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I obtained my PhD from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. A respectable university, from a country known for its internationally recognized universities. At this point, I should also mention that I fast-tracked to my PhD, hence I never finished my MSc. It is not the norm in North America, but it is an option available to all. I did not think that getting my education acknowledged in other countries would be a problem.

That was until I moved back to Europe and started a post-doc in Germany. The administration of the German University asked me for a proof for my PhD (a copy of the official PhD parchment in addition to an original letter from the University), as well as proof as my income statement for the last ten years. I am a fairly organised person and could get this information with little trouble.

But it wasn’t enough, they also asked me the proof of my MSc, which I could not provide as I did not finish my MSc. They asked for it three times over the course of a month. I replied three times, that I could not provide such documents for the above-mentioned reason. During that time, of course, I wasn’t pay the regular post-doc salary, as they had first to prove that my Canadian PhD was just as good as a German PhD.

After telling them three time that I could not provide my MSc, they asked for my previous diploma, which for me was a technical diploma from 1996!!! They wanted a copy of the original parchment and an official transcript. I obeyed. After three months of debating, they agree that my PhD was worth its German counterpart and my pay-scale was readjusted from the 1^st day of my contract.

I then looked into another post-doc, in Italy. Before I was even offered the position, my potential future boss warned me to get the paperwork for the recognition of equivalence between my Canadian PhD and a similar PhD in Italy ahead of time. First, I had to get the parchment translated by a translator affiliated with the Italian Embassy in Canada. Then I had to ship the original parchment to the Canadian consul in France to get it certified as original. I was hesitant to send my original parchment, and sure enough, the French post lost track of my registered-insured mail for about a week, before it magically re-appears.

With the translation and the certification, I could then ship everything to the Italian Embassy in Canada for them to provide me with a declaration of value.  Before I got a chance to get to this step, the potential future boss contacted me and mentioned that the Italian government will need to see my MSc. There was no point of applying if I could not provide a MSc.

It’s 2019, but let me tell you, it’s always hard to be a recognized international scientist!

After living for 20 years in Canada (13 years in BC and 7 years in NS), I once again crossed the Atlantic.  I currently live in Germany for a Post-Doc position on a Long-tailed duck project.

Canada is often seen as the country of freedom (if you need proofs), yet living in Canada you sometimes forget about those freedom.

Sure, the country recently legalized marijuana, however people can not smoke regular cigarettes in most places.  If you dare smoking in public, people will change sidewalks to avoid you, kids will plug their nose as they walk past.  You see fewer and fewer smokers in the streets.  As much as it is a lack of freedom for smokers, it is the freedom to the rest of us not to inhale their smoke.  We all know this: One person’s freedom end where another’s begin.

At the campus where I work in Germany, people can smoke everywhere….and most of them do so right in front of the buildings’ entrances; logic, this is where the ashtrays have been put in place.  So as a non-smoker, I have to cross a group of smokers before getting into the building.  There is no changing sidewalks possible, no plugging my nose, just accepting this situation as it is.

On a similar note, I recommend against taking the train on soccer game nights.  People are drinking beer in the wagons, they are spilling beer all over the floor, they are burping as if they were in the comfort of their own place.  I have yet to decipher their behaviour depending on their team winning or losing, maybe I could ask the employees in charge of cleaning the train wagons after the games, they probably have more experience than me on that subject.

So yes, Canada is a land of freedom, at least if you are a non-smoker that enjoy a glass on wine (or a beer) with your friends in a quiet place.

This summer 2018 I went to Russian Arctic to work on Long-tailed ducks. When I tell some people I went to the Russian Arctic, I often receive two comments that are misconceptions about this place. So here, I will try to debunked those myths, and tell you what the Arctic is and what it is not, in my own view, of course.

One common response I get from people is: “Waow, it was probably cold.”

Well, yes and no.

Sure, when we arrived, it was cold, I was happy to have a warm shapka with me.  I wore big ski gloves most days, just so my fingers would be functioning when extracting the birds from the nets.  But then, I have poor blood circulation in general, and can comfortably wear a sweater when everyone else around is in t-shirt. Oh, and there was this day when we had to stop working as my co-worker could not hold a pencil anymore.

 Picture: Thiemo Karwinkel

Eventually good weather arrived, and it was hot, sweating hot. Here is a graph of the outside temperature (from a place protected from direct sun light).  The landscape around camp was sand dunes and we were joking that we were in the Sahara and not Siberia!  Which brings me to the second debunked myth.

 

Click on the graph to enlarge.

“Oh, so you were in Siberia.”

Well, no.

Russian Arctic and Siberia are not necessarily the same. Siberia is this vast part of Russia that it East of the Ural mountain, it covers 77% of whole of Russia (see map below). I was West of the Ural mountain, so technically, I was not in Siberia. I was in a region called Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.

The little red dot is where I was. Siberia is to the East.

