• How is it living in a different country?

Having born and brought up in India, Europe has been a different way of life for me; full of learning! I have lived in Germany for last 5 years and have travelled to France on multiple occasions. In a corner of my heart always thought, Germany has been “uber” great. Now let’s move on to a different place, how about starting from France?! My wish came true and here I am now, thanks to this Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions sponsored project FiBreMoD. I have been living in a small village of the very beautiful Ardeche region in the south of France.

There were problems at the start, the language, the bureaucracy and a place far away from the city; but what is a start if it is not bumpy! Though having no, or very little knowledge of French language, I still managed to get all things done, and I must credit the locals who helped me. I struggled with French, they with English, but we managed it well!

• What motivated you to be in the FiBreMoD project?

Being raised in a city (Ichalkaranji) widely referred to as the Manchester City of the Maharashtra state of India owing to the main occupation of textiles here; it was a natural choice for me to pursue my career in the field of textiles and technical textiles. Also, my experiences in Germany to work for the automotive industry in the field of textile reinforced composites fascinated me. I would imagine during me-time, that my phd thesis (if I pursue) should be like on such and such subject (textiles/composites), with the research objectives focused on industrial requirements, lots of extracurricular activities, new languages, new culture, industrial and personal networking and interactions, and lastly a decent earning. As this project position at FiBreMoD specifically captured every aspects of my PhD dream, I decided this is the right time and opportunity to pursue deeper interests and do my doctorate in this field.

• What are your thoughts and first impressions about the whole FiBreMoD project?

It has been about 3 months into this position now, and it has been a great start for me. FiBreMoD kick-off meeting at Leuven, the team building events, introductory sessions at Chomarat and MINES ParisTech eased me in to the project and my project position. I was familiar to the aspects of simulation and modelling, but we were not friends to say. The FiBreMoD project activities rightly started with training in various aspects of composite design and manufacturing. Abaqus simulation and modelling training by 4Realsim and composite repair training by ACRATS proved to be very interesting and rightly brought me closer to these topics. Apart from the training events during the day, the networking events with other colleagues in this project were very special. It is great to discuss very interesting topics with a group of interesting people coming from all over the globe.

With this exciting start of the project, I am sure there is lot more learning and enjoyment coming along the way.

• Any dream for your future you would like to share?

I want to make a constructive difference to people’s lives. Want to work for an organization or create one which works for upliftment and empowerment of fellow compatriots, in terms of their standard of work, thoughts and living.

• If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?

If offered a choice I will choose to have the superpower of having multiple bodies, like being omnipresent. My heart lies at the place where I was born (in Rajasthan India), where my grandparents live. I would also like to be there with my parents who raised me up (In Maharashtra India) and made me what I am today. Apart from these places, I want to be here in France to work and fulfill my professional goals. I like serving and helping the underprivileged, I also like to travel to places, meet friends, party and one of my hobby is also to sleep at lengths. So, if I have multiple bodies, all original and all me, controlled by me, I will be present at all these places and do all the things which I like to do all at the same time.

How great that would be!!