Cerdanyola del Vallès, 12th November 2019. The ones hired are five young people under 30 years with wide-ranging profiles, who will be working at the different divisions of ALBA during two years to broaden their knowledge and gain professional experience in a scientific facility.
This incorporation has been possible thanks to the Programme of Promotion of Talent and its Employability in R+D+I endorsed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities that has enabled more than 1,000 jobs for young people, with a total grant of 40 million euros.
This is the second time that ALBA has been granted with this programme. The previous call in 2014 made possible to hire ten young people, five of them are currently part of the ALBA staff.
The new members of the ALBA Synchrotron at the experimental hall. Left to right: Ana Bueno Fernández, Alejandro Alonso Marín, Anabel Sacristán Ruiz, Guillem Domènech Domingo, and Sarah Moreira Castro.
Variety of profiles for a multidisciplinary environment
Regarding her motivation to apply for this offer, Ana Bueno was very sure about it: "I've studied a master's degree in particle physics and I think this is the most important particle physics facility in Spain". Ana will be part of the Accelerators division, in the Operations section, which is responsible for the accelerators complex. The main objective of the operations section is to deliver high quality and stable beam to the scientists that come to perform experiments at ALBA. This young physicist wants to "discover what type of job tasks a physicist can do outside the university" and, during these two years, she is looking forward to gaining transversal training while she gets into the research world.
Likewise, both Guillem Domènech and Alejandro Alonso find at ALBA their first work experience: "I applied because this facility looked interesting to me, I already had visited it. During these two years I'm willing to obtain work experience in my field" says Guillem, who is a physicist with a master's degree in Advanced Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He is joining the Computing division, more specifically the Electronics section, where they operate and support the hardware for the synchrotron's control systems, data acquisition and also supports the machine's electronic equipment, power supplies, and cabling infrastructure. Alejandro, on the other hand, is a computer engineer and will be working at the Computing division, in the Controls section. Controls engineers design, develop, operate and support the control systems of the accelerators, beamlines, personnel safety, and equipment protection systems, as well as for data acquisition and data analysis at the beamlines. "During these two years, I'm looking forward to gaining experience in my job as a programmer and starting to make a place for myself in the science world", he mentions.
Regarding Anabel Sacristán and Sarah Moreira, they know a little bit more about the synchrotron world since both of them had already made internships at ALBA: "I just had finished my internship here [at ALBA] when they told me about this offer. I thought it was a good option since I quite like both the company and the work I do here", says Anabel, who is a Superior Laboratory Technician and will be part of the Experiments division, in the Biosciences section. She will be working at ALBA's biology labs, giving support to those experiments related to Life Science & Soft Condensed Matter. Sarah explains that she enjoyed a lot the internship experience: "When they told me about this offer, I thought it would be a good opportunity to keep educating myself in the science communication field in a singular facility like ALBA and with a team I already know and with whom I'm sure I will learn a lot". This nanotechnologist with a master's degree in History of Science will work at the Communications and Outreach office, where they are in charge of the news, events, corporate communications and outreach activities of ALBA.
