Marta Mirolo, Scientist
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I first came to the ESRF while studying for my Masters in Materials Science. I immediately fell in love with the atmosphere here. It is a bit hectic! There is always something to do, it is exciting and no day is ever the same as the last. Ten years later, I still feel caught up in the same whirlwind. After a post-doc in X-ray diffraction on ID31, I am now a junior scientist working on a three-year EU-funded project called ReMade@ARI. The project supports research in circular economy and aims to give academic and industrial researchers access to European research infrastructures. We have a big team of 20 junior scientists and around 120 senior scientists. I am specialized in X-ray diffraction facilities and I know the specificities of many European beamlines. I act as a buffer between the ReMade user and the beamline scientist. I distribute research experiments to the best-suited beamlines in the ARIE network, and then help the user before, during, and after their experiments. For example, I can help them with proposal writing, data recovery and analysis.
ESRF-EBS is unique. I am a big fan of Europe and the ESRF is the European Synchrotron, the only one that brings together so many different nationalities in one place. You can really feel the internationality of the users and staff. Everyone mixes, there are no national clusters, just one big multi-cultural arena. With 19 funding countries, the resources are on another level. There is a high level of expertise and a multitude of support groups. I love the ESRF also for the many social activities that are accessible to staff as well as the natural outdoor surroundings. You can go from cycling to the office to hiking in the mountains in 20 minutes!
Marta Mirolo grew up near Genoa in Italy. She studied Materials Science through the Erasmus Mundus programme, travelling between France, Germany and Italy. After a PhD at PSI and the Swiss Light Source, Marta joined the ESRF on a post-doctoral contract in 2020. Since 2023, Marta has been part of the ESRF Structure of Materials group, working on the ReMade@ARI EU-funded project.