"This is a conversation". PubdD Coimbra is "an opportunity to break university barriers and have a contact with the public".
Of the PhD in Chemical Engineering, Rodney Miotti is part of the Centre for Research in Chemical Process Engineering and Forest Products (CIEPQPF). In the March edition of PubhD Coimbra spoke about "Obesity: a matter of biotechnology, engineering and public health".
Why did you decide to participate in PubhD Coimbra?
I think it's an opportunity to break the barriers of the University and have contact with the general public. It's a relaxed way of being. It's different from being at a congress, here we can have a more playful conversation, give less scientific examples and have clearer and more direct contact with the general public while having a beer.
How was your experience in this edition of PubhD Coimbra?
I particularly like it - I love talking about what I work on and enjoy it. I like causing, provoking, and raising questions in people. I like this exhibition. And I like what I do very much.
We, as researchers, within the University, have to do it (to communicate outside the doors). We stay very much inside our bubble, with our peers and always with the same people and in the same academic depth. So I try and seek, with conversations like here, at tables and bar talks, where I have to bring scientific content with the capacity for synthesis, for a person who is a layman in the subject to have the correct scientific understanding of what I am explaining and talking about.
Would you advise other colleagues to participate?
Absolutely. I've already brought some staff, and I think everyone should participate and get to the conversation because this is a conversation. Because there comes a question, with curiosity, that can slap our heads and give a new direction to our research.