the little waterfall area next to it. The waterfall area is also home to a bunch of water dragons.
Nature bowl and cafe at the top of the National Arboretum.
Walkway along the shore.
Besides this area directly adjacent to the ANU, I spend a lot of time around Lake Burley Griffen, with the parliament district, shopping, hiking/walking tracks, and the National Arboretum, all just a couple of meters from the shore of the lake. Walking about 30 km around the east side of the lake and through the National Arboretum on one of my weekends gave me quite some bloody blisters. If it’s worth it, I don’t know, maybe use better shoes than I did. Nevertheless, the Arboretum, with its cafe on top of the hill and its giant nature bowl, was a nice place to rest and meet some locals. I had a long discussion with a nice woman about the difference between living in Europe and Australia, especially about the perception of distance and public transport. Many Australians (including the majority of my friends) drive 250 km to go out for dinner, which is crazy to think about in Germany as you have probably passed four towns at this distance already. Also, besides major cities, public transport is not big in Australia, besides overland busses like Flixbus in Europe, with Canberra not having a terrible but by far no good public transport. Along one of the main roads, there is a single tram line, and everybody I ask says it’s completely useless as it doesn’t go anywhere useful. Even with a stop in front of my accommodation and one near the city center, it was just more convenient, cheaper, and easier to walk or take a bike into the city. All major shopping, restaurants, and the university are not that close to the tram spots, and walking there directly is faster than taking the tram first.
Fishing on the banks of Lake Burley Griffen.
Besides this rather large circle around the lake with a visit to the Arboretum, I can really recommend the parlament district and the inner city center. Especally in the first 6 months of the year (as I heard) a lot of events and festivals are happening. During my time I came a long the Wine-, the Craft Beer-, Cultural-, and Enlighten Festival of which most are going on for at least a week. Enlighten and the Cultural festival were especially great as they had amazing streetfood and where on in the evenings after work mostly.
View of the city center from Mt. Ainslie.
A favorite evening activity of mine was the walk up to the viewing point of Mount Ainslie. It was close to my accommodation, and I could walk up there to have a great unobstructed view of the city. Especially at sunset and on warm evenings, it is a great place to relax. The first time I actually visited Canberra in 2018 to meet Prof. Cox at the ANU for the first time he showed me this spot after dinner. It seems that everybody should visit it once when they are in Canberra. I’m not convinced about that, as Canberra has many nice spots from which to view the city, but judging from my repeated trips up there, he was not completely wrong. It is never less the best point to see the planned structure of the city with the straight viewing line from the war memorial (under construction during my visit) directly across the lake towards the old and new parliament house.
The serenity of a couple at night. Sitting there, talking and enjoying the view of the city lights.
New Parliament House.
A visit to the new Parliament House in Canberra is something I can recommend to everybody who is slightly interested in the country and its politics. It was planned as the center point on top of a hill in the government district, surrounded by park areas, the high court, the national library, and many government buildings, as well as different embassies. The building was built into the hill itself (or covered by grass and dirt after the build, not sure). One of my coworkers at the ANU told me that when he was a child, you could walk up onto the building and roll down and lay in the grass to symbolize that the citizens were above the government. But nowadays, with all the security risks worldwide, a high steel fence stops you from walking up. You can still access the roof but only from the inside after you pass security, which looks and feels like an airport. On the inside, you can visit the senat as well as parliament chambers and learn some things about the former prime ministers and their politics.
The final thing I want to recommend is the National Museum of Australia, which is on a small peninsula on the lake next to the ANU. Except for the special exhibitions, it is free to visit. In many rooms, it demonstrates the different types of climate and life around Australia, as well as the risks and advantages of such a remote life.
A large section is also dedicated to the Aborigines, the indigenous people of Australia, who lived on the continent for thousands of years before the British came. After a long period of suppression, their culture and knowledge slowly became more recognized around the country, especially their bush tugger food and art, which are amazing legacies to the history of the country. While there is a change in thinking around the country, many of the older Aborigines are still marked by the so called “Stolen generation”, where children were taken from their families to be eductaded and raised by well-fare organisations or the church after western principles.
This research stay was made possible by RESOLV. I acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy – EXC 2033-390677874-RESOLV.