So, now that you know that it can be warm in the Arctic and that Russia Arctic can be, but is not always Siberia, you might want to hear about long-tailed ducks, the reason I was there in the first place.

Long-tailed ducks are in serious decline, the population wintering in the Baltic Sea saw a 65% decline since the 1990s.  The species is now globally threatened and classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN since 2012.  We have yet to understand the reason for this decline.  By monitoring the reproductive success, monitoring the food availability on the breeding grounds, and following individual’s movements outside of the breeding season, we will get a better picture of what is happening to those ducks of the north. Stay tuned for more info on the ducks and my new life in Germany.

I grew up in France and moved to Vancouver, Canada when I was 22. Despite my good grades in English in the French school system, the first few weeks were difficult.  The fact that my boss would speak about one thousand words a minute did not help the matter.

After a few months of total immersion, communication was easier. Soon enough, I started thinking in English, dreaming in English. Despite becoming fluent in English, it will always be my second language.  I vividly remember the day I wrote “I’m killing” when all I wanted to say was “I’m kidding”. But you see, I had never saw that expression written, and I used words I knew to make up that expression.  Needless to say, I felt giddy, when I few hours after writing “I’m killing” I found out the real spelling of this expression.

Eventually, I started grad school, in an English taught University. The thought of going to a French-speaking university did not even cross my mind. All those years talking and reading about ecology, and bird-related matter in English, I could not think of grad school in French.  Despite this logical move, I sometimes feel stuck in between two languages. When for example, I explained what I do to French people, I stumble on some words, having difficulties finding the right words in French, while I know the word in English; a weird feeling that usually bring startled look on the people I talk with. “How can you forget your French!” is a usual comment I receive.  Then, there are those few moments, when I can not find my English words, easy words that simply slip my mind for a matter of seconds. “How can you not think of that word” is what come to my mind, but few people dare asking me that question.

Sometimes I wonder if being bilingual is a gift or a curse!  But soon after that feeling is swipe away and I feel grateful that I can converse in more that one language, even if I stumble a bit at times, in English just like in French.

I recently came back from a week-long conference. It is a very energy draining exercise for most.  You are constantly bombarded with information.  It is absolutely terrifying for me.  You see, I am an introvert person.  Public speaking is not my thing, but I fight it by presenting at conferences.  The talk sessions are fine, I sit, I listen, I clap, but you won’t see me ask questions.  Then come the coffee breaks.  If I’m at the conference with people I know from my university, chances are we sat together during the presentations, we leave the room together, we gather for coffee and talk together.  But the whole point of conferences is to mingle, to meet new people, and to connect. And when I leave the comfort of the people I know, then I feel all alone in this sea of people.  Groups are forming, conversations start.  I think it’s rude to interrupt a conversation. So I wander between the tables.  Now that being said, I go over my fears and meet new people.  At the past conference, some of those interactions will most likely end-up in future collaborations, for I am very grateful it happened, but every time it’s the same struggle, getting the strength to dive into the sea of people.  The rewards are worth it.  Keep fighting your shyness.

Scientists are at the front line of science. You see their names on papers.  You hear about their findings on the radio (well, for some of them).  But what you don’t necessarily realize, is that it takes a lot of people for scientists to be where they are. People that work with them, help them, or simply live with them (which, trust me, is not always simple).

Take me as an example… sorry, it’s the best example I have on hand.

My first job as a field assistant was perfect in many way, and gruesome in many other ways. The field season was 7 months: from January 2^nd until the end of July, and it was 100 km from home.  So, for 2 years, I lived 7 months of the year away from home, as I worked and lived from Monday to Friday with my boss. I had just purchased a house and could not enjoy it after a long day of work, only after a long week of work.  We were working in a river, in chest wader all day… rain or shine, snow or wind. In June, with the warm days, the fishermen would tell us we had the best work in the world, but no one was here to cheer us up in the middle of January, in freezing rain. Lots of work, lots of dedication, and at the end of it, my boss published a nice paper.  My name? You could find it in the acknowledgment section. I was the Science Supporter.

Eventually I started grad school and got married on the same year.  One week after our wedding, I told my husband: “Sorry, I have to go, I have storm-petrel chicks to monitor!” This time my field work wasn’t 100 km from home, but 6000 km. So, for 7 years, I lived 9 months of the year away from home, an ocean apart from my husband. He took care of our household while I was on remote islands.  He took decisions for us when I was out of reach.  His name? Nowhere to be seen in the acknowledgement section of any of my papers.  He is one of my many Science Supporter.  And guess who helped me setting up this blog??

We all have a science supporter in our life, or more likely many science supporters. Let’s not forget them. They worry about us and take care of our lives when we do some field work in remote locations.  They cope with our stress and frustration when we have a paper rejected.  Thank you all!!!!

Don’t forget to thank all those people working in your shadows through #ScienceSupporterDay.

Here are a few of my many Science Supporters